Renting a house for the first time, would appreciate some advice

[Graciegirl5]

We want to head to Orlando in May/early June. I'm hoping to stay 2 weeks, so I'd really like to rent a house. I've been looking on VRBO but I've never done this before. What should I look out for or be wary of? I found a house with good reviews in a neighborhood called "The Shire." Has anyone heard of it or seen it? I truly just feel lost trying to decide what to do. Thanks for any advice!!

 

[DVC California]

Looks like the Shire is south, near Champions Gate, another popular neighborhood. We rented last year at Windsor Westside and enjoyed it (AirBnB),. Only thing I wasn't prepared for was how long the "commute" was in the morning and especially at night after WDW. That 20-30 minute drive felt like it took forever. I would recommend to not to take a mid-day break back at the house as you might not feel like driving back to the parks.

But having a whole house can be fun, especially if you're with another family. Cousins get to reconnect and there are a lot of restaurants along 192 with Super Walmart, Super Target, Publix all nearby. Try to do all your grocery shopping during the day, it can get crowded at night, especially at Walmart.

I'd ask about parking spaces if you have multiple vehicles. The place we had was a 5 bedroom but had only one parking space dedicated behind the unit. Other cars had to find open street parking around the neighborhood or the clubhouse lot after-hours.

Enjoy! Steve

 

[100AcreWood]

I'm not familiar with that neighborhood but we have always stayed in the Windsor Hills neighborhood which is 2 miles from Disney. I agree with the above poster, you don't want a long drive back to the house after a day at Disney. I have never used them, but my neighbor likes Magical Vacation Homes. They rent houses in various neighborhoods.

 

[NH-to-FL]

The Shire is part of West Haven development where our winter home is located. West Haven is a very nice, well maintained development. The Shire was built around ten years ago so the houses are probably in good condition. If the pictures and reviews look good then the likelihood is that it will be OK.

One question to ask the owner is who is the local contact in case something goes wrong. We rented our home for a number of years before I retired and I had a local property manager who handled all of the details. He had cleaning people and a full time "handyman" backed up with a list of plumbers, electricians, pool service, etc who would respond to those occasional house problems.

One thing to check is the cleanliness of the home when you arrive. It is a challenging and potentially expensive problem to clean a large home between renters. Consider how long it takes to run a whole house worth of towels and sheets through a washer/dryer. And sadly sometimes renters can be a bit lax in helping. Such as putting dirty pans back into the cabinets, something that cleaners might not think to check. While our property manager did a pretty good job we always spent a good portion of our visits performing a "deep cleaning".

As far as the location, some might note that the area is a bit further away from Disney. If you add the traffic that the area can sometimes have it can take 30-40 minutes to get to the parks. Spend a few minutes with Google traffic as the traffic through Champions Gate and on I-4 can get heavy at times. There are backroads that can be used but they get busy as well. When going to Disney in the mornings we usually just go through Champions Gate to I-4. Coming home, especially in the afternoon, we will usually weave through the back roads as the traffic on I-4 west bound gets very heavy. On average you'll get a bit more house for the money for the tradeoff of a longer drive to Disney.

Good luck in your search!

 

[Graciegirl5]

Thank you all for the advice. The distance did kind of worry me, but this isn't a park heavy trip and the extra space and private pool would be very nice. I'll make sure I check on parking because my cousin's family will hopefully be joining us. And speaking of distance, any idea how much further Universal is from Disney? I looked closer to Uni but there weren't any good options with the space I need and the price I'd like to pay. Thanks.

 

[NH-to-FL]

Thank you all for the advice. The distance did kind of worry me, but this isn't a park heavy trip and the extra space and private pool would be very nice. I'll make sure I check on parking because my cousin's family will hopefully be joining us. And speaking of distance, any idea how much further Universal is from Disney? I looked closer to Uni but there weren't any good options with the space I need and the price I'd like to pay. Thanks.

You are welcome! I forgot to mention the parking situation. In the Shire there is a restriction on overnight parking on the street. It is posted that cars parked on the street overnight will be towed. Do the tow trucks come around every night? No. But there is a risk. All of the Shire homes have two car garages so you will be able to get two cars into the driveway. Maybe more depending on the length of the driveway. If you get the street address you can google map and zoom in to see the driveway size. The garage will be consumed with game room equipment.

Universal is about 10 miles further up I-4 from Disney. I-4 can get very busy at times so check google traffic for expected travel times.

I am not surprised you found fewer rental options near Universal. Orange County makes it hard to do short term rentals. No such restrictions in Polk County. Though one of the neighborhoods in West Haven did amend their HOA rules to prohibit short term rentals.

 

[Cynt]

"What should I look out for or be wary of? " - Make sure during C19 you read and understand the cancellation policy.
""The Shire." Has anyone heard of it or seen it? " - I haven't heard of that community.

I'm just wondering if you have considered condo resorts? We were going to rent a house at first when we traveled with extended family but when we looked into WBC we were sold. They offer a house feel with resort amenities. I would recommend Wyndham Bonnet Creek. They have 1, 2, 3 and 4 bdrm condos plus numerous pools. They are close to Disney, so uber/lyft could be used if we wanted to split up. Disney Springs is close just in case you don't want to cook plus numerous other restaurants and a Walmart down the street. They also have a few onsite restaurants. The resort is clean, updated and the condos are very spacious. You will feel like you are in a house. You will definitely be able to spread out if you are a family.

We have visited with 10 and 3 persons. Our family trip with 10 persons was 3 grandparents, 4 sisters and 3 kids. We stayed in a 4 bdrm condo and it was more than enough room. Every family had their own room and bathroom. My sis#2, sis#3 and niece(6) shared a room. It had two queen beds which they loved. We stayed a week and after a few days you know how you need your space from your siblings/family this condo did the trick. On our chill days we were not on top of each other and we were able to relax.

When my DH, MIL and myself went we rented a 2 bdrm. My MIL was so excited that she basically had her own half of the condo. She couldn't believe how spacious it was. We stayed a week and she enjoyed herself tremendously. She goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up with the chickens. She would read and peruse the resort until we woke up and started moving around. She didn't disturb us and we didn't disturb her when we stayed up late.

Anyways, just thought I would give you another option. I was overwhelmed by all the homes available so I know what you are going through. We're headed back for another family trip in 2022. Two sisters have since gotten married so we'll probably rent two 3 bdrms this time. We thought again about renting a large 6-8 bdrm home but decided against it since WBC is so close to WDW and we know what to expect from WBC.

Good luck with your search.

 

[bearzabout]

I haven’t heard of the shire, but have learned about problems from renting houses the hard way. These are some of the things that we had issues with. We don’t sweat the small stuff, but the issues we experienced could drive a person nuts.

I agree with the above poster to make sure there is someone to call if you have an issue. We set off the fire alarm while cooking prime rib and without a number to call to tell them what happened, we would have had an expensive visit from the fire department. We had no way to turn off the alarm ourselves. Imagine Christmas dinner with a fire alarm going off for a long time until the management company found a way for us to turn it off.

The child protective sliding doors to a pool had had an audible alarm that went off whenever they were opened. That meant no leaving them open and no quiet visits to the pool at night without everybody in the house knowing the doors were opened. The alarm constantly going off all day drive us nuts. There was no way to turn it off. We had no kids with us.

We paid a lot for pool heat not knowing it was only for a few hours per day. The pool water circulated through the hot tub so we either had a cold swim during the day or no heat in the hot tub at night. We could not change the timer that adjusted when the pool heat was on. Very disappointing for $20/day.

Check everything when you first arrive. We have had problems like no ends on pool sticks, no hangers in the closet, no tp, no ac upstairs and no way to adjust it.

All the management companies we contacted about issues after arrival were great, but they had a limit on what they could fix. Thank goodness we had a company to contact that answered the phone 24 hours per day.

Many of these issues took us by surprise. It would have been better to know these details before our arrival.

If you end up renting a long distance from the park, make sure to check google maps for traffic before heading out each day. The drive directions may change every day because of backups and accidents. We have a rule to never get on I4 without checking current travel conditions first. I4 is the direct route from the Championsgate area and it is frequently backed up. One of the entrances requires a toll, so check first and carry your Sunpass transponder just in case you end up at a toll booth. We never intended to drive on toll roads but had to on occasion to get around backups from accidents.

 

[Jennasis]

Check out the homes in Emerald Island too. We had a LOVELY stay there is August (and we are DVC owners). It was delightful. We rented a home for $135/night.

 

[Sha259]

I have exclusively stayed in rental homes when visiting Disney and I would never stay farther than 15 minutes away, and would never stay anywhere that required I get on I4 to get to the parks. Trying to navigate highway traffic after a long park day after a fireworks show is not fun.

my past 2 stays I have stayed at Windsor Hills in either THs or villas and both have been great experiences. I would however have to agree that renting a home where the owner AND the management company are easily accessible is key. I have had easy direct contact with the owners and they usually call you within about 1-2 hours of checkin to make sure everything is okay, to answer any last minute concerns, and to tell you and specific special things thathelps you settle in. Like where the remote is if you can’t find it or they best place for first night delivery dinner!

Definitely research any community you plan to stay in, Google map the area to get familiar with what’s around, and check if you community has any social media pages, I know WH has some.

I love WH because you can literally get from your front door to Animal Kingdom in 10 minutes. Longest commute is to MK at about a leisurely 20-25 minutes to the TTC.

 

[Fanofthegame]

If your going to rent a home please take pics of everything. Nothing worse than getting a charged for damage you didn't do.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Read the reviews! Take note of how clean it is based on the reviews.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Read the reviews! Take note of how clean it is based on the reviews.

Yes, and I would be leery of one that has no reviews yet. Learned this the hard way.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

We want to head to Orlando in May/early June. I'm hoping to stay 2 weeks, so I'd really like to rent a house. I've been looking on VRBO but I've never done this before. What should I look out for or be wary of

DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER,
1) Good reviews mean nothing.
2) Too many landlords issue their own reviews.
3) In renting a house, just do it and take your chances.
4) Usually, the reviews will be close, but typically overstated.

NOTE:
. . . We have a landlord and rental manager in our Kiwanis group,
. . . He advertises to European visitors.
. . . I have seen his rentals.
. . They are not bad, but are far below his ads.
. . . But, they are visitors, so reality vs ads are accepted.