Best way to pay large cash balance to apartment

Give us some numbers to work with. Saying you have to hit the ATM five days in a roll means absolutely nothing. We face this problem from time to time and have no problem working around it.

If the apartment owner will give you their bank information, you can easily arrange a wire transfer or electronic funds transfer. An inexpensive vendor for this is xe.com. Just click on "transfer funds" on that website and you'll find an explanation of how it works.

Thank you, excellent idea! I think I will bank transfer $2200.00 and hold the remaining 500.00 which I can easily withdraw in cash, to make sure I get what I'm paying for. Thanks very much!!
Sandra

Increasingly I'm finding that apartment rentals will take paypal for at least a portion.

Thank you, that's helpful.

The owner of the apartment I reserved in Rome took 1/3 as a deposit via PayPal, and wanted the rest cash upon arrival. Recently I ask if she would take another 1/3 of the payment by PayPal, and she said she would.
But of course I already knew she accepted PayPal before I asked about paying more.

Thank you, I did email the landlord and ask if I could pay about 2/3 of the balance through paypal or bank wire and the rest in cash. I'm waiting on a reply from them now.

Thanks for the XE.com suggestion. We are renting a house in in Tuscany for a week in September and need to transfer funds for the deposit . Appears straighforward with no additonal cost for an EFT. Since the owner is in the UK, we can't pay cash upon arrival so will also have to wire the balance a couple weeks before our trip.

Yes, this is a pain, but we are renting from someone in France (also Italy) who would like the security deposit in cash upon arrival. They won't take a bank transfer because of the fees they are charged (since they plan to give the money back) Therefore, I am taking the amount in traveler's checks. I know I'll be charged a fee to convert the money, but this way the money is secure and it won't effect our daily limit on the ATM from our bank.

@Sandra: this is an important issue that I am also having to deal with and I am glad that there are some great suggestions here. Our balance will likely be around $2500.00 and I was clueless as to how I was going to work that out. I though maybe my sister could keep half in her account and we would each go to the ATM but I like the bank transfer or PayPal suggestions better.
@Karen: I don't want to scare you and I am sure you did your research before booking your apartment, but I had such bad experiences with potential apartments where the owner/landlord did not live in Italy. Some were outright bogus but other were so cleverly slick that I had to get my friends in Italy to help me determine if it was legit. None were. Where did you find your apartment?

Monique brings up a good point. Make sure that you do your homework when you are vetting your apt rental. Does the rental web site post previous users reviews? (which can be faked) Does the rental web site (or agreement) post a local contact phone number, and an owner phone number? And lastly, buy a good travel insurance policy thru Squaremouth or Insure-my-trip.com. At least you can be compensated for your lost funds.

Monique, I am still waiting on a reply from the apt owner regarding payment by paypal or wire - I'm hoping I will hear something tomorrow and will post the outcome. I'm thinking the back-up plan may need to be traveler's checks and pay the fee to cash them there.

We have usually handled this by purchasing euros in advance from an American Express travel office. The exchange rate was very close to spot -on, and since we always use our money belts, we felt very secure. Just another thought on the subject....

As for a security deposit to be paid on arrival and refunded when you leave - I found an apartment I wanted to rent in Paris, but they wanted a 400 euro travelers check as a security deposit. I told them I didn't want to do that, and asked if he would just take my credit card number as a deposit when I arrive. He agreed. It never hurts to ask!

I heard from the apt owner and they are insisting on cash. I'm thinking the best alternative is traveler's checks.