My friends and I are graduating in the spring, and we want to find a nice, quiet spot where we can hang out together during the week before the commencement ceremony. We want a beach house, but predictably, we're having an absolute hell of a time trying to get one. Most homeowners consider anyone under the age of 30 to be a roving demolition team, much more a bunch of 21-22 year olds. And then there are things like "New Jersey law," which apparently (says one owner) prohibits anyone under 21 on the premises without an "adult"/"parent" around - which sounds like bullshit, but what do I know about Jersey law?
This is incredibly frustrating, as my friends and I are pretty typical nerds: we have 0-2 drinks each at our shindigs, play a lot of Settlers of Cataan and Carcassonne, and think a "hardcore party" involves cranking up the volume a few bars higher than normal when playing Rock Band. We're not the types who will accidentally burn the deck down. Hell, most of these guys are too law-abiding to go above the speed limit.
What can/should we do? I've seen plenty of people pull this off in the past, but I don't know how. Do we need to get one of our parents involved, promise a larger security deposit, lie about our age or what? We're afraid of falsifying too much, as we don't want to give the homeowners reasons to evict us...
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I know my family would never consider renting our summer place to a bunch of 21 year olds, unless we knew them or their family, or friends of their family who could vouch for them. You and your friends could very well be the cleanest living people in the world, but strangers are going to be more concerned with protecting their property.
Most these options were bad ideas. If you get parents involved, and it works, it will probably be with the owner believing they will actually BE THERE to take responsibility. Lying about THIS, OR your age will leave you wide open on liability in the event something actually does happen. The larger security deposit may help, especially if you leave part of it open as non-refundable to assauge an owner's fears. And most people who pull this stuff off usually know the people through at LEAST one connection that own the place.
PSN: TheScrublet
1. about twice as expensive
2. need references/parent co-sign if under 25
3. they won't give something nice to a group of young people, and all the people renting nearby will be drunk obnoxious high schoolers
Besides Seaside, check out Wildwood/N.Wildwood, Brigantine, and Ocean City. But keep in mind that you will be competing with every high school senior in NJ, and no one is going to believe that a group of single guys are looking for just a quiet place to hang out. Have you considered camping or renting a cabin?
Renting a cabin or a lakehouse or whatever would be fine. As long as there's electricity, a nice enough TV for video games, a few beds and a kitchen, I think the guys and girls in my group will be satisfied. We're shooting to keep the rental fee under $2300, but I guess we can deal with a bit more.
Are there any good local websites for the areas you've mentioned? I've been using cyberrentals, but I think the listings on that site lean far more towards the "family-oriented" than others. Also, if there are any areas that are less of a pain in the ass for college renters than Jersey Shore but are still near Massachusetts, I'm open to suggestions.