Here_Today, I really couldn't care less about what you think about my postings. You have no idea what I or my immediate family have experienced firsthand insofar as renting property. As usual, you are twisting my words, and being negative, for whatever reason. Carry on............... matters little to me.

GoTravel, your point is??? You rent property and are complaining about what some renters do to it. I said, when you get into renting property, you know that can happen. Period....... I never said anything about why you bought your property or what you expected to get out of it! But when renters pay you rent, that is a money-making venture.............

Give 'em hell Broad!

BonnieBroad,

I think you need to rent a vacation rental right now and go there...you seem a little tense...relax...

I have rented through the owners for many years at the Maui Kai and have not had any problems. A few years ago I referred a friend to rent my favorite unit and they found it was not available. They took another unit and although it was nice, it was not what they wanted (the lanai had been enclosed and they wanted the open air). The on-site staff moved them to another unit right away.

It would be a good idea to ask the owners, in advance, if they have this kind of back up plan in case you are not happy. Some properites can accomitate you within minutes and for some, you are on your own.

I would definatly ask for referneces. Hope your trip is all you wish for...

You can even have problems renting condos from expedia. I rented a condo for christmas week in Beaver Creek. I received a confirmation # from expedia as well as a wrong phone number to the condo complex. After hunting down the correct condo # they informed me that I did not have a valid reservation with them. To make a long story short, I spent well over an hour with expedia trying to clear it up, I quess they use a secondary booking agency for condos. I could not confirm the reservation with the condo management and expedia let me cancel. But if I hadnt checked it out further, even with a confirmation# from Expedia, I would have been in colorodo with 4 kids and no place to stay during the most busy season of the year. Oh well, live and learn.
Susan

How do you check an owner on the BBB? Does this only work when they have a tax number? Do you search their name or house name?

The BBB will search by the owner name or the business name. If they give a GE number, they should give you the attached name of the account. Again, these are not perfect guarantees, but each each helps. A warning sign is if they refuse to give you some information.

When it comes to checking out renters and those who rent their places out, I only know what realtors say is the best indicator of reliability: a credit rating check.

I prefer dealing with an agency. If there are any problems, last people did not clean, unexpected bug problem. You can call an agency much easier and have them take care of it. Just a thought.

curvey lady and I am guessing that a lady would not talk that way !!!!

Many people on VBRO also list with agencies, mine did. I have only had experiences of getting what was advertised. I really like www.hanaleihouse-kauai. I have rented 2x from this guy he also lists with a an agency in Hanalei town.

Some agencies can be very helpful by the way, they will tell you down side of rental straight out if there is one. That was my experience anyway.

Most agencies charge 20% to the owner. So most rentals charge more because of that. We use the agencies as a guide to set the price of our rental. They are often also realtors so they want to keep market rates high.

But what you are paying for, from what most posters are saying on this post, is your peace of mind. Your peace of mind is also keeping our rental rates higher -- and we thank you for that! Regardless, there are many people who are very happy renting from owners intead of agencies, so I guess everyone is happy.