I think Airbnb may end up changing the game for guys looking for short-term monthly rentals. It's really catching on and a lot of European cities have tons of supply on the market. The only problem is that Airbnb rates are higher than if you contact short-term companies directly, but not always (in Zagreb, airbnb is cheaper).
The key to saving money is understanding that the owners will come down in price by quite a bit. Don't accept the price at face value. If their calendar is empty, they will give you a discount to get some money, especially if you stay a month.
What I did for Zagreb is blast a a bunch of people (without even looking at the pictures) to get an idea of what kind of rates I could get. I found out that 700 euros seemed to be the floor in summer for a nice apartment in the center, so I got almost everyone down from their initial asking prices of 1000 or more (I got one guy down from 1500 euros to 800).
I know Americans don't like negotiation, so simply say, "I have another offer for 700 euros not far from your apartment. Can you match that?" Most people will come down.
Since Airbnb's fees are so high (10%), Soma in another thread said to book for a few days and then negotiate a rate during that time to pay in cash for the rest of your stay. It sounds good in theory, but you may end up paying more. For example:
The apartment I got for one month had an 80 euro service charge from airbnb for the month I will stay. I got a monthly discount (I asked via messaging) so my daily rent is 27 euros. The total is 880 euros for the month.
He lists the apartment for 67 euros a day. If I rented it for 3 nights it would have cost me 220 euros including the service fee. For the remaining 28 nights it would have cost me 756 euros (28 nights times 27 euros, no airbnb fee). The total cost would be 976 euros.
I saved 96 euros by booking the entire month with airbnb. If the monthly savings you get on rent is considerable from the daily rent, you should just book the entire thing with airbnb. If the monthly rate is the same as the daily rate, then you should book a short time and then pay a monthly rent in cash.
Anything I missed?
The key to saving money is understanding that the owners will come down in price by quite a bit. Don't accept the price at face value. If their calendar is empty, they will give you a discount to get some money, especially if you stay a month.
What I did for Zagreb is blast a a bunch of people (without even looking at the pictures) to get an idea of what kind of rates I could get. I found out that 700 euros seemed to be the floor in summer for a nice apartment in the center, so I got almost everyone down from their initial asking prices of 1000 or more (I got one guy down from 1500 euros to 800).
I know Americans don't like negotiation, so simply say, "I have another offer for 700 euros not far from your apartment. Can you match that?" Most people will come down.
Since Airbnb's fees are so high (10%), Soma in another thread said to book for a few days and then negotiate a rate during that time to pay in cash for the rest of your stay. It sounds good in theory, but you may end up paying more. For example:
The apartment I got for one month had an 80 euro service charge from airbnb for the month I will stay. I got a monthly discount (I asked via messaging) so my daily rent is 27 euros. The total is 880 euros for the month.
He lists the apartment for 67 euros a day. If I rented it for 3 nights it would have cost me 220 euros including the service fee. For the remaining 28 nights it would have cost me 756 euros (28 nights times 27 euros, no airbnb fee). The total cost would be 976 euros.
I saved 96 euros by booking the entire month with airbnb. If the monthly savings you get on rent is considerable from the daily rent, you should just book the entire thing with airbnb. If the monthly rate is the same as the daily rate, then you should book a short time and then pay a monthly rent in cash.
Anything I missed?
Roosh
http://www.rooshv.com