Booking a Villa

[tbrenk]

I am finally ready to book our 6 bedroom villa Emerald Island. I am excited and nervous since I have never done this before. It is also hard to believe that I can finally stop searching villas.com and vrbo.com for homes.

The person I am dealing with is super nice and has answered all of my questions. He has been very plesant to deal with.

He emailed me the booking terms (deposit, payment, etc). Is there generally a contract or booking request that should be filled out?

Since he lives over in the UK, he suggested that I could mail a check or wire the funds. Does anyone know about wiring funds to his bank in Orlando? Is there a charge for me to do that? I have never done that either.

Also, will the owner give me the address of the villa now?



Is there anything else I need to know before I go ahead and finalize things?

 

[JANNYANS]

Each owner will be different but most will have a set of terms for you to sign.
Check with your bank as to whether they will make a charge to transfer the funds as each bank will differ.
Most owners will have a set time as to when they send out directions and address details so check with the owner .

 

[debden]

When I rented the house for April the owner e-mailed me the banks name and address and also sent me her account number.She told me to write the check out to her and put on the back of the check 'For Deposit Only' and her account number.It worked out fine.I just mailed it to the bank and they deposited the check in her account.The first time I sent the deposit check it just took about 3-5 days to get credited to her account but when I sent in the final payment it took 10 days to credit her account! Wow.I could not beleive it took so long....
Anyway that's how we did it....no problems.
Debbie

 

[kilee]

The few times I've rented in Orlando (and actually the one's in the Smokey Mtns worked the same)-- I fif not get an address until about 2-3 weeks before arrival.

 

[bazzanoid]

Presumably you know which villa 'area' you're staying at and it's general location - that's all you would need to begin with and I wouldn't book without knowing which community you'll be in.

With regards to wiring funds, it normally costs less than getting a GBP check made by your bank - many US banks will allow you to do a direct bank transfer to a UK account, just pop in and ask your bank for the options available. If they're not too keen on the idea, why not ask the owner if he has a paypal account you can put it in?

All villa owners are different - if it's a single address owner, they may be happy to provide the full address so you can plan out the area, or if it's an owner who has several identical villas they may just say which community it will be in, which will still give you a fair idea of where it is and what's around.

 

[minnie29uk]

Hi!
When wiring the money,you have the option on the form of you paying the fee or the recipient.So tick that box!!

You will get the villa address - alarm code,key box number etc once you have paid your final deposit.

Have a great holiday,
Lynn

 

[sammi]

When we booked our villa rental for last month we also had a UK owner but I just set up a Paypal account and payed him via my credit card and everything was great!

 

[Logans_Dad]

As I posted on another thread, I did a pile of research before deciding to stay in a villa. I googled and vivisimo'd until my fingers were blistered.

We ended up booking a Lindfields villa but only after more than several attacks of apoplexy (how's that for $2 word).

You can check on the owner (to see if they really own it) at the county assessor's website. The link for the Osceola County Property Appraiser (assessor) is ira"dot"property-appraiser"dot"org/index"dot"htm (sorry for the awkward 411 - apparently I'm not allowed to post links yet). The site will give you data on the owner (address etc.) as well as the house details (address, subdivision, age, square footage, etc., even a map or aerial view if you want).

You can also check to see if the villa is licensed by the State of Florida. The owner should be able to provide you with a license number, or you can search at myflorida"dot"com (the official portal of the State of Florida) under resort dwellings. The link is myflorida"dot"com/includes/licensee_alp"dot"html (see above for my apologies).

Good hunting.