Question about risks of renting from stra.,ngers
 

I am planning to rent a house in TV soon and it occurs to me that I am about to send a five figure check to a stranger who posted pictures and a description of a house on a website. The person does not need to actually own a house to post these pictures and collect checks from multiple strangers. Am I being paranoid or is this a real risk? I know lots of people have been ripped off on adds for cars on E-bay and Craigslist. Do the people operating these websites confirm that the person listing the rental actually owns or manages the properties they are advertising?

no, you are not paranoid, but concerned about scamming
 

There must be a way to look up the current owner in the legal filings on line with the county, I would start there. . .

It is a real risk. I don't think you can depend on the website to help you. But, you can verify who owns the house by going to the county real estate website. You can also ask the owner for some previous renters as references. I would feel more comfortable if the landlord would accept a credit card, but that may not be possible.

Or, you could rent a house from a recognized business, like a licensed broker or The Villages Management Company.

Before buying down here we rented during the winter months for several years and when renting from an individual that was a concern, never had a problem but you never know. There are also bad management companies down here so you have to be careful.

You can look on the county website, how long they have owned, how many homes they own, and their tax records. Asking for previous renters can help, but you could be talking to anyone. There are hundreds of homes for rent, and rarely do you find or hear of a problem. There are property rental companies, but not the way I would go. We rented from 07 until we bought in 2010, with no problems.

The property records are found at sumterpa.com. You can start by entering the address and the owner of the property and the date they acquired will be listed.

You don't need to enter the address and the owner's name. Only one of the two is needed. There are also similar websites for Lake and Marion counties.

Property tax records are public. One can look up if tax was paid and when by address. The owner’s name is included.

I remember trying to rent at Whistler BC one year. The person offering their Chalet for rent was writing from central Africa....

I had the same concern and I'll tell you what I did which worked for me. The first year I paid the extra $ and went through DownHome Properties. It was more expensive, but I felt secure, and the place was well appointed, and when there was an issue with plumbing it was dealt with quickly and efficiently. That was a 3 month rental.
During that 3 months I found a private renter, who I got to meet an walk through the place with. That made me feel more secure, when I rented from him. It was considerably less expensive, but not as well appointed. Not as many towels, dishes etc not as complete or as nice.

There was still some risk, but I felt a lot better about it than I would have just sending a wad of cash and hoping that someone and some place would be there when I showed up.

Good luck.

Yeah, Tax records would be the first place I'd look just to be sure.

I've not had any trouble renting our CYV, but then I'm up front about everything and we have a good contract that lays everything out clearly. You can also research us in the tax records too. My phone even comes through with the right name when I call. I would say that a preponderance of things when put together can give you enough to trust someone.

Good thing you caught that bit on the chalet, holy moly, that'd be sending cash right down a black hole.

So, the Chalet is not a good deal? I don't even know what a Chalet is.

A Chalet is a building built into a mountain. I found a picture of one, not the one I was looking at though.

It's what you pour wine into. :D

Rented for over 20 years, never had a problem.
I use the villagershomes4rent.com website only.
You can rent directly through TV I believe, but have never used them.

****? Airbnb?
 

Do **** and Airbnb operate in The Villages? If so, booking through them would give you some indication of credibility.