SOOOOOO confused about how to check on house I am renting

[newfiegirl]

I have read that you should do different "checks" to see if the house and agreement is legit, but I have no clue what to do. I went to this site:www.property-appraiser.org/ as someone suggested...but now I do not know what to do next.
I am renting from Homeaway...but the owner is from another country...should this concern me (I assumed I was renting from a person in Florida).
if someone can help me out that would be great. By help me out, I mean tell me step by step what to check on and how. Thanks

 

[newfiegirl]

Normally, do people buy the homeaway protection???

 

[formill]

You need to know the name of the owner of the villa and type that in -"record search"- then basic property search - it will show how long they have owned the property and if taxes are paid etc. So far we have rented several villas and not one was American or Canadian owned........all UK. We have always rented directly from the owners and not had any problems (except once owner double booked house and put us in different house than we had chosen)-paying by credit card is supposed to offer some protection. We have never bought any extra insurance. You can also find out who is their management company and call them. We also find out the address of villa (will show on appraisal site if you don't have address) and look at it on google maps- then you can see it is really there and the neighbourhood.

 

[newfiegirl]

when i type in the name that is on the contract, the foreign name, nothing comes up. ??? it says please refine your search. i googled the house location and it shows me where it is located, so i know there is a house. hmm

 

[JANNYANS]

It may be the house is owned by another family member or the person you are dealing with is the manager .Is the house in Osceola county or one of the others ?
You need to check the official records site as if there is a mortgage the taxes may well be paid by them or the insurance company even if the owner is behind with the payments.
If you need help ask -send me a message and I will see what I can find

 

[coastgirl]

Sorry, I'd just do what you've done, and it worked... We rented from a lady in the UK last time and it was fine. This time we are renting from someone in Ontario, but it just worked out that way...I still have to pay in US$!

 

[bleubell]

I had to look up the county for our rental... It was different than the link given. It worked. Do you know what county you're in?