An Outer Banks Vacation Rental Home: Rest, relaxation, fun in the sun-- and price-- are just next door.

More and more people have purchased second homes in vacation areas. Many of them offset their mortgages by renting them out to vacationers, so you can find great bargain places to stay for your own vacation.

Your selection is huge-- rentals can range from family homes to condos to duplexes. Vacationing in a group or with the extended family? You can reserve a beachfront "sand castle" at much less than you'd pay at a hotel. And compared to a hotel or motel room, you have a virtual smorgasbord of accommodations to choose from, with a wide range of decor, amenities and location. Online reservations streamline the process, too. You can explore the area at your leisure from your home computer and choose the perfect vacation rental, in your pajamas.

As gasoline prices have many families re-thinking a long-range vacation, the Outer Banks is an attractive alternative closer to home for millions who live in the area. In a vacation rental home you can make up for the higher cost in gasoline by eating out less and cooking more meals in the fully appointed kitchen of the rental. Remember your amazement when looking back at how much money you spent eating out during that last vacation?

There have been several studies that compared the costs of hotels and motels to vacation rental homes in the same area. The rental home is always cheaper. Check our Web site for special deals as some owners are offering an occassional discount to fill vacant weeks.

Many vacationers who've experienced a vacation rental home will never go back to a hotel or motel. When you figure in the restrictive hours for certain services, trips to the ice machine, noisy hallways and rowdy groups in the next room, there really is no comparison. Privacy is priceless.