Rentals from Craigslist?

jorja86

Anyone have any experience renting vacation home through Craigslist? BF and I are looking to go to the beach for a weekend with my brother and his GF. Last year, we stayed in a hotel, but I think it would potentially be cheaper (and a lot more space/privacy) to get a condo this year. 

I've been looking on VRBO and Homeaway, but haven't had much luck in our price range for places that will rent for long weekends. So, I e-mailed some people with listings on Craigslist, and some of them look like really good deals. I'm really hesitant to be shelling out money to people over Craigslist for something like this, though. 

Has anyone had success? How did you go about making payments/verifying the facts about the property?

Thanks in advance for any advice, ladies!

peekaboo2011

Talk to the people.  I had to find a room on Craigslist to for real live in a couple times, and I've found that generally a phone conversation helps if you can't go down and see the property before you go.  If you know someone in the area, you could always ask for the address and have them drive by, or just google map the address to make sure that there is a house, and then street view it.

GoldenPenguin

It's definitely doable. I've rented several apartments through Craigslist - you might have to do some searching, but you can find a good place if you're willing to do a little legwork. I've definitely seen some sketchy places too, but the amazing apartment I live in now was a Craigslist find.

jaycee7389

Hmm, I don't really know. If you cannot physically go see it first and make sure it is really theirs to rent and so forth, I'd be kind of hesitant.

cu97tiger

I think there's a difference between renting an apartment, where you would go see it and meet the potential landlord/roommate beforehand, and a vacation rental, where you would have to trust these people you sent your money to that 1) they have a place to rent and 2) it's the place they sent you pictures of.

I just read a horror story a couple weeks ago about someone who lost a $500 deposit on something like that. My suggestion would be that if you find something you like on Craigslist, only rent it if they have a legit website and payment option, not just 'send them a check' kind of thing.

jorja86

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, Tiger. A couple of the places look a little too good to be true for the price...especially since I was talking to a friend at work you went down to the beach for St. Patricks day, and paid more than the places I'm seeing for the middle of June. I mean, I only live like an hour and half away, so I COULD go down and check them out...but I don't want to, haha.

I think I may go ahead and book the one place that I found on VRBO, even though it's not as nice, and a little further away from where we want to be. 

Thanks girls!

kaitlynmichelle

I found our current apartment on craigslist, and we couldn't see it beforehand because we were in ON at the time.  We got lucky that BF's brother offered to go see places for us, most of them weren't anything great.  I also always called and talked to the person, as well as through email.   Once the brother said it all checked out we sent out a deposit and drove across the country.

We have the basement though, not just a room in a house.  

Edit - I know you are talking about a vacation home, but still same idea, it wasn't anywhere near us.