Rental at Jersey shore

It is not too early to look, but probably too early to book with some realtors -- they won't have their schedules and rates up yet. Try January-February-March.

We've had better result with realtors than private rentals, in terms of cleanliness and home repair and such. The big companies have it down to a system, but yes, maybe you can get a better deal if you look privately.

In Ocean City, we use Berger. In Stone Harbor, Diller&Fischer.

On the beach is great, but the price goes up --I've never thought it worth the extra price. Even one block back and you get a decent reduction. If you have small kids and lots of stuff to carry, closer to the beach is better.

If you can, take a trip to the town sometime in the off season (like October), to get an idea of areas where you would like to stay. You can even tour houses then, and see what interiors are like. (Once you know a town, you can do it all from their website -- pics, maps, etc. )

More free advice:

Each property has a checklist showing its amenities -- and there are pictures on the web. Here are some things to look for:

-- Is there an outdoor shower? (You want one)
-- Are the beds sorted into bedrooms in a way that's gonna work for your family? Do they count a sofabed in the lr as a bed?
-- Does the dining room have enough size/chairs to seat everyone?
-- Window AC or central AC, or none?
-- Are you willing to schlep upstairs or do you want ground floor?
-- Is there adequate off-street parking space?
-- Do you want an outdoor grill?
-- Do you want a grassy yard for the kids?

A good realty agent will be willing, over the phone, to drive over and take a look at a place to answer questions you may have.

Another thing to check is whether the neighbors are houses, restuarants or bars -- late night noise might be an issue. A house facing a street parallel to the beach will get more traffic noise than one facing a cross-street.

I agree with everything capxxx says. Some great advice.

A few more tips.

On Long Beach Island, I use LBI Real Estate - they have offices on both the north and south ends of the island. They were very helpful and have a fast checkin/out procedure.

This summer I noticed another realtor, JerSea realty was offering Fri 8pm to Fri 5pm rentals. That might be a good way to avoid the horrendous Saturday traffic both inbound as well as outbound.

If you are a family with kids, it's much more convenient to be on the ocean block than anything further away. There will be many days you'll want to come and go from the beach several times during the day, either to escape the mid day heat, take an evening stroll, or just pop back to the house to use the bathroom. IMO, ocean front doesn't offer you much over ocean block, but some people definitely prefer the ocean view. You'll get plenty of ocean view during your two weeks there.

Central AC is key. No noisy in-window units.

Lastly, my most important tip is to NOT rent sight unseen. A 1 day trip to the shore in Oct or March/April (better) will allow you to check out individual properties. When I was first searching for rentals a few years ago I looked at 15-20 before I found one I was satisfied with, and I don't consider myself particulary picky.

The one I ended up choosing and we now return to each year has a couple of key things I didn't find elsewhere. 1) King sige master bed, 2) clean, recently renovated kitchen and bath, 3) central AC.

As capxxx says, it's too early to book until the beginning of the year when they have their schedules and rates up. Homeowners pick which weeks they want to stay there or block off, then returing renters get dibs on the same week, and after that it's opened up to the public.

If you have specific questions about locations, house features, etc, just post a reply to this thread and I'll be happy to give you my 2c.

Last year we rented a house for 1 week in Ocean City.

You have to pick the area where you want to stay, what you need (number rooms, bathrooms, relation to town and beach, etc) and then the max you want to spend. Then you have to look through the huge lists of available places which you can find online. Narrow it down to a reasonable number, say 10-15. Then, if you can, go a few months before, and look at the properties.

One Sunday in March, that's what we did. Drove around by ourselves to narrow down our choices, and right then went to a realtor there (Berger) and looked inside 3, then picked the one we liked best. It took a lot of work, but it worked out well. We had a single house one block from the beach which was fine.

In a few months, I will start the process again for next year.

Thanks J62 and capxxx for all of your helpful advice