Renting a reliable holiday home isn’t easy.

And not just because there are a seemingly endless number of letting resource to turn to — everything from local land land land site that list a few condominium to big listing services like HomeAway.com or VRBO.com.

For me, it’s the politics.

This summer for example, I told my mother that I planned to rent a condominium on the beach Within two days, my sister and blood brother had invited themselves over, boosting our Numbers from 5 to more than 30.

A rental home can save you a whole whole lot of money when you’re on vacation, as I pointed out in an earlier column But this one would almost certainly cost me a whole lot more.

There are an estimated one million holiday rentals in the United States, roughly half of which are available to the general public, according to Numbers from The National Association of estate agent and FlipKey.com. A Recent PhoCusWright study estimated holiday rentals were a $24.3 billion-a-year market, while a Ypartnership survey suggested interest in lease a home was on the rise, with 14 per centum of leisure time traveler locution they stayed in one in 2009, up from eleven per centum a year earlier.

Renting a home for XXX isn’t like engagement a hotel room, or even a holiday cottage for a family of 5.

“The consistent challenge we hear from traveler is predictability,” says TJ Mahony, the head executive managing director of FlipKey.com, a holiday rental land land land land site “People tend to know what they are going to get from a hotel but can have anxiousness over the quality of a holiday rental.”

I asked expert to identify the biggest challenge when lease a home Here’s what they told me:

1. knowing what you want. Prioritize your lease That’s the advice of Mother Theresa bell Kindred, a blogger and frequent home renter. “You are going to wage more for certain things Decide what is really important to you,” she says. Her family loves the ocean, so they don’t mind paying more to be right on the beach But if you don’t mind being a few block away from the water, you can save money Be sure you stay within your budget “If you spend all your money on letting property? and can’t afford grocery you may get hungry before you get back home,” she warns.

2. timing your purchase. If you’re in town for a special event, like a athletics tourney or festival, it’s never too soon to book a holiday rental. “Vacation lease are more scarce than hotels and great holiday properties are even scarcer,” says Chris Brusznicki, the head executive of GamedayHousing.com, a land land site that specializes in lease for athletics events. But if there’s no reason to be in town, you can run down the clock One terrific new land land site that allows you to bid on “last minute” holiday rentals is a land site called PackLate.

3. determination out what you’re renting. It probably spell without locution that you need to do your due diligence on a lease “Do your homework,” says Sylvia Guarino, who owns a rental home on Sanibel Island, Fla. and a member of Second Porch, a Facebook application that connects holiday rental proprietor and holiday guests. “Vacation letting guest sometimes get too focused on acquiring a deal, and not focused enough on getting the information that they need, or authenticating the place “How do you authenticate a property? Look at every piece of information available to you, including the owner’s land site the holiday rental site, online reviews and what you find on social networking sites, like Facebook. Be sure the place is in good shape, is as represented and isn’t in foreclosure.

4. determination out who you’re lease from. “Research the owner, not just the home,” says Emmett Kelly Hayes-Raitt, who owns a letting place in Saint Nick Monica, Calif. She includes a link to her web site and life history in every correspondence with potential guests. “not just so they realize they are supporting my work with refugees, but so they learn they are dealing with someone who has been active in her community for XXX years and not likely to cheat them,” she says. Not every owner is as forthcoming as Hayes-Raitt, but if soul is reclusive, it might be a warning sign.

5. Determining if the letting is part of an association or destination. That can make a big difference, according to Jon Ervin, a spokesman for the bungalow lease bureau in Seaside, Fla. “Imagine you rent from Mr. and Mrs. Mother Jones — Nice enough people, but what if your air conditioning quits or some other concern arises?” he asks. “You most likely are going to have to work through the issue for your stallion stay.” Not if your letting is part of an association There’s soul on telephone call to help in situation like that. My family rented a home at the water-colour auberge & holiday resort in nearby Saint Nick Rosa Beach, Fla., during the Christmastime holidays, and we found that to be good advice.

6. Becoming a power user. For example, VRBO.com allows you to filter hunt consequence by area, bedchamber and the number of people it can slumber That helped Kellie Pelletier find a holiday rental in Charleston, Sc for her home VRBO also show which home are available on your preferred dates. “So I didn’t waste my time researching and contacting house that were already booked for my week,” she says. Pelletier know a thing or two about being a power user She used to work for Kayak.com, the engagement site “House letting site are years, if not decades, behind other travel sites,” she complains. “Please, won’t mortal launch the kayak of letting house sites?”

7. Avoiding group-think. Extended home like mine should be broken up into smaller lodging units, such as adjoining condos, as opposed to adjustment them into one house It spring everyone more seclusion and is easier on the finances, because you don’t have to argue over the measure at the end “Sometimes a big house industrial plant for some families,” says carol White, who run a web site about road trips. “But not others.”

8. Reviewing the contract very carefully. You’re not checking into a hotel; this is more like lease an apartment ticker for contract language, such as cleanup options. Frank Discala, who owns a letting place in Nantucket Town, Mass., spring his tenant two options: either clean and jerk up after themselves, “Or they can leave the place without cleanup up and lose their $500 deposit,” he says. “Ouch! No one has ever taken that option.”

9. Staying flexible. Remember, you’re lease an apartment or house — not a room in a hotel. “Some things may go wrong,” warns Pauline Kenny, a holiday rental expert who run a site called Slow Europe “The plumbing may stop working, the kitchen stove run out of gaseous state Some things may not be perfect — you bump your head repeatedly on that low doorway, the sofa is orange, the parking space is almost impossible to get into.” That’s life in a holiday rental. “Suck it up and live with it,” she says.

Needless to say, bivouacking a holiday has its challenges. “The process for finding a holiday rental home is more involved and sometimes even difficult,” says Christine Karpinski, a director for HomeAway.com. “You have to not only search for the home, but you also have to email to inquire whether or not it is available and for a full inverted comma Sometimes the process can take a couple hours and sometimes it can take a week of back-and-forth with the homeowners. But the reward at the end is wonderful.”

I hope she’s right I’ll let you know what happens this summer.