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Craigslist Renter

icydog

icydog

TUG Review Crew: Expert
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Location
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I found a rental for February and March in the Villages Florida on Craigslist. It was listed as a cancellation. I spoke with the owner and he gave me until tonight (Sunday night) to come to a decision.
Meanwhile, I asked him if we could use an escrow company for the fees, $7000 for the two months, and he came back with I could pay him with PayPal @4%.
I wrote him back and said PayPal is approx 3% not 4%. I then asked him for a rental agreement, some references and more pictures.

He sent a note to a former renter and in it he said I was "one of those kinds" and he had the "bad luck" to have to deal "one of those kinds". He asked them for a reference and copied me on his email. I was floored but I still wanted to rent the house.

Then I get an email stating that he closed with another renter for March and April and if I still wanted Feb to let him know because he had a lot of other people waiting in the wings to rent his month.

I was floored. Because I asked for simple safeguards he rented to someone else. I have been renting my timeshares for years and I never balked at a renters desire to have references, a rental agreement or to use a rental escrow company (as long as they paid for it). I also charged them exactly what the PayPal fees were. I didn't think I should be making a profit on fees.

I guess I dodged a bullet. And I am not upset that the deal fell through. I am just amazed at the lack of courtesy this Craigslist guy showed me.
 
icydog,
Is there a reason you want that particular resort? Friends and family? Promise of not moving for the 8 weeks?

Check Redweek (and other TS rental sites) and for $850-900 per week, you should be able to put together Feb and March weeks for the winter. And while many resorts will try to keep you in a unit for 2 weeks, most like to throughly clean the units (get into them to check on them) you would have to move a couple of times.
 
And I think you did dodge a bullet from him... he was BS on the paypal fees and was rude in his email to another former renter regarding you.

I wonder why the former renter was not renting this year?
 
This dosent sound like a timeshare to me...Is it?

I wouldnt have sent you the note identifying you as one of those kinds, and I probably wouldnt have sent that note to my former renter either, but you are "one of those kinds" that I warn my clients about when they say they want to do a seasonal rental....as in "if you want to rent your home on a seasonal basis, to recover some of your expenses, remember you will have to deal with tenants, some of whom will be a pain in the backside that you will never be able to satisfy"


The owner probably feels he dodged a bullet as well.

You should both consider yourself lucky
 
You could very likely get what you are looking for and at a much lower price if you check out VBRO.com or Homeaway.com. I would tell this guy to take a hike on the remaining month he is offering you. Personally, I would pay more for a better customer service experience. Wishing you luck on fiinding something that meets your needs.
 
I think the manager or owner of the rental had very poor business sense in treating a client like this, but I wouldn't accept escrow either. Escrow protects the renter - not the owner.

My guess is that he knows he can rent it easily and doesn't want to make any special concessions.
 
He's clearly "one of those kinds" and you had the good luck to find out before you ended up with more hassles from him.
 
That's the retirement community you are inquiring about, correct? It's called The Villages, and I know several people who live there.

Some firefighters Rick worked with for years chose to live there on their retirement incomes. One guy moved there, and another went to visit and chose to move there, too. I really want to visit them sometime to see it.

If we didn't have grandchildren whom we love to see every week or two, we would move there. If the grandkids get too old to see Grandma and Grandpa regularly (we know all about busy lives), we may think about it.
 
$7000 for two months in the Villages (unless golf is included) seems awfully high to me...

But, I've only driven through the Villages and stopped at one of their Town Squares once so I could be dead.

I have heard the residents love the area...it's much like a Del Web community. Golf carts is the standard mode of transportation. My guess is there will be one available with the rental.
 
Dont know how flexible you are but I found the following

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/7544.html?promoType=none

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/15692.html?promoType=none

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/10837.html?promoType=none

Im not familiar with the community but I think this link should take you to some nice and available units in the Villages. I did a check for Feb - March and their seemed to be a fair amount available for less than what you were gonna pay. Hope this helps!

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/The-Villages-Florida.html
 
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