We have found a lovely property on longtermlettings.com in Florence-
I have written to the owner of the property, but have not received a reply just yet...(just messaged last night)...
I could not find any reviews for this particular agency - has anyone dealt with them and are they reputable??? Thank you!
Posted by
Tinton Falls, NJ
792 posts
I would look at booking.com. They have tons of great properties (all kinds...hotels, B&B's, apartments...) Most properties do NOT require any pre-payment and you can cancel up to a few weeks or so before the scheduled date. Plus, there are review scores and detailed reviews. I've been using this site for all my Europe accommodations for over 10 years. It is fabulous! I just used it to book all my accommodations this July (Naples, Positano, Ravello, Ischia, Orvieto, San Gimignano, Florence, and Venice - so that's 8 properties. It's so easy!
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7987 posts
This kind of product harms the local housing market. It's even prohibited in my wealthy NJ suburban town.
Did you read that in Joshua Tree (USA) virtually every current building permit is a 100% short-term rental, new construction? This is a perverse situation.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/why-do-you-like-air-bnb-so-much
Posted by
Tinton Falls, NJ
792 posts
I am a big fan of the sharing economy; which this is part of. Not surprised that some wealthy NJ homeowners would have a problem with it. I'm actually about to renovate my full walk-out basement in NJ into a stylish two bedroom apartment (a few miles from the beach) so I can host out of town/state/country guests. This is instead of moving to France to open a B&B; lol!
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7987 posts
Hey, Kerry, thanks for your post. There are still plenty of foreclosures in my tony town. What my Township Committee is really afraid of isn't property values, it's (in the US) "party houses." As a matter of interest, I ran across this research for Florence:
https://www.airdna.co/vacation-rental-data/app/it/toscana/florence/overview
It says that 81% of the rentals are "entire homes." That strongly suggests that we're talking about, say, entrepreneurship here, not "widows eating cat food until they rented out the spare room." I made up that last, of course, but I'm talking about the false flag of "the sharing economy" which you evoked.