Vacation Home Scams

[stevebeme]

I am interested in renting a vacation home for our trip but I am somewhat concerned about getting scamed out of my money. Is that a problem or am i being paranoid? Has anyone heard about such things and how do you protect yourself?

 

[JANNYANS]

These are very rare although there have been instances of management agencies that have "gone under" leaving guests with no homes to use.One such happened around easter time a couple of years ago.The recent scams have been more directed against owners in fact when the companies have taken bookings and not passed on the income leaving the owners in dire straits as you might imagine.
The best thing is to check the property appraisers site for the home you are considering -where you look will depend on the county the home is in.
Ask questions of the owner until you are satisfied that you know all you want about it -after all who knows their home better.
Ask for details of the management company they have looking after their home and ask them questions too.
Ask people you know if they have recommendations of homes .
Look for a rental on a site that verifies the ownership of the homes -not all do- and some will take listings from anyone saying they are the owner.
Look on here for owners at least you will be able to get hold of them quickly using the pm system.

Try not to worry -it is a leap of faith renting a home for the first time -but the faith has to work both ways as the owner also has a lot at stake in renting out their home .

 

[CoralCayTownhome]

I second everything Jan has said

The best thing is to ask as many questions as you need to - if the owner is genuine they will have no problem answering any of your concerns. Most owners were in your position at some stage so will certainly understand.

Good luck with your search

Tracey

 

[5mins2disney]

Another tip is to purchase trip insurance through www.insuremytrip.com or one of the other online trip insurance companies, which would protect you against fraud. If you pay using a credit card such as American Express, or even Visa, you would also get some additional protections, as they tend to side with the consumer in cases of fraud, although it's very rare in the VRBO industry, especially near Disney. You could also rent through a local reputable management company, although you can expect to pay a higher rate as they take a "cut" of the profits.

Given that Hurricane Dean is ruining people's vacations in Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and shortly Cancun at the moment, there's more than 1 reason to protect your vacation investment with trip insurance! (It's not that expensive either!).

 

[theparsons]

Another tip is to purchase trip insurance through www.insuremytrip.com or one of the other online trip insurance companies, which would protect you against fraud. If you pay using a credit card such as American Express, or even Visa, you would also get some additional protections, as they tend to side with the consumer in cases of fraud, although it's very rare in the VRBO industry, especially near Disney. You could also rent through a local reputable management company, although you can expect to pay a higher rate as they take a "cut" of the profits.

Given that Hurricane Dean is ruining people's vacations in Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and shortly Cancun at the moment, there's more than 1 reason to protect your vacation investment with trip insurance! (It's not that expensive either!).

Just wanted to point out that you may not have as much protection from your credit card company.....most of the homes I've been researching have said that final payment has to be made 2 months before you arrive. The credit card law for disputing a charge is 60 days from the day the charge appears on your bill. If your bill issues right after you make that 2 month payment, you may literally have a matter of days after you arrive to file your dispute. If you pay earlier than the 2 months, even by a week or two, you could find yourself just outside the legal window of 60 days to dispute when you arrive and find you've been scammed. I've been researching renting a home near WDW for about a month now, and have only found ONE report in all the websites and message boards that I've found that talks of being taken....and in this case it was that the house was pretty run down, even though the photos on the owner's website showed immaculate conditions. The photos of the renter showed a lot of damage to the walls including a hole behind a door knob, mold in the showers, a kitchen sink with chips out of the enamel, things like that.....not totally unliveable (except maybe the mold) but certainly not the beautiful home that was pictured.

I've also read on Dis about one renter who arrived to find the home unliveable and that another owner from the Dis allowed them to stay in their home in the same neigborhood, I think for free. It didn't say whether any recourse was sought or won from the original owner....the comment was more in passing, not a complete discussion about the situation.

I too am nervous about plunking out a couple thousand dollars sight unseen. I'm seriously considering asking the owners if my Mother in Law can drive by the property....it won't show us mold in the shower, but a lot can be said about a property by it's outside. I can't imagine an owner keeping the lawn and outside of the house up and letting the inside go to pot (ok, maybe it can happen of course).

The other thing I keep reminding myself is that unlike renting a house in my state, these are VACATION rentals and an actual INDUSTRY in Florida. THey are regulated, must be licensed and I think I read that they are inspected on occasion. I'm going to research to find out if it's possible to learn anything from the government about the license/inspection and/or any complaints they have received. I don't know how often they're inspected, so that might not help, but I figure I really need to try everything to insure that I'm making the best possible informed decision.


I can't imagine going to Florida during Hurricane season, lol.....I'm a California girl....give me a 8 earthquake over a hurricane anyday! I don't think I could handle the anxiety of knowing it was coming....an earthquake it happens, you hopefully can crawl out from the wreckage and rebuild. A hurricane you have to sit and watch TV telling you for a week how it's going to destroy everything in it's path, and there is nothing you can really do. Leaving would save YOU, but not your house and everything you have built for a life there. Yeah....surprise me, then I don't have a heart attack from advance anxiety, lol.

 

[deejay-55]

There is always an element of trust involved in renting from an owner - you are trusting him/her to rent you their vacation home, and they are trusting you to treat it with respect. If you are still nervous, you can always rent through one of the larger management companies such as Allstar or Global - it will cost a little more, but you will have that peace of mind.

 

[kilee]

Of course it could happen. BUT...I'd do your research and check thing out really well. It should be fine. We've rented homes/cabins/condo's through private owners quite a few times in WDW and other area's through private owners.

I've always used all the resources I could when making the decision, and we've always been very pleased.

 

[isla bonita]

My first thought on the subjest is get a referal from others who have rented before hand. They will have direct knowledge about the home you are interested in. I like a sure thing and with prior knowledge chances of being taken or being disapointed are lessoned.

My advice to all is to speak directly with the owner. Ask questions and keep in touch throughout the process. There are many great homes and wonderful owners out there and you will find one that suits your group best.

Let us know how everything works out. Have a great vaca.

 

[nala-h]

hi there

another way to check this out would to visit the villa owners website and see there feedback sections i am a 4 bedded villa owner on Windsor hills and have a dozen or so recent feedback's for prior guests with there e/mail addresses attached you could contact them and ask about there experience.

allan.

 

[magicmouse2]

Hi we are here now in a vacation home that I booked through VRBO direct. This home is managed by award vacation homes and it is perfect everything clean and working. You can email the owner if booking direct and ask them who manages their home.

 

[bullet875]

Do you all think we should start a vacation home referral thread? or is that against Disboards rules?

 

[DisneyMomto3]

I'd love to know more about this too.

 

[kilee]

Do you all think we should start a vacation home referral thread? or is that against Disboards rules?

We'll have to talk this over. There are some grey area's when it comes to the rental homes. The problem lies in the fact that our own members who are villa owners are a great asset, but at the same time we have to walk a fine line in not promoting their own properties over others.

 

[theparsons]

We'll have to talk this over. There are some grey area's when it comes to the rental homes. The problem lies in the fact that our own members who are villa owners are a great asset, but at the same time we have to walk a fine line in not promoting their own properties over others.

Couldn't you just make it a rule that if you're an owner then you can't post on the thread? I greatly appreciate the advice and words of wisdom and answers to questions that the owners have given me....but I'd love to see a thread of renters only saying "I stayed at such and such rented through owner SusieQ and the house was wonderful and here's my review of the house". Or...watch out, BillyBob's house was showing it's age and the plumbing didn't work.

I would tend to not want to hear from owners about how great their homes are....if we want owners to contact us, then a different thread would be better served for "I"m an owner and want to rent to Diser".....but I'd love to see that kept separate from a renter been there done that thread, so we can tell if we're reading from an impartial person or not.

Or whatever. It's not unlike the restaurant thread of course.....someone may have thought that BillyBob's house had character and loved it, while someone else just wanted to flush the toilet and not wake up the neighbors, lol. But, I appreciate hearing everyones opinions and especially when they explain WHY they loved or hated something. The "why" part lets me judge whether that's going to be my way of thinking or not.

Thanks for listening!

 

[kilee]

We definetly cannot have a thread for owners who want to rent to DISER's. That would be allowing adversting. As for banning them from the thread, that is why it's a touchy situation. Like I said we'll have to see where it goes, I've emailed our co-mod and we'll talk w/ the WM's and see what we come up with.