Vacation Home Rental

[torismom]

I am thinking of renting a vacation home for our next trip. Where do I start? I would like to be close, have our own pool and jaccuzi. What company have you used and please share your experiences.

THank you

 

[Robinrs]

Hi, torismom:

Welcome, fellow Georgian! I sent you an email!

 

[karenvicki]

We rented a home for the first time last November and I did a ton of research before making our decision. I had called various management companies and did internet research as well. In the end I checked out a website called www.vrbo.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner). I made several email inquiries through this site, and always got prompt replies from the owners (most of them living in the UK). I too wanted a home with a pool and a jacuzzi that was close to WDW and at vrbo there were tons of listings. BTW, we ended up with a lovely 4 bdrm/2 bath home with a pool and jacuzzi (which we used every night once the kids were in bed) in the Indian Creek development in Kissimmee which was only 5-10 minutes from the parks and close to shopping and restaurants. And the price was so inexpensive!
As you can probably tell, the whole thing was a very positive experience for us and we wouldn't hesitate going this route again!
Hope this has been helpful for you. Don't hesitate to ask more questions; I have found the people on this board to be honest, extremely helpful and very pleasant!
Good luck!

 

[martina857]

I agree, go with a private owner rather than a management company based rental agency they are under immense pressure to get rentals, their livelyhood depends on it so will tell you anything to get you in the villa.
Also decide where you want to be, is it important that you are close? if not you should get a good deal down on US27 around Davenport or Clermont.

Another web site you can use is Villas 2000

 

[tednvon]

Hi...these days "close" is not out on 27 or anywhere up by Clermont...close is Formosa Gardens, Emerald Island, Rolling Hills and the other developements of 192 on Formosa Garden Blvd...at vrbo.com you can search under these developements....good luck...Ted

 

[BonnieA]

I've had very good luck with rental agencies. The houses have been close and lovely. The one I have used is www.elitevacationhomes.com. They do not require a large deposit, only one night which is fully refunded if you cancel with a week's notice.

 

[FLeisure]

Management companies and owners work together to get bookings. Frankly, I'm not bothered if you go direct to the owner.....it actually helps me !

Let me explain further. Very often homeowners have purchased a home and are led to believe by real estate people that the house will make them money by renting the house out through MC's. As a result , the vast percentage of owners actually think that an MC can conjure up 30-40 weeks worth of rentals from nowhere to cover the cost of their dream.

Thankfully, more and more owners are taking responsibility for their actions and are actually promoting their own homes in order to get the bookings they need to cover their expenses. I applaud them and web sites like VRBO, etc do a great job.

But now let me make something very clear to you. Each and every owner needs someone on the spot who can take care of the numerous issues that have to be dealt with on a day to day basis. That is the role that MC's also play.

Frankly, I don't care who you rent from as long as you take the necessary precautions to protect yourself. For your benefit, I'll repeat them:

1. Each house must be licensed with DBPR.
2. Whoever you rent from must have a local MC/agent that can handle any issues.
3. The M/C or agent you deal with must be professional and must adhere to certain standards. www.cfpma.com is a good starting point.
4. Check credentials with Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce and any other trade body you can think of.
5. For the best vacation experience you do not want to be more than 15 minutes from Disney....assuming you are planning on spending a lot of time there.

It is owners who are under pressure to get bookings to cover their costs, particularly since 911. As a result, it is possible to get better deals directly from owners but....and it's a big but........what happens if something goes wrong ? Who are you then going to turn to ? Answer......MC's.

 

[FLeisure]

BonnieA,

I just wanted to thank you for helping us to re-assess the way we do things. We are now going to adopt a similar policy on a trial basis of 6 months. We are keen to discover if this helps obtain more bookings or if we get more last minute cancellations !

Thank you.

 

[vellamint]

Okay so whether it is through a management company or by owner....what is a good website that is fairly easy to navigate. Frankly I have been researching this for awhile and am overwhelmed by some websites that seem to have tons of homes with pictures etc..... I really just want a 3 bedroom home with twin beds in the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms. A television in each bedroom would be a definite plus. All homes seem to have the washer/dryer and a pool would be great. Oh yeah - no more than 10-15 minutes from the Mouse!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are too many to choose from..............can anyone give me a recommendation and maybe a personal review. Have reservations at HIFS but am rethinking this as the homes have so much more space.

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!

 

[torismom]

vellamint, I to have reservations at the hifs. I decided that the rental home would be the best way to go. We have a total of 3 adults and my 2 children. The one bathroom started to worry me. I have sent two companies emails and robinrs is referring me to someone.

I can understand how you feel. When are you going?

 

[lilsonicfan]

Okay so whether it is through a management company or by owner....what is a good website that is fairly easy to navigate. Frankly I have been researching this for awhile and am overwhelmed by some websites that seem to have tons of homes with pictures etc.....

I used www.orlandovillas.com - they have a good search engine that lets you look for specific house sizes, etc. Many of the villa owners have put extra information on their pages including availability calendars. As far as I know it is through owners themselves, but I'm not entirely sure. We got a good house, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, for $700 (8 nights.) -And it's in the Oak Island Area, just off of Formosa Garden Blvd - only 3 miles from the World.

Good luck!

 

[FLeisure]

I'm going to let you into a secret.
The following web site is still being designed and is due to go live within the next 7 days. It is a web site promoted by the companies who are members of the Central Florida Property Manager's Association and these members have all agreed to abide by a code of ethics to support the short term industry. Under no circumstances should you rent from a company who is not a member......simply put, these people haven't agreed to adhere to any standard and are a law unto themselves.

The trial web site is http://www.cfpma.stylusnet.net/ and the proper web site will be http://www.centralfloridavacations.com once it goes live.

The actual CFPMA web site is at http://www.cfpma.com.

 

[tednvon]

The last post was pretty heavy duty and the quote about "under no circumstances should you rent from a company that is not a member" really concerns me. I could find no list of "companies" that have taken this so called pledge and I have no idea how many companies were contacted to see if they wanted to be part of this organization...But to say under no circumstances should someone not rent "from us" is really stretching the purpose of this board...I did a search on your board and came up with about 5 possible 3 or 4 bedroom homes. Now we all know there are hundreds of these homes out there, so where did these 5 come from, and whose company got first space and so on?....Let's continue to give the posters here reasonable choices and options, not ultimatums....Ted

 

[Lakul]

Originally posted by FLeisure [/i]
Under no circumstances should you rent from a company who is not a member......simply put, these people haven't agreed to adhere to any standard and are a law unto themselves.

I know people who are members of this organization and I wouldn't let them look after my villa if they were the last people on earth!!

Just because you join an organisation it doesn't mean you automatically become trustworthy and good to do business with.

PS- I had already posted this and it disappeared!!!

 

[FLeisure]

Ok, I accept what you say to a degree.

Having said that, over 40 management companies are members of CFPMA and not one single complaint has ever been recieved against a member company. If you or anyone else has a problem in any way, the CFPMA wants to know. If you have had a problem with a member company then let the CFPMA know about it !

Every property management company has been invited to join the organisation and some that have applied have been unable to meet the ethic's qualifiaction.

The question is, who would you rather rent from...someone who has agreed to abide by a code of ethic's or someone who cannot or doesn't want to abide by them ?

 

[vellamint]

I am going 8/23-8/31..........still looking for recommendations....from people who have rented.

 

[tednvon]

Can you post a list of the 40 companies?

 

[FLeisure]

Ted,
The member company's can be located on the www.cfpma.com web site. Check under "members".

 

[Elle]

Emerald Island is close, as are Windsor Palms, Oak Island and Formossa Gardens. I suggest a search on VRBO for any of these developments.
Elle

 

[karenvicki]

I second the info Elle just gave. We found a number of good options off of vrbo all of which fit our criteria. We dealt with wonderful owners and in the end were pleased with our choice of villa which was in the Indian Creek development which is in the same area as the developments mentioned by Elle. I would use vrbo again in a second!
As an aside, for most of you who surf this board often, you will certainly notice that FLeisure posts frequently and has a lot of helpful, information which he presents in a pleasant fashion. Read his posts, consider what he says - as well as posts of others - and in the end make your own decisions. I honestly don't feel he's plugging anything and I, myself have learned a lot from his postings. That being said, I still went with vrbo (after doing extensive research) because I was thrilled with the site, the quick, pleasant replies from the owners, the number of listings and knowing that this site is regulated, and I found that by cutting out the management company, I saved a substantial amount on a comparable villa.
This is a great website...