Nervous about deposit for rental house. Help please!

[elizablake]

I'll try to make the story short. Myself, DH, DD, my mom and dad plan to visit Disney next June. We have looked at about a million homes and we found one that has everything we want. We found it on Home Away. The owner lives in the UK. She has been very quick and helpful when answering my e-mails. The price seems fair: $1185 for 8 nights in a 4 bedroom/3 bath in Indian Creek. She has a website and owns 5 rental houses, will accept Paypal, has a management company in Fl, and seems very professional.

We were ready to book but when she e-mailed her rental contract it requires a 50% deposit and a $250 security deposit. That's a grand total of $842 that she wants to hold the reservation!! $592 of that would be refundable in the case of cancellation but I'm not worried about us cancelling, I'm worried about the house being foreclosed or some other problem that causes us to lose the full $842.

I was taken by surprise because on her Home Away page it says this: "20% non-refundable deposit required to secure booking. Remaining balance due 8 weeks before date of arrival. Security deposit of $250 prior to stay (refunded within 2 weeks of departure)."

So, I was expecting to pay about $240 to reserve the house and then pay the security deposit and remaining balance a couple months before the trip.

We are already nervous since we have never rented a house in Disney. But we were willing to risk $240 since the house was nice and the owner appeared to be legit.

I tried to price trip insurance but I can't seem to find one that specifically says it covers rental houses. Also, wouldn't a policy only cover the $250 in the case that the owner disappears with our money?

I checked our second choice for a house and he only requires $50 to hold the reservation.

Should we just pick another house?
Am I being paranoid?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I can post a link to her Home Away page and web site if that is helpful.

 

[PJMPA]

A 50% deposit plus a cash security deposit is definately on the high end of the vacation rental market, especially for a busy month like June. I require a $300 deposit and the balance 30 days prior to arrival. The puzzling thing is why the website says one thing and the rental contract says another. You should ask that question and don't worry about offending the owner. I would certainly expect the question to be asked under the same circumstances. Good luck and enjoy your stay.

 

[disneysteve]

I agree with asking. Point out that the website says something different and ask if they'll honor their website's info.

We are staying in a home right now. The web listed a different rate than the owner quoted me when he responded to my inquiry. When I mentioned that, he said he hadn't updated the site yet and gave it to me for that rate.

 

[elizablake]

Thanks. You're right I should ask.

 

[sjanus]

I would contact the owner explaining that I definitely would like to book the home, but would like the contract to be as stated in the advertisement on Home Away. That is false advertisement, that's for sure. A deposit of 20% would be appropriate. The owner probably would take the rental with the 20% deposit.

If not, I think I would keep looking.....there's no reason for them to want half of the monies now.

There are lots of beautiful homes. Check www.vrbo.com also if you haven't already. Another good one is www.vacationrentals.com.

I think anyone would question such an inconsistency...so I think you are 100% right on!

Sandy

 

[kksmom92]

Since you said it was on Homeaway (that's where we rented ours from) did you know they have a Rent With Confidence Guarantee? You can read about it here.

You can get the insurance I'm sure you would want for $59 as it does cover if the owner does go into forclousure.

 

[Hasil72]

Keep us updated. We LOVE renting a home compared to a hotel. 50% seems steep to me. I don't think we've ever paid more than 25% deposit then the security has usually been due with the final payment.

Good luck!

 

[elizablake]

Thank you all for the info. I did e-mail the owner and she replied that she had used the wrong template for my invoice and contract. She is now only requiring 20% of the rental fee and the security deposit will be due in April. We feel much more comfortable now and we are going to go ahead with the booking.

We are also going to get the insurance from Home Away that kksmom92 pointed out.

Thanks again!