Renting vacation home directly from owner?

[momo64]

I am interested in hearing from anyone who has rented a vacation home directly from the owner. We have rented from Advantage Homes and Endless Summer in the past but I heard you can save quite a bit of money if you deal with the actual owner instead of the management company. Has anyone tried this? If so, who did you rent from and were you happy with your choice?

 

[the4taals]

We did 3 times and were happy. The last time the house was not clean, we contacted the owners and the cleaners came back.
I don't think you really save any money though as we paid $1300.00.
The last 2 times we have stayed in suite hotels for alot less.
You do get your own pool and 2 or more baths which is great.
Cheaper if you are sharing not a single family.

 

[CoralCayTownhome]

Hi,

We previously have rented homes in the Disney area but through UK websites. We found that the location of the houses were great but would prefer to be on a gated community with a bit more atmosphere.

It can work out cheaper depending on how many people are staying together and what sort of facilities and accommodation you require.

There are many US websites - www.vrbo.com seems to be mentioned quite alot but you will probably need to decide what area you are looking for and which resort complex suits your needs. This is all part of the fun of planning!

Happy planning,

Tracey

 

[FLParadisevilla]

We enjoyed renting the homes and we rented them from the owners so much we bought our own home!
You can try www.indiancreekflorida.com These homes are verified too.
www.orlandovillas.com the require the homes to be verified for ownership every 6 months.

 

[momo64]

We always share with my brother and his family and we rent a pool home. The first home was on Warrior Lane just off I-92 and we loved how close it was to Disney. The second house was about 15 minutes away from the parks off the Osceola Parkway but it we found it to be way too far for us. The closer to Disney the better and we liked the area around Indian Wells.

 

[FLParadisevilla]

Some of the neighborhoods closest to Disney are
Indian Creek, Windsor Hills, Emerald Island, Windsor Palms, Rolling hills, Sunset Lakes, Oak Island Cove.

You can read this thread that describes the disntance from Indian Creek to the Disney Parks.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1366642

I have stayed in Hampton Lakes which is off 27 and I love that neighborhood and it will always be one of my favorites (my husband and I were married there at the house we rented) and we stayed in Windsor Palms then we bought our home in Indian Creek. So I have to say I agree I like being closer to the parks myself but that is just my personal choice.

I know there are plenty of wonderful homes and neighborhoods that are not as close, and Hampton Lakes will always have a special place in my heart. We drive by the house just to see it everytime we are in Florida.

 

[Disney Ella]

We rented a townhome at Windsor Hills directly through the owner. Renting a townhouse through a management company would have cost $150 - $200 more. We had no problems. It was nice not to have to go somewhere to check in. The key was in a lock box on the door. Everything in the house was clean and we got our deposit back thirty days later.

 

[mbb]

Just going to pop this downstairs for you..

And DH and I hava rented direct several times...no problems at all

Just do your "due diligence", and remember, if it sounds too good to be true...check it out more!

 

[5mins2disney]

For Windsor Hills please visit:
www.windsorhillsrent.com

Gorgeous brand new resort just opened and finished construction in 2005, all the homes are brand new and there's a multi million dollar clubhouse with a huge pool, waterslide, games room, and much more!

 

[brauergirls]

I read your thread that mentioned "Windsor Hill's". We are looking at this website and found a townhome that was mentioned on "VRBO" as well as the "Windsor Hills" website. We also found another townhome we like but do not find it listed on the "Windsor Hills" website but on VRBO. What is are best way to secure a reservation for these townhomes. We are new at this but like what we saw.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[sympatico]

brauragirls, just email or call the owner. On the VRBO site there's a section after the rates where you can email the owner. When you click that a form comes up for you to fill in your dates etc and any other info you would like to have. They will email or call you back with a quote and other info. Very easy. You can also call them if you want. I usually email first then call later if I have to or you can do it all by email. Whatever you want.

 

[5mins2disney]

Yes just fill out the online inquiry form on windsorhillsrent.com or on vrbo.com which will email the owner directly, or if there's a phone # listed you can always call. Be sure to check their availability calendar first, you'd be surprised, we get tons and tons of inquiries for dates that our calendar shows us as already booked (this will save you some time!). There are homes on either website you might find that are not on one or the other, for sure, they're both paid advertising sites, so not everyone is on both!

 

[allyn]

we rented "emerald footprints" in emerald island directly from the owner. no problems at all, the house is beautiful. but we did not save any money.

 

[5mins2disney]

Well keep in mind "savings" are going to vary from home-home and MC-MC. The MCs take anywhere from 10-50% of the rental income from the owners as their booking commission, that's how they work. You really are cutting out the "middleman" by renting direct from the owners, so I have definitely seen many cases of the MCs charging a higher amount for the same exact home, or, there's times you might find an owner willing to discount a little bit for renting direct.

Secondly...when you look at the "big" picture...you're saving a TON versus staying in a traditional hotel room of course, especially when you figure out how much pool home and amenities you got versus staying in a 2 bed 12x15 hotel room with 1 bathroom for top dollar!