JulieAnne Cross went shopping for a summer rental at the beach with a very specific wish list.
First, the house has to be suitable for two households as she and her family planned to share the property with friends. There must be enough parking to accommodate multiple cars. It has to be pedestrian friendly, within walking distance of the beach, shops and restaurants.
“We like Dewey, but we didn’t want a party block,” she says.
One final clincher: the landlord would have to allow pets.
“The challenge every year is to find something that is dog friendly,” says Cross, a publicist and event planner from Stanton who will spend 10 weeks at the beach this summer.
In the hottest rental season in years, it often requires dogged determination to find a vacation rental for man’s best friend. Real estate professionals say pet-friendly properties and oceanfront rentals are hard to come by in an exceptionally competitive season.
“We are almost completely booked for the entire season,” says Doug Appling, broker/owner of Sandcastle Realty in South Bethany. “Oceanfront is always the highest demand and they are pretty much taken. There also is a very high demand for pet friendly. They are completely booked up.”
With landlords back in the driver’s seat, prices are creeping up. Appling says four- or five-bedroom oceanfront properties are fetching $4,500-$6,000 a week, depending on their amenities. A nine-bedroom, seven-bath home three houses from the beach is commanding $8,100 a week in high season, which runs from the end of June to mid-August.
In recent seasons, landlords lowered rents and offered partial weeks in order to entice tenants. This year, the tide has turned.
“We are getting a lot of contacts from people who want to book partial weeks, but things are so tight we haven’t been able to accommodate them,” Appling says.
So why are vacationers flocking back to the beach?
Appling says it’s a perfect wave. Consumers have more disposable income. Many are intent on staying close to home after several terrorist attacks in Europe. And they want to catch some rays.
“Low gas prices don’t hurt,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to go to Europe but I’ll wait until it feels safer. And after all the horrific rain this spring, people yearn to go the beach.”
At John F. Kleinstuber and Associates in Fenwick Island, the season was off to a sizzling start well before spring.
“We start taking reservations on Nov. 10 and people got in calls very quickly for the rentals on the ocean side,” said John Kleinstuber, the firm’s principal.
After years in the doldrums, increased demand also pushed up rental rates.
“We had asked our owners to hold back on increasing prices the past couple of years,” he said. “This year, we suggested that everyone increase their rates across the board and 95 percent of them did so.”
Renters at the lower end of the scale can expect to pay about 10 percent more this season. Expensive homes are priced around 5 percent more than last year.
Prospective tenants expect the comforts of home, including at least one washer and dryer, as well as a dishwasher.
“There are a few renters who don’t mind a very simple place that might remind them of their childhoods, but most people want amenities,” Kleinstuber says. “Not having internet is just as bad as not having air conditioning.”
Cross found a property that ticked all the boxes on her wish list on what she calls “the forgotten mile,” the brief stretch between Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach.
“We didn’t button up until April, which was late for us,” she says.
Cross used a real estate agent to help her find the property. Last year, she went through VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner), one of several DYI sites that is changing the way consumers hunt for vacation locations. Other options include Craig’s List, the free marketplace for buyers and sellers, AirBnB, in which hosts rent all or part of their homes to travelers, and such specialized sites as BringFido.com, which focuses on pet-friendly destinations.
Here is a sampling of the rental properties that are still on the market:
- In Rehoboth Beach, a second-floor apartment two blocks from the beach sleeps six, with two bedrooms, one bath and a living room with two futons. The weeks of June 4-11 and June 11-18 are still open. Listed on Craig’s List at $1,000 per week.
- A three-story townhouse in Dewey Beach sleeps 13 and offers views of the ocean and multiple decks to relax on, including a private rooftop deck. It’s listed on VRBO at $3,395, with availability in June and July.
- A garage converted into a one-bedroom cottage in Rehoboth is listed at $175 a day on AirBnB. French doors open onto a flagstone patio. Only seven days, spread out in two- or three-day blocks, remain in July and three days in August are available. Much of mid-June is still for the taking.
- In Fenwick Island, a bay-front multi-level townhouse is booked solid, except for one week in August. Listed by Coldwell Banker Vacations at $2,500, it’s located in a gated community with an outdoor swimming pool and access to a dock for kayaks and other non-motorized watercraft.
- Pets are OK in a four-bedroom, two-bath house with a screened porch in The Pines neighborhood in Rehoboth. Listed at Gallo Realty, one week in June and one week in August are still available at $1,800. It’s pet-friendly but renters will have to pony up an extra fee for their pooch.
Now in its third season, the 16-room Dogfish Head in Lewes is a destination for quick get-aways. Cara Digby, the assistant innkeeper, says most weekends are completely booked through August and weekdays are starting to fill in fast.
“We are seeing tons of couples, a small portion of singles and a small portion of families,” she says.
Options include single rooms with a king-size bed or two queen-size beds, or a two-bedroom suite with shared bath, sitting room and kitchenette.
Seven of the rooms are designated as dog friendly, and can accommodate either two small dogs or one large dog, as long as Rover weighs less than 80 pounds. The other rooms are pet-free to accommodate guests with allergies.
