Windsor Hills, how to pick a condo?

[spima3]

Well, after much too much research , I have decided to stay at Windsor Hills w/ my 3 kids, ages 10, 12, and 15.

I have looked at private owners and floridasunvacations. Is one better or safer to rent through?

Also, I am looking at the condo pictures, but it's pretty hard to tell if one is better than another, location wise. I have seen that some of them are fully booked, hardly booked, and somewhere in between.

Can I assume those that are highly booked offer something I'm not seeing in the pictures or descriptions? Perhaps it's the location? as the total bedrooms, etc, seem to be equal.

TIA, lori

 

[spima3]

Can no one offer any advice on this? Anyone?

 

[tngirl1979]

I would like to know also. I have heard good and bad from this board. Kinda worried.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

We have stayed at WH twice with no problems. Both times we found our condos by sending out an inquiry through windsorhillsrent.com. If it would make you feel better, you can also rent through a management company like Florida Sun vacation homes(or many others).

Just check any guestbook reviews and also you can check on this website to make sure the owners are legit, etc.
http://ira.property-appraiser.org/PropertySearch/

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Are you looking at Condo's, townhomes, or pool homes?

I have experience staying in a 3 bedroom condo booked through a rental agency, and staying in a 3 bedroom townhome booked through a private owner. My sister and my Dad also booked a townhome through the owner at the same time we were there, so I was in both of those homes.

I don't really have any preferred location if I were in a townhome. You might want to face away from the parking lot if that is important to you. Some say they are close to the pool, but there really aren't any very far from the pool. They are all within a couple minutes walk. We had one facing the "pond", and it was nice.

As for the townhouse... Again there really aren't any very far from the main pool. You might want a south facing home if you are going when it is colder to get sun on the pool. Be careful of the view out the back. The place my dad rented had a view of some business parking lot and dumpsters. It wasn't very nice. Ours was north facing so not much sun, but we had a nice view out the back. You can probably find a map online to see where the homes are located.


Other than location you just need to decide what you want. We wanted Mickey decorations, and so we paid more for that. My sister wanted something less expensive so she went with something more plain with no frills. My dad got something in between (No mickeys, but nicely decorated.)


If TV is important to you read the description. My dad was disappointed when his place didn't have a large flat screen TV. For us it wouldn't have mattered since we weren't there for TV, but we did have a nice one in the living room.

If I think of something else I'll post more later.

 

[spima3]

Are you looking at Condo's, townhomes, or pool homes?

I have experience staying in a 3 bedroom condo booked through a rental agency, and staying in a 3 bedroom townhome booked through a private owner. If I think of something else I'll post more later.

I'm looking at 3 bedroom condo's. I found two I like that will work for us. The descriptions are similar, the locations per website seem comparable, but one is heavily booked and the other has reservations, but not nearly as many.

So I was wondering if "that fact" in and of itself is indicative os something? Am I making sense?

 

[Drkaito]

My daughter and I will be at Windsor Hills in October/November. This will be our first time staying in a condo...we usually stay off-site, but in a hotel. I went with a company called Magical Vacation Homes. The condo we will have is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and looks very nice. Since I've never stayed there before, I can't really give you any good advice. However, I will say that, after spending lots of time deciding on where to stay, we chose Windsor Hills due to the location and the amenities of the property. Dealing with Magical VH has been a positive experience for me so far. I did a lot of research and felt comfortable going with them. I hope I am not disappointed once I get there. Judging by the reviews I think everything will be great. Enjoy your trip and good luck!

 

[mommyintn]

I'm looking at 3 bedroom condo's. I found two I like that will work for us. The descriptions are similar, the locations per website seem comparable, but one is heavily booked and the other has reservations, but not nearly as many.

So I was wondering if "that fact" in and of itself is indicative os something? Am I making sense?

I don't think that means something is wrong with the townhouse if it's not heavily booked. Sometimes an owner has been renting for longer and has built up a lot of repeat business. The thing I've found is that you need to contact some owners and you will get a feel for them and weather you want to rent from them or not. We've had great success with VRBO and I will say I've have interactions with owners whose place is heavily booked with a lot of positive reviews who came across rude or weird to me and I just went onto to the next place.

 

[megthewonderful]

We've been renting townhouses and houses for our past few visits. We have used Alexander Vacation Homes and All-Star Vacation Homes and have had no problems at all. The houses are exactly as they appear in their pictures. I researched both rental companies ahead of time with the Better Business Bureau. Both companies have great representatives when you call that can answer pretty much any question you might have.

The Windsor Hills is great! It's so close to Disney and has great amenities! We just came back from a stay at the Windsor Palms, and I wish we never had to leave!

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I'm looking at 3 bedroom condo's. I found two I like that will work for us. The descriptions are similar, the locations per website seem comparable, but one is heavily booked and the other has reservations, but not nearly as many.

So I was wondering if "that fact" in and of itself is indicative os something? Am I making sense?

If you are worried about it, then you might want to go through a rental agency for the first time. That was what we did. I think renting through owner is usually less money. I would e-mail or call the owners with some questions and see how fast and friendly they are to respond to you. The home my sister rented didn't have many bookings on their site. She came right out and asked them about it before she booked. I don't think that alone means anything.

 

[softballmom3]

We are going through vacationcentralflorida.com for a townhouse this fall and so far everything has been great.

In regards to floridasunvacations that is where I was going to go next but not through the agency through an individual owner. The owner's price was a decent amount cheaper than through the rental agency themselves.

Good Luck and have a great time!!!

Edit---the same townhouse through floridasun....was the same as the owner's. I received a quote from the owner through windsorhillsrent.com .

 

[yankin]

I have found that going thru an agency can bit quite a bit more expensive than renting thru the actaul owner. The rental agency is always going to tack on there fee which can make a huge difference in the price.

 

[spima3]

I have found that going thru an agency can bit quite a bit more expensive than renting thru the actaul owner. The rental agency is always going to tack on there fee which can make a huge difference in the price.

Yes, but isn't it safer going through a rental agency? For instance, the 3 BR condo we're looking at is $79/nite. Add on tax and a $75 cleaning fee, and I don't think that is bad.

How much more can you save w/ an owner? and is it worth the risk?

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

Yes, but isn't it safer going through a rental agency? For instance, the 3 BR condo we're looking at is $79/nite. Add on tax and a $75 cleaning fee, and I don't think that is bad.

How much more can you save w/ an owner? and is it worth the risk?

If you are looking at Florida Sun, right now they have 15% off 7 nights or more. Their rates, as of right now, are very comparable to renting from an owner. I do not recall their rates being that good when we were looking last summer.

We have always rented from owner's without any problems, but if Fl. Sun still has those rates, we will probably stay with them on our next trip.

 

[Tiana]

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[spima3]

If you are looking at Florida Sun, right now they have 15% off 7 nights or more. Their rates, as of right now, are very comparable to renting from an owner. I do not recall their rates being that good when we were looking last summer.

We have always rented from owner's without any problems, but if Fl. Sun still has those rates, we will probably stay with them on our next trip.

Well, I just spent time looking at rentals by owners, and none of them were as cheap as FLSun. So, it looks like they are the best deal out there, as of now. If we fly, I could get the 7 nights, but the kids want totake the train. I'll have to crunch the numbers on that.

Thanks to all for your input, very helpful and appreciated. I am an overplanner, and I can drive myself crazy!

 

[mom2att]

We have rented at WH several times with FLSun and have never had any problems. I can also recommend vacationcentralflorida. You will love WH!

 

[allie_to_you]

We used allstarvacationhomes to rent a condo at Windsor Hills last year and they were great. We had a beautiful 3 bedroom/2 bath condo that was perfect. We have already reserved with them for next year. Also, if you give them the code allears, you get $125 off your ressie if it's for 7 days or longer

 

[sgrabin]

Well, after much too much research , I have decided to stay at Windsor Hills w/ my 3 kids, ages 10, 12, and 15.

I have looked at private owners and floridasunvacations. Is one better or safer to rent through?

Also, I am looking at the condo pictures, but it's pretty hard to tell if one is better than another, location wise. I have seen that some of them are fully booked, hardly booked, and somewhere in between.

Can I assume those that are highly booked offer something I'm not seeing in the pictures or descriptions? Perhaps it's the location? as the total bedrooms, etc, seem to be equal.

TIA, lori

Go to http://www.vrbo.com and pull up the Windsor Hills listings. I tend to look at the number and dates of the reviews of the condos. If there are a good number of recent, good reviews, then you can feel more confident. If a condo looks "too good to be true" for the price, and there are NO reviews at all you have to wonder...