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When it comes to SXSW, there are posh places to stay and there are practical places to stay, and then, there’s something else. As the epicenter of the short term home rental market – HomeAway is headquartered right off South Lamar; and SXSW, Austin City Limits Music Festival, as well as countless other festivals and conventions necessitate that more temporary housing be made available – there is no end to the number or people who have second homes to let or are leaving town to avoid SXSW and willing to share their house for a lower price than most hotels would charge.
VRBO, AirBNB, and RoomORama, as well as the aforementioned HomeAway offer lists of different options in, near and distant from the SXSW epicenter, all with availability for the 2016 iteration of the convention and festival.
You can live like a local by staying in one of Austin’s neighborhoods, all of which boast a unique character. Too, you can choose the amenities you hate leaving when you travel. Short term home rentals allow you to leave home without much feeling like you’ve left home. A great kitchen, a spacious backyard, a scenic vista – all are available to you and only restricted by your imagination…and your price range.
Needless to say, some of the homes on offer aren’t so much residences as they are palaces. Whether it is a six-bedroom, six-bath mansion on Lake Austin that sleeps up to 20 (found HERE) or a 500 square foot bungalow on South Congress, near the heart of everything (found HERE), there is something for every budget and taste.
We advise strongly that, if you are considering a short term home rental, you not only make direct contact with the owner/manager, but do your due diligence in doing so. Make sure that the proprietor has a short term home rental license. Austin requires it as protection for both the renter and the owner, and that license can help you if something should go amiss during or before your stay. With reputable sites, such as have been suggested, there is certainly less that can go wrong, but if you’re exploring craigslist for the perfect place (unrecommended), the law can help you.
With all of the legal entanglements and practical thoughts addressed, however, we can reveal the true advantage of a short term home rental as your option during SXSW. Regardless of whether you choose a palace or an efficiency as your launchpad for the SXSW revelry, a short term home rental allows you to invite a host of your friends to join you, either to be involved in SXSW or simply visit the Live Music Capital of the World while it is actually the Live Music Capital of the Universe for the days of SXSW. Make a reunion trip out of it and stay somewhere grand, all while saving you the cost of paying for a posh or even a practical stay by yourself…all while never being without a home base that feels just like home.
