![\"forbes\"](\"http:\/\/images.forbes.com\/media\/assets\/forbes_home_logo.gif\"){kind=logo}
This year, last-minute renters are in luck in most destination resort areas. <\/p>\nThis year, last-minute renters are in luck in most destination resort areas. <\/p>\n
Renters seem to be the beneficiaries of changing American vacation habits, quirks of weather and, in many resort areas, a swelling supply of luxury rental properties. <\/p>\n
While real estate prices have shot up, rental prices have, for the most part, held steady from Cape Cod to Lake Tahoe. <\/p>\n
Prices have been pretty much flat,” says Krae Van Sickle, a broker with Allan Schneider Associates in the Hamptons. <\/p>\n
But last-minute bargains are also, for the most part, rare. And some of the best properties will be gone by the time the season begins. <\/p>\n
The summer-rental market is a fragmented one, dependent on local conditions and fashions–the cold weather that delayed the rental season in Nantucket hasn’t deterred rentals in Napa, for example. But if there’s one thing that holds true around the country, it’s that vacationers have been waiting longer to book their rentals in recent years, which means that desirable rentals are available later into the season. <\/p>\n
“It gives me great indigestion,” says Nancy Borino, director of luxury lodging for Chase International, which sells and manages properties around Lake Tahoe. “Guests are booking last minute–sometimes two or three weeks out. We’ll sit with some inventory, whereas two or three years ago, we were booked ahead.” <\/p>\n