My wife and I are looking for an affordable rental in the Sarasota or Boca Raton areas. The only requirements we have is that it be clean,have some facility for cooking, and be available for monthly rental in season. We need only one bedroom. The rental does not have to be located near a beach or golf course. We don't do much of either. What we do is ballroom dancing, and we are looking to go to a warmer climate for about a month in the winter time.

We live in Connecticut, are retired, and the weather in New England sucked this past winter.

Does anyone know where we can get leads to this kind of place?

One of my favorite websites for rentals is vrbo.com (vacation rental by owner). There are also lots of other vacation rental sites when you do a google search.

Another possibility could be a home exchange, someone who wants snow for a month and there are lots of websites for that too.

I like to just go to these places and check out the houses and pictures - and dream!

Tony, I would start with VRBO.com and if that doesn't help, do a google search. Your two biggest problems I can see with this are 'Boca Raton' and 'In Season'. Boca is very spendy but that doesn't mean you can't find something reasonable. What is your budget?

Tony,

My Mother lives in Boca and I know there's a wide variety of price ranges available for winter rentals. Not every place is very expensive although seasonal rentals are always more than year round rentals. The issue is how long you're prepared to stay (most places want you to take at least 2-3 months.) You will probably pay a premium for just 1 month & it will depend on which month you want. Another alternative might be a hotel or motel that has efficiency kitchens.

I think many people feel as you do after this winter so the sooner you arrange this, I think the better off you'll be.
If you give us an idea of budget I can find out where the best places to look might be.

Also, did you pick Boca (and Sarasota which I know nothing about) because you know there are ballroom dancing clubs? Deerfield, which is one town south of Boca and Delray which is just north might be slightly less expensive.

Ditto re:why did you choose these two places? I know a bit more about Sarasota (and know of at least one ballroom dancing place, very geriatric though) -- so if you have searched online for a few possible apartment communities, maybe I/we can give you an idea about their neighborhood.

EG: (after quick Google search on "Sarasota Rentals" : http://www.exploringsarasota.com/2.htm for a generic start to checking places out, and among them: http://www.siestakeycondos.com/ -- siesta key is nice, has "stuff" going on in small village, but can be congested in season or during spring break.