Windsor Hills House Rental up for sale!

[cey]

How do you handle the situation when you find the house you have rented has been put up for sale by the owner after you have paid your deposit? I thought I had done my homework, using the WHforrentsite, selecting a verified owner and emailing him regularly about the rental. I understand that he has the right to sell his house, but I just paid my deposit and he has JUST listed the house so he knew when I was making the booking for March 2008, the house would probably be sold. I feel he should have been up front with me and told me he was listing the house. I am looking for suggestions as to what I should do! I have emailed him the attachment of the listing and asked him what his intentions are. I am really upset about him not being honest with me and even if he makes arrangements with the new owner to honour our rental, I have no guarantee that the new owners won"t increase the price or cancel the reservation. I am looking for answers from the Windsor Hills experts! Should I see if he will give me my deposit back or take the loss and book another house? HELP!


Cheryl

 

[isla bonita]

Cheryl

I think you have reason to worry as you know anything can happen.

Also a home will get better conseideration if their calendar is full so there also may be no problems at all?

Personally I would ask for the deposit back and seek out another property to rent. These people were not up front with you that is enough for me to pull out.

 

[mungo]

I would also ask for my deposit back, not because he is selling but he should of told you, at least that he may have been considering it.

 

[5mins2disney]

I don't think it's as big of a concern as you might think actually. Most new buyers (if he's even able to sell the home by then) will be more than happy that there's bookings in place with the new home.

We just went through this, with our 2nd townhome. It was sold to us with bookings in place. Some of them were offered to guests at what we felt was a pretty questionable / low rate, (we think they did this to get part of the booking $$ for themselves), but we honored every single one anyhow.

I would ask the current owner, if he plans on renting to you, to put a guarantee into the rental contract that your rental will survive any sale of the property and the current rates and terms, which will force him to put it into any real estate contracts / sale contracts he enters into.

The only concern I would have as a guest, is if he's trying to "stack" the place with rentals...so if he's offering the unit out to everyone for $79/night in an effort to pack the calendar with bookings, making it look more attractive to buyers, that would make me nervous. If it's a normal / fair rental rate versus what others are charging for the same size home, then I would probably be ok with it.

If he's signed an ERA with you guaranteeing you the accomodations after all, and then they aren't there, you would certainly have some type of recourse down the road, for alternate accomodations or legally.

The market's really soft right now too, so unless he has the property priced really well, it's probably not going to move quickly.

What size / type of property is it?

If you PM me the address I can have my WHR realtor (good friend of mine) get all the details pulled from the FL MLS.

 

[CoralCayTownhome]

Hi Cheryl,

We had the same problem on our last trip but it was only weeks before we travelled that we found out the place was for sale.

It was a villa in Indian Creek and had no problems with the then owners but a search of the exact address brought up the realtors web page which did make us panic We followed up with the owners who assured us there was not a problem and the new owner would be taking over shortly after our departure.

Well there was no problem with the then owner but the property was very tired looking with broken blinds and poor quality towels - to me it just needed a bit more TLC. The MC were something different all together - the pool heat that we had paid for was not on and the garage was full of the last guests trash (with dated receipts of about 2 weeks earlier!). DH ended up fixing the pool heat, cleaning it(using the net), and filling it as the level was too low - the MC had said someone would be with us in a day or two but to us that was too long! The Christmas decorations were also supposed to be up - but surprise surprise we did this ourselves.

If it happened again (which it wont as we are currently buying in Coral Cay) I would definitely cancel and look for something else.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Tracey

 

[4eyedbuzzard]

A 5mins2disney said, you propbably don't have a problem. Almost all buyers are looking to rent the units anyway, and cancelling your(and others) agreements) probably wouldn't benefit them.

However, it is different than normal real estate where a leasehold is binding upon a new owner unless specifically excluded. Vacation rentals are licensed under Florida Chapter 509 I believe, and they probably can be cancelled by the owner with nothing more than a return of your deposit.

 

[isla bonita]

Lets be honest new owners can change the rules in the middle of the game. What if they choose to go down whaen you are booked? I think better to be safe then sorry. JMHO

I am an owner and I think it is not right that they did not keep you informed. I think there is to much time between now and when you are choosing to go to have this hanging over you. Again JMHO

Have peice of mind and go with another choice. Keep the home in your favorites and go back on another occasion.

 

[cey]

Thanks for the very good suggestions and validating my feelings that he should have at least informed me he was going to list the property. I am hoping that he will do the right thing and refund me my down payment without any further actions. He wanted a cheque but I sent him by registered mail, a bank draft of which I was given a copy and the bank keeps a record of, as they fill in his name. I am very happy, I went that route rather than a simple cheque. I suspect he is not going to be very co-operative as I have not heard from him yet. He appears to still be taking bookings on the property as there are two new bookings after ours in March. He is booking well into April 2008, so I am suspicious about the info about padding the bookings to boost his sale. It would only happen to me on my first attempt at booking a home, when I am sure the vast majority of owners at Windsor Hills would not have treated their renters so poorly. Thanks George, for your comments and I will PM you with the info. Keep the comments coming as I just broke the bad news to my Dh when he returned from golfing, so I need all the support I can get! I am trying to stay positive about this, so will keep updating the thread.

Cheryl

 

[mareed]

We had a Windsor Palms condo that was sold after we made a reservation. We first heard via email from the old owner that we'd booked from, and they notified us of the sale and said we'd be contacted by new owners. We were then contacted by the new owners and our original terms/prices were honored. I asked the new owners some questions about their management company. Everything turned out fine. I bet this does happen from time to time, and I'd try not to worry.

 

[deejay-55]

Homes change hands on short-term rental subdivisions all the time, and many will have lettings on them. It should not usually be a problem, but if you have concerns then you are doing the right thing in contacting the owner. Hopefully he will be able to put your mind at rest, or let you cancel and have a refund if you want.

 

[hjd0411]

We had a Windsor Palms condo that was sold after we made a reservation. We first heard via email from the old owner that we'd booked from, and they notified us of the sale and said we'd be contacted by new owners. We were then contacted by the new owners and our original terms/prices were honored. I asked the new owners some questions about their management company. Everything turned out fine. I bet this does happen from time to time, and I'd try not to worry.

This is the exact same thing that happened to me about 2-3 months ago with a booking I have at Windsor Hills. The owner contacted me by email to advise he had sold the condo, and the new owner has also contacted me by email to advise that everything is just as is, except I make payment to her now instead. I was a bit worried at first, but it all seems to be OK now. The new owner has said she is even improving a few things around the condo, so that should be nice too!!

 

[cey]

No word as yet from the owner, but I at least I feel better that the odds are in my favour that my rental arrangements will remain the same even if the house does sell. to everyone who posted their experiences.

Cheryl

 

[tednvon]

Hi, if it would help to hear one more "it will work out OK story" we sold our 7 bedroom in Emerald Island and the new owner was of course delighted with 15 weeks of booking in place. I emailed or phoned all the rentors, passed on the info regarding the new owner and the same management company (which hopefully will happen) and it was all very smooth. I told the folks I booked to let me know if there were any problems and never got a call or email.

I think you would feel better if you got a call from the new owner, but again a good chance it will sit on the market for a while, anyway...

Enjoy...and do whatever makes you feel most comfortable...there are lots and lots of properties for rent, so no way you could lose out on a chance to have a very nice place...

Ted

 

[PrincessBelle39]

Just curious, but how did you find out it was for sale. Were you advised by the owner, or come across it by accident.

 

[5mins2disney]

I was a bit worried at first, but it all seems to be OK now. The new owner has said she is even improving a few things around the condo, so that should be nice too!!

You make a VERY good point actually! In every single case of a home changing hands that I know of, the new owners have come in and made significant upgraded to their new home. We put over $20k in upgrades into our 2nd townhome back in Jan/Feb, for instance. Nice upgrade for the people who booked with the old people at the old rates, who didn't expect to get any of that, huh!? LOL New owners will also really care about you and your business, like I said, it's hard to get bookings, and when you're a new owner, you definitely want to try hard and take care of your new guests, so that they come back again some day! An existing or old owner is going to care less, for instance, they're usually not going to want to put any $$ into the place, since they're selling it (not that they won't care about you, but put yourself into the mindset of someone selling their home, their main concern is to sell the place, get out of it!).

A lot of people get into doing this thinking it's going to be easy and there's going to be tons and tons of bookings to cover their expenses, the reality is all too often quite different. MCs who let you down, don't provide bookings, nickel and dime you to death, it's harder than you think to get bookings, etc. It's a very competitive market in Orlando, one of the most in the country, and supply and demand keeps the housing rates almost ridiculously low, where else can you go rent a gorgeous brand new pool home for the same rates as a hotel room? Plus, you had all these people looking to "flip" real estate, and that whole market is dead now, so they're getting out, many finally started trying to get some rentals to stop the "bleeding" before they could sell the place..

 

[cey]

How I found that the house was for sale was by "googling" the address. I initially was looking for reviews by other guests who had stayed in this particular 5 bedroom house. Unfortunately, I didn't find any reviews but did find sale listings in FL and the UK. As of today, I have not received any answer to my inquiry from the owner. I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, i.e. maybe he is away but it is becoming very frustrating.


Cheryl

 

[mbb]

I'm mixed feelings on this one.

I'm sure, like others have said, that everything will be just fine.

But if it were my vacation, and knowing how booked everything will be for next March (with March Breaks and Easter rolling in together), I would find something else too.

Just because I know what we need in a vacation home for my family to be comfortable...and that's not always available at the last minute.

I'm sure you'll hear soon from him. Keep emailing, though

Keep us posted!

 

[tednvon]

Amen George!

 

[cey]

I heard from the owner who apologized and said not to worry and that he would not sell the house if the new owner would not honour the bookings. He also assured me, as George, our resident expert, pointed out that most owners want all the bookings they can get, when they purchase a new unit.

Thanks for all the support from everybody who posted their advice and experiences. After talking it over with my DH, we think we will take a "Wait and See" approach. March is 10 months away and chances are the house may have flipped by that date and we will be dealing with new owners. I also realize that even if we cancelled this booking, the same thing could happen to us and I don't think I could deal with that again!

I will keep my fingers crossed that the new owners will also keep the same management company, so that will minimize problems in that area. Now, that I know what the situation is, I will keep a very close eye on the listing. If it disappears from the Internet, it will be a very good indication, that the house has been sold!


Cheryl

 

[mareed]

Kind of funny... I'd posted earlier that we'd had a place sold after we booked it before. Well, I just received an email that the town home we're staying in at the end of this month has a new owner. We have a lock box code, new owner's name & phone, and management company name & contact number, so we're all set though.