Payment methods

[Jules123]

I have found a good deal on a condo on Homeaway. The owner has been very responsive to my emails and gave me her license number with the DBPR and she has several good reviews of the property. I paid a deposit via Paypal, and signed a written contract with final payment due 60 days prior to arrival. She has told me to send final payment via cashiers check or money order or she said I could fill out a check and make a copy of the front and back and send it to her (?) Which method sounds safest? Just a little nervous as the other 2 times I rented , I always paid via Paypal which made me feel a little safer. Am I just being paranoid?

 

[Jules123]

Bumping

 

[formill]

We have so far always been given the option to pay via pay pal with the other option to send a money order to their bank in Florida. The owners have always charged us a fee to use paypal up to 4% on top of rental fee so to save that I have sent the money order to their bank and just used paypal for the deposit. So far so good we've had a house every time and every time received security deposit back. We always check property tax records and find every website we can for the villa and read reviews. I think if you want to pay via paypal you should certainly be able to! If they flat out refused I think that would be very odd when they took the deposit that way. Are they absorbing any paypal fees themselves? Maybe that is why they want a money order.

 

[Jules123]

I haven't asked if I could pay the remainder by Paypal. She just told me those were the options to pay. Just wasn't sure as I've always paid via Paypal.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I haven't asked if I could pay the remainder by Paypal. She just told me those were the options to pay. Just wasn't sure as I've always paid via Paypal.

PayPal made you feel safe? Why? PayPal has limited protection and if the seller is smart and moves their funds immediately from the account then Paypal will just tell you 'sorry'.

 

[Hasil72]

I'd ask if they have a homeaway account that you can pay through. We booked a deal on a Windsor Hills townhouse over Easter weekend and paid both the deposit and final payment through the homeaway site. I don't know about security but it did offer both vacation insurance and another insurance option in case the rental isn't what was expected. First time I had seen that.