WH rental contract. Dosent seem right to me

[aimeeme]

The only type of contract I recieved from owner was a terms & conditions form which only has my signature. It contains basically the rules to follow while staying there. It does contain the owners address but not her name.
I asked her if I would be recieving a formal contract with names, addresses & financial info & she said that was all stated in our initial e-mail. So there will not be any other contract other than this terms & conditions form. I have not sent the money yet & she will only accept pay pal. I have never used pay pal and am wondering if this is a safe way of transferring money. Does it protect you (as the renter).
I was not even going to consider renting from a private owner as I feel very nervous about it, (Im sure there are wonderful & legit owners out there...so to those of you who are private owners...please dont be offended) But after reading all of the negative posts regarding Hotel Kingdom & CP (where we usually stay) renting at WH seemed like a very nice option.
Can anyone help me out here?
Also I tried checing out tax records on Osceola county website & not getting anywhere with it (by address & name) there is a spot where it asks for parcel # whatever that means but when I type owners name & condo address it comes up no data found.

 

[5mins2disney]

Hey Aimee....let me try and help reassure you if I can. First of all, your initial nervousness is a very common concern raised by many first time vacation rental guests, so don't feel bad about it at all! You're doing the right thing and asking the right questions!

As far as a comparison to CP...I actually think you're safer with an owner, the owner isn't going to just up and cancel a reservation with you like hotelkingdom or CP apparently does, you're renting a specific home from the individual owner of that very home!

The terms and conditions sheet sounds pretty common, everyone's vary slightly, but it's mostly there to make sure you understand the booking terms and conditions, that sort of thing. If you have specific questions about things like the checkin times, cancellation policies, security deposits, etc, those should be in there, or feel free to ask!

The Osceola County website is a good place to verify ownership, but it's a pain to use. Be sure to put in last name first when you put in the owner's name, and there's a "wildcard" thing you have to use as well. You can also go by property address if you have it.

Paypal is probably THE safest way to pay someone these days. The owner never gets your credit card information, just the payment. You get all of the protection of paying with a credit card, meaning, should someone ever try and defraud you (not that I've ever heard of this in Windsor Hills), you can file a chargeback with your credit card company. Visa tends to side with consumers, so at that point it would then be up to the owner to dispute the charges and PROVE that they delivered the goods and/or services to you satisfactorily, otherwise you get your $$ back. (I work for Visa in real life, run a big data center, so I know this process very well). It's safe, secure, and offers you, the buyer, all kinds of protection, by all means use Paypal! (The only bad part for us owners, they charge outrageously high processing fees).

No offense taken at all! This is one of the reasons the vacation rental market hasn't taken off in the US like other countries, people are more comfortable with a big trusted brand name than an individual. But, I can tell you, the resort is just gorgeous, and it's very rare for people to give a bad review about Windsor Hills! I've also never heard of an owner cancelling a reservation on a guest unexpectedly, or of commiting fraud or anything like that. Just be sure you take a good look at their website, and you see lots of pictures of the individual home you're renting, and you're happy with what you see.

If they have an online guestbook, it's a good idea to take a look there too!

Anyhow, feel free to PM me if you need any help or advice, glad to help you out any way I can! My wife and I were rentors through vrbo in Windsor Hills and many other states, vacation spots all over the country before we bought a home in Florida / WHR last year, and we just love it, we've stayed in some amazing places at a fraction of the cost! I think you'll love it..but being a little nervous your first time isn't all that uncommon, don't feel bad about it at all, that's what we're here for on the DIS, hopefully to help!!



- George

 

[AtlAmanda]

I was really nervous the first time I rented a house, but I have done it several times since without any issues. I would use a credit card just to be safe. The terms and conditions can vary, but what you described is typical.

I can say that WH is a beautiful place to stay. We have stayed there before, and are headed down on the 28th for another stay.

 

[deejay-55]

There is trust involved on both sides when you rent from an owner: You are trusting the owners to rent out their home to you, and the owner is trusting you to respect their home on your vacation. After your first vacation in a family home with your own pool & spa, you will probably wonder why you didn't go for it before. And Windsor Hills is getting great reviews here and on Trip Advisor.

 

[sympatico]

We've rented many times from owners. Some send email confirmations and nothing else, others send terms and conditions that you have to sign and fax or send back along with confirmation emails, some send a big rental agreement that you sign and they sign etc. Just keep all the info and take it with you. I do use the tax records site to verify ownership when I find out their names.
I prefer using Paypal ( have a credit card registered with them ) or Visa to pay. It is so much easier and safer than paying by check or money order. This last time I rented I had to send a money order and was a little concerned about doing it that way and it was also more of a hassle than using Visa.
Thanks for the info about Visa, George. I guess I knew it but it's nice to have it confirmed.

 

[5mins2disney]

We've rented many times from owners. Some send email confirmations and nothing else, others send terms and conditions that you have to sign and fax or send back along with confirmation emails, some send a big rental agreement that you sign and they sign etc. Just keep all the info and take it with you. I do use the tax records site to verify ownership when I find out their names.
I prefer using Paypal ( have a credit card registered with them ) or Visa to pay. It is so much easier and safer than paying by check or money order. This last time I rented I had to send a money order and was a little concerned about doing it that way and it was also more of a hassle than using Visa.
Thanks for the info about Visa, George. I guess I knew it but it's nice to have it confirmed.

You're welcome, and just so you know, you do not need a Paypal account or to be registered with Paypal in any way to use it to pay someone who has a Paypal merchant account setup. You just go in, put in all your info, and they do the rest. You still get the "protection" of Paypal and your credit card company (Visa, MC, etc) backing you up in the event you have a dispute.

Money orders are a pain actually, we actually don't even accept them (there's too many Nigerian fraud scams involving them these days). What if it gets lost in the mail too, rather just take a personal check, those can be cancelled and re-sent, that sort of thing.

We actually had to buy a new front door for our townhome a few months back, and the ONLY form of payment the door supplier would accept was a money order, what a pain that was! LOL No credit cards, checks, etc even!