A villa to call your own

Whether it's a month by the lake, a year in Provence, or simply a summer spent under the Tuscan sun, chances are you're a-hankerin' to get in some of that sweet, sweet villa life we all read about in that ever popular sub-genre of travel writing, the "I bought a house in [foreign country] and had all sorts of quirky adventures fixing it up and getting to know the locals, and aren't you jealous?"

Well, not all of us can afford to buy, for cash, some delightful fixer-upper farmhouse in the rural heart of [fill in your favorite country here]. Ah. but we can pretend we did so, if only for a few weeks or so. That's where those magic words come in: "villa rental."

The phrase to make you heart go pitter-patter, to turn some pedestrian vacation into an act of 'summering in Europe,' to make your friends and neighbors extremely jealous.

And I'm here to tell you, it's so darn easy (and, often, cheap), it's almost criminal.

Shopping for that Villa

Here are some general tips and strategies to keep in mind for finding the perfect villa, no matter where you plan to rent:

Shop around with several villa rental companies until you find one you feel comfortable with and whose prices are in your ballpark.
Work with agencies that specialize in that region or city, and be sure the company will work with you to match you to your ideal rental, not just try to foist off on you a property they want to move.
Peruse as many photos as you can: of the exteriors, interiors, and (if they have them) views out the window so you have a true sense of what living there will be like.
Ask to see a floorplan and layout of the property to give you a sense of the size of the place, plus to be sure you don't all have to troop through one person's bedroom to use the bathroom.
Ask if it's purely a rental property or perhaps a private home where the owners are away part of the year (rentals that are lived-in like that tend to be better, as it's more likely all the plumbing, electrical, etc. will be working properly).
For particularly long stays, it pays for one member of the party to make a short reconnaissance trip over there to check out the top options before you settle on one.

Agency or DIY?

Villas are easiest to arrange through a travel agent or villa rental consortium, but you'll sometimes find the best deals by contacting people privately in the destination itself—via local papers, English-language magazines, the tourist board, or virtual classifieds.

The concept of a villa rental agency is simple enough: these are companies with stables of villas in a catalog and act as middlemen between the villa owners and all potential renters.

Virtual classifieds, on the other hand, are sites where owners can rent their villas directly to you, the vacationer. They key here is that there's no middleman getting a piece of the action (translation: raising the price for you), or setting an artifically high rental rate. This is free market at its best, baby.

It make take more digging—and more know-how—than the villa rental agencies, but it can cost a heck of a lot less. Since these classifieds are unvetted resources, they are a buyer-beware environment. However, if you keep your wits about you and do your homework well (and are a do-it-yourselfer to begin with), they can be the single best resources to find that villa.

Of course , since these spaces are not really controlled, plenty of villa agencies sign up and advertise their services in the classfieds—same way that realtors will list a tempting apartment in the "For Rent" section of your local paper with the tag "...and dozens more!" I'm not saying you can't find a perfectly great place that way, but just as a word of warning that not all the listings are actually individual owners.

Resouces for finding the villa of your dreams

Rentalo (www.rentalo.com) - Simply massive: more than 120,000 rental properties in 15,000 locations aroudn the world. Probably the best place to start your search, and certainly the best for one-stop shopping. Just a sampling: it lists some 200 villas for rent in Provence, 144 villas in Tuscany, and 669 rentals in Andalusia (Southern Spain). They also handle everything from standard hotels to B&Bs, agriturism, and even castles in Ireland.

Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) - For those of you not lucky enogh to live in one of the 60-odd cities served by craigslist, a word of explanation: craiglist.org is a virtual classified section that has pretty much supplanted every other method of finding an apartment, job, bass guitarist, lonely single, used piece of furniture, pet, etc. (or disposing of any of the above). What most don't know is that it also lists vacation rentals. Now, so far the individual European craigslists aren't terribly in-depth, but be sure to rilfe through the craigslists of major US cities, too—doesn't matter if you live there or not—because that's where American folks with a summer villa post ads to recoup some of their investment by renting it out while they're not there.

For example, recently on the New York site, just in a single day's postings, I saw a $600/week three-bedroom cottage in Ireland's terrbily scenic Co. Kerry and a 17th century farmhouse in France with six bedrooms going for $885 a week (divide that price 12 ways and you and your friends/loved ones are looking at paying about $10.50 apiece per night), plus a one-bedroom in Cannes for $650/week.

Euro Relais (www.eurorelais.com) - Some 6,000 rental properties from modest farmhouses to castles and manor homes throughout Western Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain) and Southeastern Europe (Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey).

Hideaways International (www.hideaways.com) - This one requires a membership ($185 yearly), but has some 2,000 truly choice properties around the world, plus other member benefits. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Wales.

Interhome (www.interhome.com) - 20,000 holiday homes, almost all in Europe (plus Florida), including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland.

International Rentals (www.internationalrentals.com) - There are some incredible bargains (€161 for a week by the sea on a Croatian island anyone?) alongside some amazingly expensive upscale options as well in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey.

Villas International (www.villasintl.com) - Long-established agency, with properties in perhaps more countries than any other—Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Wales.

VRBO.com (www.vrbo.com) - That stands for "Vacation Rentals By Owner," a worldwide virtual classfieds section devoted to 32,500 villas, apartments, cottages, houses, and other places to lay your head—from $500 per week in Provence, $450 per week in Tuscany, or $400 per week in England.