Seeking House Rental Accommodations/Suggestions

[BrightMorningStar]

Hi -

Before posting I looked at each forum title, so I hope this is the one to put this under. If not I apologize and hope that it will be moved to the proper subheading.

We are planning to visit FL around May. We used to go to Disney at least yearly until 2019. We even had DVC, but sold it in early 2020. We are not planning a Disney trip, but will most likely visit the parks a few days during our stay in FL.

We are interested in booking a house (non-shared) for our stay. A 3 or 4 bedroom. I have been warned (by a FL resident) that Kissimmee has a high crime rate. I have also been told that if you rent a townhome or home that is less than $180 - $200 a night they are generally not as clean as the photos on the rental websites reflect or the promises in their description. It was suggested that most Airbnb homes are not well-kept. We do not want to be on Disney property, which is why I am not looking at renting DVC.

So, instead of word-of-mouth opinions, I would be interested in real experiences. If you rented a house what company did you use? What area of or around Orlando were you in? Was it worth the money? Would you do it again?

 

[NH-to-FL]

Your post has found the right forum.

I have not rented a house but own one that I short term rented for a few years until I retired and became a snowbird. There are plenty of nice houses for rent out there. Our home is in Davenport, Polk County where short term rentals are permitted. We used a management company to run the rental operation. I would pass along their name but the company has changed ownership and I do not have any direct knowledge of the new owners other than to note that they have a nice web site and still offer a number of the houses that they did when ours was there. If you are interested, you can PM me for the name.

Many of the smaller property management operations focus their attention and marketing on international renters, particularly from Europe.

VRBO is a good place to look for rentals. Three and four bedroom homes are very common. Most will have a pool. Look for a lot of good reviews and make sure you are dealing with the owner. Also make sure that if the owner is not local that there is a local contact to quickly address issues that might arise.

Good luck in your search!

 

[BrightMorningStar]

Your post has found the right forum.

I have not rented a house but own one that I short term rented for a few years until I retired and became a snowbird. There are plenty of nice houses for rent out there. Our home is in Davenport, Polk County where short term rentals are permitted. We used a management company to run the rental operation. I would pass along their name but the company has changed ownership and I do not have any direct knowledge of the new owners other than to note that they have a nice web site and still offer a number of the houses that they did when ours was there. If you are interested, you can PM me for the name.

Many of the smaller property management operations focus their attention and marketing on international renters, particularly from Europe.

VRBO is a good place to look for rentals. Three and four bedroom homes are very common. Most will have a pool. Look for a lot of good reviews and make sure you are dealing with the owner. Also make sure that if the owner is not local that there is a local contact to quickly address issues that might arise.

Good luck in your search!

Thank you for that information. When I look online what pops up those most, outside of Airbnb, is floridarentals.com. Is that what you referring to when you say "property management operations focus their attention and marketing on international renters"? This is what my friend who relocated to Florida is warning against.

 

[Brian Noble]

I have been warned (by a FL resident) that Kissimmee has a high crime rate. I have also been told that if you rent a townhome or home that is less than $180 - $200 a night they are generally not as clean as the photos on the rental websites reflect or the promises in their description. It was suggested that most Airbnb homes are not well-kept.

It's been a few years since I was renting houses/condos/etc., so some of this is possibly out of date, but...

The "tourist zone" of Kissimmee (west and directly south of I4) is quite a bit different from the rest of the town. I'm not particularly worried about "crime," but even in the sense that most people use it (which is more about the socio-economic status of an area vs. what actually happens) the tourist zone is on the sedate end of things.

I've twice rented in Windsor Hills--the first a 3BR townhome, and the second a 5BR pool home. The location is great, it's gated, the properties were well-kept, and the community pool/etc, was very nice. I now stay in timeshares, but if I wasn't doing that, that's the neighborhood I'd go back to.

 

[NH-to-FL]

Yes, it seems like most of the smaller property management firms target their marketing to specific travel organizations, mostly international. Like you I have not found many of them through online searches.

I don't know anything about floridarentals. I know that when I was looking for a management company there were stories of bad firms.

VRBO seems to be the one of the more popular sites for finding rentals. I know that there are many houses in our development that are offered for rent on VRBO. Try searching for West Haven. There are a number of sub communities, The Shire, the Hamlet, the Manor, the Sanctuary at West Haven that will pop up in the search. West Haven is a well managed, well maintained community. There are many similar developments in the areas. Once you search on VRBO a map shows up and you can move the map and see more rentals. Make sure you look for rentals with a lot of good reviews and that the contact is the owner.

 

[rdaky]

The touristy part of Kissimmee where the big rental homes are located is generally fine. Something to keep in mind is that in the NICE areas near Disney, short term rentals are not allowed. We are local and I know that not only are short term rentals not allowed in Orange County unless it's a designated vacation rental type place, most HOAs in regular neighborhoods forbid them in any manner including renting out a room. So if you see a rental online and they're not transparent about the specific address or the pictures, chances are, it's an illegal rental. We live in a nice neighborhood a few minutes from Disney and there have been several property owners busted for renting out their homes as vacation rentals.

All of that said, stick with a legit rental location. Look for lots of positive reviews and actual information about what you see online vs what you get. I know we rented a gorgeous house once and the hot tub had dangerous levels of bacteria. Looked clean and most people would just hop in, but we're super particular about that sort of thing so we checked it and made sure to write that in our review. Look at nearby rentals, too. What are their prices? What is the actual neighborhood like. Look it up on google earth if you have to.

 

[BecBennett]

We're planning on staying at Windsor Hills for our next visit. I haven't been before so can't really comment, but apparently booking through windsorhillsprivaterentals dot com is the way to go.

 

[smwisc]

Hi -

Before posting I looked at each forum title, so I hope this is the one to put this under. If not I apologize and hope that it will be moved to the proper subheading.

We are planning to visit FL around May. We used to go to Disney at least yearly until 2019. We even had DVC, but sold it in early 2020. We are not planning a Disney trip, but will most likely visit the parks a few days during our stay in FL.

We are interested in booking a house (non-shared) for our stay. A 3 or 4 bedroom. I have been warned (by a FL resident) that Kissimmee has a high crime rate. I have also been told that if you rent a townhome or home that is less than $180 - $200 a night they are generally not as clean as the photos on the rental websites reflect or the promises in their description. It was suggested that most Airbnb homes are not well-kept. We do not want to be on Disney property, which is why I am not looking at renting DVC.

So, instead of word-of-mouth opinions, I would be interested in real experiences. If you rented a house what company did you use? What area of or around Orlando were you in? Was it worth the money? Would you do it again?

We've rented at Windsor Hills several times over the years, most recently last summer in a 4BR pool house through VRBO. No problems with cleanliness or maintenance, and it's about as close to the park as you can get.

 

[PlatinumDCLaddict]

Didn't the Dis Unplugged sponsor a short-term rental company? I've tried to go back through old episodes, but can't find the info. Anyone here know what I'm talking about? Thanks.