HomeTownRent's Blog

With national excitement building for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, hundreds of thousands of people hope to travel to Washington, DC, to be part of history. Word on the street is that hotels from Baltimore to Arlington are booked solid, and many visitors are struggling to find a place to stay.

To help match Inauguration attendees with short term rentals, HomeTownRent unveiled InaugurationRent.com on November 15, 2008.  In the first 10 days, over 85 rental properties were posted by individuals willing to open up their homes, townhouses, apartments, churches and other buildings to visitors. With demand so high, many such rentals are going for over $1,000/night.

Renters are advised to act soon to secure housing during the Inauguration.  To minimize costs, and make sure that you have easy access to a city that will likely be flooded with visitors, HomeTownRent offers the following advice:

• Negotiate a one week rate.  While rentals are going for $1,000+ per night, you could make a nice January vacation out of a one week visit to DC, visiting museums and attending events surrounding the Inauguration date.  Try to work out a one-week deal, say $5000 for the week.
• Make sure the rental will sleep four or more. $1000/night works out to the price of a hotel room if you can sleep four or more.  Some churches are offering their facilities for youth groups and individual landlords may consider letting you bring air mattresses, cots and sleeping bags to accommodate more.  Make sure you get it written into a lease contract and tidy up!
• Look for rentals that are close to a metro line or within walking distance to the Mall.  If you are paying a few thousand, you don’t want to get caught in the same traffic snarls that will affect people staying in hotels an hour or more outside of the city.

Verify the property and get a signed contract. There will undoubtedly be a few scam attempts with so much money on the line.  Protect yourself with the following suggestions:

• Never wire money, don’t use a cashier’s check or money order, and never mail cash.
• You could request a scan of the landlords driver’s license, and only make a check out to the name on the license.
• Agree upon a lease contract via email first, and make sure they write in sleeping terms, cleaning fees, and key exchange details.
• Have them mail you two copies of a signed contract, mail one back to the address of the rental property (or their office address if they do not live there).
• Mail the deposit check to the individual.
• If you have a trusted friend in DC, have them meet to exchange the deposit check for a key to the rental. Meet at the rental itself to make sure the key works.
• Be wary of anyone renting a property in DC who cannot personally meet you or a friend at the location to show you the house, or at least have a professional real estate agent meet you.

Now that you are ready to make an informed decision about renting in DC, visit InaugurationRent.com to find a fantastic home or apartment all for yourself during this historic occassion in our nation’s history.