Ten Step To Avoiding A Villa Rip Off

You have heard the horror stories: a vacationer pulls up in front of their villa and gets an unpleasant surprise. It may be an empty lot with no house on it. It could be foreclosed. Someone else might be staying there. An individual can claim to own a property, list it, collect the fees, and you might not know until you arrive on the doorstep. The list of possibilities are too scary to detail. However, if you follow the advice for selecting a villa that I provide in this blog? You can increase your success rate.

We have rented approximately 150 nights over the years and in that time we have only brushed up against two fraudulent properties. Here are some things to look for.

1. Always call the owner. If you can't reach the owner by phone? There is a problem. Talking to a management company might be safe, but ideally you want the owner.

2. If the calendar is empty for months in every direction? Something is wrong. If you are working with Homeaway, they can tell you the last time the property was rented and what the owner's response rate is. If the response rate is 0%? Something is wrong.

3. A property might have no reviews because it hasn't been listed very long, or, the owner doesn't have any good reviews to post. A property with no reviews isn't neccessarily bad, but it could be a clue that something is wrong.

4. Owners often try to hide the location because they don't want to invite thieves. Nevertheless, you can usually figure it out by looking at a map and then looking at the street view in googlemaps. Make sure the Google street view matches the house you are considering.

5. Once you have the street address, go to the county tax collector to make sure the taxes are paid. The tax records should allow you to confirm the owner's name.

6. Look up the property on Zillow. If the property was sold in the last year? That could explained n the lack of reviews. But if it hasn't been sold in ten years, someone should have reviewed it in that time. Look over the property records for anything odd.

7. Google the address to see if there is any bad information posted anywhere. You might find the property listed on other sites. Howeaway owns VRBO and a few others. If it isn't a homeaway owned site, check the information to make sure it is consistent with homeaway.

8. Google the owner's name and look for any bad results.

9. When it comes time to pay? Always use a credit card but never give the owner your credit card number. Make the payment through homeaway or PayPal. Using a credit card will allow you to dispute the charge. If you must give a credit card number to the owner (perhaps for a deposites)? Use a MasterCard Gift Card to lower your risk exposure. The last thing you want is the owner or management company to have your credit card number sitting in a file folder or sitting out on someone's desk.

10. You may find Villa owners are from outside the country. That isn't neccessarily bad. During construction, various communities were marketed to different countries - especially the UK. Even if from another country, you still need to talk to the owner.

Follow these ten tips for the best chance. Of avoiding a rip off.

2016 Disney Trip

We are headed to Disney this summer for 32 nights. It was a difficult decision because we have several expensive activities going on, regardless, in the balance of it all we determined this trip could fit in our budget.

My wife was struggling to find a villa to rent, so, I volunteered to help.

I went to Homeaway, entered all our criteria, and was presented with 80 possibilities. I then went through each of the 80 and looked for things to disqualify the house:

- it had to be within the triangle between i4, 429, and 193. Best location: http://relocatingtodisney.blogspot.com/2015/05/where-is-best-location-for-villa.html?m=1

- no negativity in the reviews. Owners get to delete reviews and often write their own so if there is something bad? Something is wrong. http://relocatingtodisney.blogspot.com/2015/06/can-you-trust-villa-reviews.html?m=1

- washer and dryer couldn't be in the garage (it is too hot in the garage during summers)

- we wanted a kitchen with a view of the pool and a bedroom that looked out the front of the house

- private pool area

- avoid houses with walls in the back yard that back up to highways

This analysis took a very long time, but in the end I narrowed the search to 20 possibilities.

I ranked the possibilities by cost, and sent my first email to the cheapest 12 houses. Remember the first email to the owner is to simply confirm dates and rates. You want to make sure the owner is real (a step toward confirming the property is real) and many owners do not keep the homeaway calendar up to date. Also, some owners like to avoid homeaway fees by directing you to their own websites. Here is the approach I use for contacting villa owners: http://relocatingtodisney.blogspot.com/2015/05/sixteen-questions-to-ask-before-renting.html?m=1

Twelve emails went out, many have already responded and we are into the next round of communications as we further narrow the search and decide what to rent.

Stay tuned to learn more about our 2016 trip!

Summer land mini golf

It isn't a trip to Disney without some miniature golf! There are many miniature golf options around Disney World. The choices in Disney World are Fantasia and Winter/Summer Land. 

The Winter/Summer, next to Blizzard Beach, land has two miniature golf courses: Summer Land and Winter Land. Winter Land is fun because it is winter in Florida and is usually the course we select.

This year, we selected Summer Land. Santa Clause is taking a vacation, and you get to golf through sand castles and beaches. 

If you are staying at a Disney Resort, you can take a bus to Blizzard Beach and then take a short walk down the path to the miniature golf.

Mini Golf while on vacation is a must-do. It doesn't matter if you are a good golfer or not  - it is all about having fun and being with your family. If you have some non-park time in your vacation, I highly recommend seeking out a course.

The Disney Rash

You have probably heard of or experienced The Disney Rash, as it is known. This is a red rash that occurs on the lower park of the leg, just above the socks. What is it?

This is known as a leg heat rash, or, Golfer's Vasculitis. All of the Disney walk ways are black asphalt. The sun light hits the black surface and gets reflected back up, striking guest's legs. For a variety of reasons, some guest's legs respond by producing a red rash.

I am not a doctor, and you should be cautious about taking medical advice over the Internet. With that said, this heat rash is temporary. It can be helped with a cool bath, elevating the feet, and applying cool wet towels after a day in the park. While in the park, take walking breaks often and get out of the heat. Keep socks dry and even consider taking an extra pair to change during the day. 

Not everyone gets the rash. From what I have researched, Determining who gets it is often a function of age, condition, exposure, temperature, and what is being warn.

The heat rash is not fun, but luckily it is temporary and usually goes away after a few days.

NASA

We decided to do something a little different for our 2015 Florida trip: NASA!

My wife and I had visited NASA in the early 90's, but have never returned. Our friends recommended we return, so, we decided to make a day out of it.

The entire facility is incredible and we even had a chance to talk with an engineer! A bus took us from one facility to the next. 

The most awesome facility was the Space Shuttle facility. We entered and watched a movie about the Space Shuttle Program. When the movie ends, the Space Shuttle Atlantis is presented, looming in front of us. That was very awesome.

There were many activities to do at the Space Shuttle facility and a lot to learn. There were even parts of destroyed space shuttles. 

If you are really into science and space travel, you'll love this. If you are, on the other hand, more into Sci Fi? You may find that our present state of space travel is a little disappointing and boring. Nevertheless, we had a great trip and will return again perhaps in a few years. 

Boardwalk Bikes

We love to visit the Boardwalk every year we can. The boardwalk has shops, a bakery, several restaurants, and some entertainers. But best of all, the Boardwalk offers free parking and a short walk into the back of Epcot!

We didn't go to Epcot this trip. Instead, we decided to just enjoy the boardwalk. The boardwalk offers a walking area that goes from the boardwalk, over to the Swan and Dolphin hotel, past the back Epcot entrance, and then back to the Boardwalk.

While it is fun to walk the path, we decided to rent the surrey bike to do the lap. It takes most of the 30 minute rental to make it all around the lake - especially with navigating other tourists and not running them over. We found it very difficult to pedal the bike up several steep hills. So, instead, my son jumped out of the bike and pushed us up the hill!

The ride was a lot of fun. Certainly something we will do again. The bikes are very popular and there can be a long wait for one to become available (especially if you want the four seater) so arrive early.

Splendid China Remains

Once upon a time (1993), China opened a $100M theme park outside of Disney World to show case many of the popular locations within China. The park lasted ten years and closed in 2003. All that remains is a white wall at the intersection of Funie Stead and Farmosa Gardens, behind which is an overgrown and vandalizes mess. The land was recently sold to a developer who is in the process of cleaned off for new vacation home development.

Other than a white wall along a street, is there any other evidence that a great theme park once existed in this area? In turns out - there is.

At the corner of Rt. 192 and Formasa Gardens is a plaza that was park of the land owned by Splended Chine. Within the plaza is a grocery store. And if you visit the grocery store, you can see that this store was once connected to the park. The first third of the store (produce and meat department) still have many of the original decorations.

There was once a river running to a fountain, and a bridge that went over it. That lead to what is now the magazine area within the store.

If you have an interest in exploring the history of this old park, I recommend visiting this grocery store to see all that remains.