Vacation Rental in Ocean City, MD

[RadioFanatic]

In 2010, my parents are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Instead of having a party for them (they aren't party people), my sister and I want to rent a vacation home/condo for all of our family to celebrate a week in Ocean City. There will be 9 of us, three are kids, so we're thinking 3 or 4 bedrooms. We don't have to be on the beach, but would like to be close to it. We want a nice place but not to break the bank. None of us know anything about Ocean City, we just picked it b/c we have heard nice things and it's a great meeting in the middle kind of place b/c they live in SW Virginia, and we're in upstate NY.

Any recommendations on websites, companies to use or even an actual place to rent would be much appreciated. Also, information re: (1) preferred areas to stay v. areas to stay away from; (2) restaurants; and (3) activities would be awesome too. Thanks!

 

[RadioFanatic]

anyone?

 

[Christine]

Here I am!!!

I would recommend that you go through www.vrbo.com versus hitting any of the realtors through OC. I have had terrible luck with realtors. The places are usually awful and I've had better luck with personal owners.

I will tell you a few places to look for but I might get the spelling wrong:

1. Tamarindo (these are relatively new townhomes somewhere around 56th street. I've seen them and they look really good.

2. Anything at Ocean Colony. These are also three story townhomes and wonderfully located right on the beach.

If you run out of luck with these, let me know. My cousins husband is a realtor there (sales though) and he may know what is good/bad as far as rentals. Also, the guy that is doing my siding RIGHT NOW, owns a townhome on 81st street near the Princess Royale. It sounds very nice and he had told me that he is renting it out.

 

[Por1968]

Don't know how set you are on Ocean City. However, the Outer Banks is really ideal for a large family or friend gathering. There are very nice large houses for rent. The Outer Banks is not as crowded as Ocean City and if your family is not looking for a party, it may well be more of their scene.

 

[phisigprincess]

If you're interested in looking elsewhere, we rented a 22 person house in Sandbridge, VA and LOVED it. It's about 10 minutes from VA Beach, but doesn't feel at all like VA Beach does. It's very quiet, almost all rental houses. If you want anymore info, drop me a PM.

 

[Christine]

Also, information re: (1) preferred areas to stay v. areas to stay away from; (2) restaurants; and (3) activities would be awesome too. Thanks!

This is just going to be very general info on this part. What's "hot" in Ocean City changes from year to year.

The first "activity" of course is "the beach." Hopefully, you will get great weather. The surf is usually pretty good in OC as opposed to Myrtle Beach so if you like jumping waves, boogie boarding, etc., this is great. I used to spend my days in the ocean as a teen.

Ocean City, over the past 8 years, has gone through a pretty good revitalization. It used to be "seedy" to stay down by the boardwalk. All the creeps used to be down there but they have definitely overhauled that area and it is very family friendly. My favorite area to stay in nowadays is anywhere between 60th down to 25th street. That is the "old" part of OC and you can just about walk to anything from there. The north part of OC where the highrises are used to be deemed the family friendly area and that was the place to be from the 70s through the 90s. I find it too densely populated now, kind of ugly and it's a bear to get down to the boardwalk by car during peak beach weeks. So I love the older part of town.

As for restaurants, that changes every year. Places go in and out of business there. They don't have as many "chain" type places as Myrtle Beach but they do have the typical Outback, Ruths Chris, I think and a few others. We always like to find the honky-tonk kind of places where you can sit on a picnic table and get a great crabcake. The Crabcake Factory is good for that. The boardwalk also has some okay dining establishments where you can sit out and eat there. I have never found the food to be phenomenal there but there are some places. If you find out that you are definitely going, I'll get the names for you.

The usual mini-golf places are there and some amusement parks. Trimper Rides is down on the boardwalk has great amusements for the little kids but is VERY noisy.

Ocean City is not at all like Myrtle Beach--it is on a much smaller scale, so I find that if the weather is bad, there's not a whole lot to choose from to do. If something like that happens (lots of rain) you can always take a ride up to Rehobeth Beach, Delaware and explore.

 

[mikehn]

Northern OC is a little more family oriented and laid back, say from 70th street on up. Lower OC tends to be younger and a little more active, if you will. Im just generalizing here. Also, just to establish a baseline for you in terms of rental property, the rental properties in OC will not be anywhere near as well kept as those in Orlando, in any price range. So for example, if you spend 2 grand for an OC rental, it will be far far inferior to a 2 grand rental in Orlando. I agree with Christine, the Crabcake factory is a good place to eat. Also, try Thrashers fries on the boardwalk. One restaurant to stay away from is Phillips Seafood restaurant. The long lines that wrap around the block for dinner will lead you to believe it must be great, but quite the contrary. It's the biggest tourist trap of all time.

 

[Octoberbride03]

Rehoboth Beach is great for Family rentals too, and is just a bit up the road from OC. The city just about finished with its streetscaping project and brand spanking new boardwalk. Looks fantastic. My parents live there but don't rent out the house.

There are tons of single family homes available for rental that are just blocks from the beach. Its a nice stable area with lots to do and costs less than a lot of other beaches. For anybody who saw the new boardwalk a couple of weeks ago on FOXnews. Don't let Greg fool you. It looks upscale but is tremendously affordable.

Tax free shopping and most restaurants are local family owned businesses that have been there for decades. Not a whole lot of chains in the area.

My advice to you would be to explore both beaches OC and Rehoboth. May as well hit Bethany and Fenwick too. I've always found Dewey to attract more of a college crowd, but its all in what you're looking for.

As for distance I am literally at the bottom of VA and it takes about 4 hrs to get to Rehoboth over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel.