Booking a Townhome with Homeaway.com?

[Greaser69]

Hello
For our Trip this October we are planning to rent a Townhome what was offered on www.homeaway.com .
We found a great 3 Bedroom Townhouse in Emerald Island for 13 Days for the Price of 910 Dollar.
We never did something like this and as we are from germany and have to deal with an American Owner I want to ask if other people here have experiences with renting a Appartment/House like this.
Is this safe? I mean I have to pre pay 20% in advance with Credit Card and as I deal with someone personal and not a Company I want to be on the safe side.
Everything looks good, he has good reviews from othe people who rent the home.
So any help would be nice.
Best
Sascha

 

[A Mickeyfan]

My aunt went thru that site to rent. She is renting in Windsor Palms. She will be arriving there this Wed. She has had a good experience so far. The owner she is dealing with for the 3 bedroom condo she is renting has had very good communication with her. She lives in NY and he lives in MA. I do realize it is a bit of a difference for you being in Germany. My aunt & the owner have spoken on the phone as well as emails. I hope this helps you some... each owner is going to be different, so remember that too. There may even be owners who live out of this country as well..

 

[Mistyhon]

We Booked a house last year in the Bahamas last year . we had a great experience and got great rates. i am looking to use them again this era for Orlando.

 

[sympatico]

We use homeaway or one of it's sites like vrbo.com every time that we rent. I usually check out the tax records to make sure everything is true and do a google search about the owners or the house to see what pops up. Sometimes someone has reviewed it on the Trip Advisor site also.

 

[KayR]

Homeaway have their guarantee. It used to be free, but now there is a cost to it.

Check to see how long the owner has been an advertiser on Homeaway (it says something like "owner since -date-" towards the bottom of the listing. If you are dealing with a new owner, it might be worth it. An owner who has been listed for a long time is less likely to be fraudulent. I also think I heard that Homeaway are asking for more proof of ownership these days before owners can have their advert live on the site.

--kay

 

[softballmom3]

We also have used homeaway.com and vrbo.com with no problems whatsoever. I would say check owner credentials, make sure taxes paid, ,etc....and are on the up and up. Maybe someone can post a link here or if I find it in my old posts, I will come back and edit it to post to where you can check owner name to make sure all is legit.....it is trying and does make me nervous when I rent from owners but the prices are MUCH better usually and we have had no trouble.

 

[softballmom3]

Here it is:

Property appraiser site:http://ira.property-appraiser.org/PropertySearch/

Tax collector: https://www.osceola.county-taxes.com/tcb/app/pt/main

Court clerk recording division: http://www.osceolaclerk.com/LandRecordsResearch.htm

You can check out zillow listings for a specific address if you know it to see if it's for sale, recently bought, foreclosure etc. http://www.zillow.com/