Our Outer Banks house rental experience
Our honeymoon was amazing. A week of nothing to do, no wedding errands to run, no work to do. Pure relaxation. I’m going to blog about each day separately and recap all the stuff we managed to cram into five days. Today, I’m going to share some information about our Outer Banks house rental.
Why we rented a house
Because we paid for our wedding, we knew that we wanted something more low-key and cost effective for our honeymoon. We picked the Outer Banks because neither of us had ever been. After a bit of research, I decided to rent a house for the week instead of staying at a hotel. We opted for the house for a few reasons, and I would consider them when booking an Outer Banks house rental. Cost was the first: renting a whole house costs similar to a hotel in the Outer Banks. If we were spending close to $1,000 for a week’s accommodations, we wanted the space and full kitchen that a house offered. Larger groups like families will probably find that a house may be a lot cheaper than multiple hotel rooms.
We also considered location: you’re limited to staying where the hotels are. We picked the Kill Devil Hills area because it’s in the middle of the Outer Banks communities. When we booked our honeymoon, most of the hotel selection was picked over (we planned our honeymoon about two and half months out during the busiest season in the Outer Banks). Home Away had a lot more houses still available. The house we found and rented was about two streets off the main highway and one street away from the beach. It was the perfect location between the many places we visited and let us walk to the beach (and to Kmart).
Finally, be sure to consider included amenities. We opted to bring our own linens (sheets and towels), but linen rentals were available. Our house came with the bare necessities. It had no included toiletries and a single roll of toilet paper. You can research what level of amenities the different management companies offer. I think a few even included grocery shopping and a full pantry.
House rental overview
Even though it was bigger than we needed, we rented a three-bedroom, one-bath beach bungalow (one block from said beach). After taxes and deposits, the rental fee came to a bit under $1000. Once you walk in the front door, you’ll find the kitchen on your left with the dining room in front of you. The family room sits to the left of the dining room and to the right of the kitchen. The bathroom is directly behind the family room, and the three bedrooms form the back part of the house. It’s a cozy beach house with enough room for everyone to have a separate space.
We drove out to our house on Sunday afternoon after our wedding brunch ended and picked our keys in the late arrival drop box. After a bit of GPS confusion (hint: read the directions the company gives you), we pulled up to our home for the week. We popped over to the Food Lion across the highway for a few necessities because we didn’t rent a fully-stocked home. Since we didn’t eat dinner, we overstocked on snacks. We also bought breakfast for a few days and a meal or two for dinner. We wound up with a lot of wedding leftovers and packed those in a cooler with our remaining cutting cake.
