Villa worries!!!

[gaylie]

Hi, I'm not new at DIY holidays to Florida, so I am starting to look for Sept next year.....just had a wonderful price for a 5 bed villa on the sub-division I want (my usual villa was sold last year)....I want to put a deposit down, but Im a little wary, as the owners address is a flat in Britain.....no booking forms requiring who will be coming, no website (only on a general owners website), photos sent by email on attachments (although the same photos were on the original website)....I dont know, it all seems genuine......I would appreciate some imput, or maybe advice.....am I being too suspicious?? is everything true?? the amjority of villa owners on owner site's also have their own websites.......maybe Im paranoid!!!!

 

[JANNYANS]

You can look up the owners on the correct county website
http://ira.property-appraiser.org/PropertySearch/
is osceola

http://www.polkpa.org/

is Polk

http://www.lakecopropappr.com/

is lake

the details you have should match what is on the website there as to the ownership

The county tax record and official records pages wil tell you if they are up to date on taxes and if there are any outstanding liens on the home

 

[gaylie]

Thank you so much......Im just a little unsure...and this would put my mind at rest......

 

[Pegasus928]

Providing the names and ages of people that will be staying in the villa is something that - as far as I am aware - is required by Florida state law. We have had to do this in every one of the villas we have stayed in up to now.
Personally I would probably walk away from this one in favour of a villa that is advertised on a site that carries out regular checks on the owners.
http://www.orlandovillas.com/ is one of the best ones out there. We have used them many times and never had a problem. The site owners are regulars on the forums that they also run, and have always been quick to act in the event of any problems.
There are so many good deals to be had out there at the moment you don't have to risk your money on something you don't feel comfortable about.

 

[Netty]

Good advice from Kenny -sil
Let me know how you get on

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

It is very much a trust thing and I wouldn't book anything you don't feel confident about. I looked into some private rentals but couldn't get my heart into any of them. There are loads of good deals out there!

 

[j9000]

we have booked direct with owners in the uk twice before. found them via the holiday rentals/home away website. the same site my parents have used numerous times to book accommodation in france with no issues.

there are some great homes, some rubbish too though.

first time was brilliant, (only 3 bed though) it felt like someones second home (pictures up etc)
the second was just ok. while the guy was saying it was thier holiday home for them and thier kids, there wasnt any evidence of them (plain bedrooms, no soft toys, pool playthings etc) and it was clear it was an investment property rather than a home. was fine to stay in though.

 

[JulieSharp]

We have just booked a fab 5 bedroomed home on Cumbrian lakes for next April at a very good price.
Having said that , and this is a contradiction I suppose, I don't necessarily agree that there are good offers around, it all depends on when you are going and what the owner charges, villas on the same community can vary by several hundred pounds.

My husband is the expert on villas in our house and has been scouring all our usual website sources for a while, some of the prices quoted have been crazy. £2000 for 14 nights from one owner.
One thing we find is some owners are sneaky when they advertise, we always go for a south facing pool and do not book unless we can view the images of the home on the 'live maps' website, at least 4 that were advertised as 'south facing' clearly were not.
One owner emailed us 4 times during discussions, each time pointing out the property details as "south facing", when john found the home images it was facing "east", cue admission in next email from owner.

 

[Netty]

We have just booked a fab 5 bedroomed home on Cumbrian lakes for next April at a very good price.
Having said that , and this is a contradiction I suppose, I don't necessarily agree that there are good offers around, it all depends on when you are going and what the owner charges, villas on the same community can vary by several hundred pounds.

My husband is the expert on villas in our house and has been scouring all our usual website sources for a while, some of the prices quoted have been crazy. £2000 for 14 nights from one owner.
One thing we find is some owners are sneaky when they advertise, we always go for a south facing pool and do not book unless we can view the images of the home on the 'live maps' website, at least 4 that were advertised as 'south facing' clearly were not.
One owner emailed us 4 times during discussions, each time pointing out the property details as "south facing", when john found the home images it was facing "east", cue admission in next email from owner.

we have just booked a 5 bed villa on cumbrian lakes for next september, pool is advertised as south facing, never thought to check that out though! We have been quoted £1575 for 23 nights, which i thought was good.
what live maps does john go on (and where is he lately!) is it google maps

 

[Pegasus928]

We use google earth for our searches. It's sometimes a little tricky to pin it down, you need to look at the pics of the villa and look for some sort of landmark nearby, the shape of the villa and pool, or something simple like trees or bushes in a particular place outside the front door.
We have, in the past, asked the villa owner for an address - but most are, quite understandably, reluctant to give this information until you have paid the balance (by which time it could be too late)

 

[JulieSharp]

we have just booked a 5 bed villa on cumbrian lakes for next september, pool is advertised as south facing, never thought to check that out though! We have been quoted £1575 for 23 nights, which i thought was good.
what live maps does john go on (and where is he lately!) is it google maps

Not google www.bing.com/maps, you will need the full address and zip code, as an example 'house number' Cumbrian lakes drive, Kissimmee, fl 34746, switch to birds eye view.
Some owners do not give out the address, but you can usually figure it out for yourself with the shape of the home, pool, and other things too,we know a lot of the street names on the developments.
Also if you use the first link in jannyann's reply assuming you would know the name of the owner you can get part of the address of that.....just a bit of investigation required really, but it pays dividends to be able to view the home before you book. John actually got into a discussion with
one owner who wrongly advertised her home as south facing, when she asked "excuse me how you could you possibly know it's east facing", we replied "because I am looking at overhead images of it"!

Please don't misunderstand me though you have to respect the owners' privacy.

Sorry I cannot comment on my husbands status on here.

That price looks good, maybe it's the same villa we booked!

 

[JulieSharp]

we have just booked a 5 bed villa on cumbrian lakes for next september, pool is advertised as south facing, never thought to check that out though! We have been quoted £1575 for 23 nights, which i thought was good.
what live maps does john go on (and where is he lately!) is it google maps

If you want help finding it let me know probably better to do it via pm for confidentiality.

 

[Netty]

If you want help finding it let me know probably better to do it via pm for confidentiality.

Thanks!

 

[Byron13]

We are at Cumbrian Lakes at the moment. i will go for a bike ride and see the villa. I have send you a PM.

Barbara

 

[JulieSharp]

Thanks!

Hi Jeanette,

John has sent some detailed information and overhead photos to your private pm message.

Hope this helps, if you need any more assistance please let us know.

 

[NicolaUK]

Providing the names and ages of people that will be staying in the villa is something that - as far as I am aware - is required by Florida state law. We have had to do this in every one of the villas we have stayed in up to now.
Personally I would probably walk away from this one in favour of a villa that is advertised on a site that carries out regular checks on the owners.
http://www.orlandovillas.com/ is one of the best ones out there. We have used them many times and never had a problem. The site owners are regulars on the forums that they also run, and have always been quick to act in the event of any problems.
There are so many good deals to be had out there at the moment you don't have to risk your money on something you don't feel comfortable about.

I'll second that site for being one of the better ones. I'll also recommend Loyalty and Villa Direct - always worth asking for RECENT photos as some site photos, esp by owner can be quite deceiving as they're pretty old!

I had to get the OV site owner to step in when I had a problem with a villa we'd rented from there, was resolved pretty much immediately thanks to him.

Don't be afraid to ask 1001 questions of the owner, you can quickly weed out the ones that you'd probably steer away from by their responses. Ask if you can see references from or, preferably, contact previous renters.

 

[Netty]

Hi Jeanette,

John has sent some detailed information and overhead photos to your private pm message.

Hope this helps, if you need any more assistance please let us know.

Thanks for your help

 

[gaylie]

Hi, everyone, just thought I would let you know how I have got on with the investigation into the villa I want to book.
Due to the kindness of fellow Dis members and their wonderful advice, I have found out that the owner is genuine, it took a little detective work, as I didnt want to hurt the owners feelings (especially if genuine, which they are)....
Special thanks to Byron13 who took the time to go and see the particular villa and had actually stayed there and knew the owner.......hence I have now booked sent the deposit and am very happy.
This all goes to show that its good to be part of a forum where everybody has a little to offer in advice.....thank you very much.

 

[Pegasus928]

Glad you managed to get it sorted and are now happy with you choice