Need help; rental home craziness!

[Tab2Disney]

We are so spoiled. Always staying at either Disney resorts or Bonnet Creek.
If I have the Dog, I just pack the camper and go to Fort Wilderness.
BUT, this time we will have 8 people a baby and my dog (my baby).
We need a house.
So I started looking, and looking and read about peoples reservations getting bumped to other house locations, or canceled altogether.
Now i am pretty much freaked out.
I wanted to go with allstarhomes because of the reviews I had heard, but they don't accept pets at all.
I need help! Can anyone recommend somewhere to rent from?
I am a clean freak! We would like to be in a Disneyish area (safety is important)
We aren't spending as much time at the parks as we will be just time together. So a pool and game room would be a plus!
Oh, and this will be in mid May, I know kinda last minute
Thanks for any help and advice!!!

 

[Cherylzw]

If you go to any of the home rentals sites and put in your information. If you use one of the sites that verify their homes every six months you should be fine with no worries. Just google Disney vacation villa rentals or Florida Vacation Home rentals. If you have any questions as to whether the site does verify the properties periodically just e-mail the administrator before sending your request and ask them.

On their request forms you will be able to put in all your requests....dates, pet friendly, etc..... Owners who have the dates available with your requests will reply.

Have fun looking at the vacation villas!!

 

[Tab2Disney]

Thanks, I am so lost in this area.
Ask me about any Disney Resort or many nearby hotel chains and I can help. But house rentals, I needed help, so I came to the Dis!
I had not thought of asking for six month verification. Thats a great idea!
I was looking at a house yesterday that the ad showed a cute "newish" looking home with a couple of pictures. When you clicked on the link for more pictures the next pics of the outside of the house had a 10 to 12 ft full size tree out front and the shutters and door were faded to a different color. Not that the house looked bad, just that it made you question the accuracy of the indoor pictures too.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[Darcy03231]

We stayed here with 9 people (4 adults, 3 teens, 1 tween and 1 toddler):

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/32411.html

If I were going with a large group I would rent this house again. We loved the location. It sits toward the back of a subdivision and backs up to conservation land. We found it to be very quiet. There was convient shopping (Winn Dixie right as you drove into the subdivision and a Super WalMart a mile away - Walmart had the better prices). Its about a mile off the junction of 192 & 27. Lots of chain restaurannts on both 27 and 192. It took us about 20 min to get to WDW main gate.

 

[Cherylzw]

IMO It is always best to deal directly with the owner. As you will know that the house in the picture is the house you will be getting not a picture of a generic home.

Ask the owner how often the visit their property, as this would help to insure they go often and would most likely be visiting to do maintenance work and upkeep along with their managment company or caretaker. You can even ask them when was the last time they had the pictures taken of their home. As you don't want to see pictures of the home when they first purchased years ago. You want to see more recent pictures within recent months/years.

Also, please remember if the price is too good to be true it probably is and the home will reflect it. Owners have a lot of upkeep and if they are offering a vacation home for a low weekly price, and unless they are subsidizing the costs of their home some other way other than the rent they are receiving, they are not going to be able to afford to pay all the costs that are needed to be sure the home is up to the standards expected when a guest arrives. That does not make for a very good start to a trip.

So the least expensive home is not always the best.

 

[sympatico]

Here's a few that are pet friendly but I don't have any personal experience with them:
http://www.vrbo.com/152745
http://www.vrbo.com/35854
http://www.vrbo.com/160281
http://www.vrbo.com/289894

 

[Tab2Disney]

We stayed here with 9 people (4 adults, 3 teens, 1 tween and 1 toddler):

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/32411.html

If I were going with a large group I would rent this house again. We loved the location.

Looks great; hope they accept the doggie

IMO It is always best to deal directly with the owner. As you will know that the house in the picture is the house you will be getting not a picture of a generic home.

Ask the owner how often the visit their property, as this would help to insure they go often and would most likely be visiting to do maintenance work and upkeep along with their managment company or caretaker. You can even ask them when was the last time they had the pictures taken of their home. As you don't want to see pictures of the home when they first purchased years ago. You want to see more recent pictures within recent months/years.
So the least expensive home is not always the best.

OH YES! I think I have already seen this. The 1st pictures were of the house with a newly lanscaped lawn, the as you looked into the link there was another that showed the house with a 12ft tree out front and the garage door paint is a bit faded. Not to say that means the house will look bad, but it does make you wonder about the pictures, how often the are updated. The only surprise I want on vacation is magical ones!

Here's a few that are pet friendly but I don't have any personal experience with them:
http://www.vrbo.com/152745
http://www.vrbo.com/35854
http://www.vrbo.com/160281
http://www.vrbo.com/289894

Thanks for your hard work, I have been looking through some of these too. I really wish I could get referrals from some places that people have been before.