Research research research. If you find someone here that has a good price for something you're looking for, look at their post history, do a search on their username and see what other people say. If you found someone at another site, do the same thing.
Get their real name and phone number, and search a bit on The Internet with that, just to make sure they're on the up and up.
If I'm saying do a little snooping, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Good renters should have been around long enough that they won't try to hide who they are, and that people in similar circles should have said something good about them. A public glowing review helps immensely. I'm not saying to find their work address and where they ate for dinner last week, that's way too far, but to at least get a feel for the person.
Ask for a contract, and have it filled out with dates, number of points, and dollar totals. What's the cancellation policy?
How is payment done? Paypal/Venmo/Zelle/Google Pay/Apple Pay are fine. Wiring money via Western Union is not.
Ask for references. I had one renter (not from here) who said that he doesn't provide references due to privacy concerns... ???? I ran away.
But, stay comfortable throughout the entire process. If you don't feel comfortable, don't do it. It's too much money to just have go up in smoke.
Generally speaking, once you get inside of 30 days, the chances of them cancelling the reservation on you go down a lot. After that date, the DVC points go into holding, and have a very limited use left to them.
