Tips on a holiday to Florida

fox007

Have a look on http://www.touramerica.ie/ it will let you look at the price of the whole package or just flights accommodation etc then give you an idea of the price. Also have a look over on the http://www.thedibb.co.uk/ hope that helps

jonneymendoza

cool thanks.

my work collegue recommended this place to book a villa/condo http://www.vrbo.com/12339

And looking at the prices, its around 975 dollers/620 in pounds for two weeks!!

Thats cheaper then some hotels and this comes with own kitchen, living room etc! excellent

jonneymendoza

hi guys i think i am going for this villa http://www.manateevillas.com/guest.htm

what you think? is the person who owns it reliable? a bit iffy that i got to do a bank transfer to the owner though?

safe to do so? And how would i go about transferring funds to the owner from america? Thanks in advance

slave1

To check that the person actually owns the home they are renting to you go to www.osceola.county-taxes.com do a 'Tax Search'.

Make sure you have a landline number and a full address from the person you are renting from.

I do bank transfers frequently (but not to American owners) and would not be worried about that necessarily.

jonneymendoza

cool thanks. it seems the owner is based in UK actually

jonneymendoza

Anyone flied with Delta airlines before?

jonneymendoza

slave1 wrote: »

To check that the person actually owns the home they are renting to you go to www.osceola.county-taxes.com do a 'Tax Search'.

Make sure you have a landline number and a full address from the person you are renting from.

I do bank transfers frequently (but not to American owners) and would not be worried about that necessarily.

did one.

whats it mean?

https://www.osceola.county-taxes.com/public/real_estate/parcels/R252528-164700010630/bills/2464081

ProudDUB

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Anyone flied with Delta airlines before?

Have flown them dozens of times. Dublin-JFK & Dublin-Atlanta. Do you have a specific question about them?

jonneymendoza

ProudDUB wrote: »

Have flown them dozens of times. Dublin-JFK & Dublin-Atlanta. Do you have a specific question about them?

Are they any good? good CS? decent meals and seats?

jonneymendoza

i guess they are not good then? lol i will fly virgin then

swift89

rent you own villa or house with private pool

do the car rental here in ireland as it works out cheaper

drive to miami from orlando is about 3-4 hours ,took me 3 from palm bay florida on the space coast when i lived there

delta are ok to fly with but aerlingus fly direct to orlando from dublin

dave2pvd

jonneymendoza wrote: »

did one.

whats it mean?

https://www.osceola.county-taxes.com/public/real_estate/parcels/R252528-164700010630/bills/2464081

It means they own the property and have paid their property taxes every year:

2011
Paid
2010
Paid
2009
Paid
2008
Paid

slave1

jonneymendoza wrote: »

did one.

whats it mean?

https://www.osceola.county-taxes.com/public/real_estate/parcels/R252528-164700010630/bills/2464081

From that result it looks like this chap has been the villa owner since on-line records began back in 2001 and has paid all his taxes so at least you have that bit of knowledge.
From my experience guys in this situation have their mortgage paid off and are only really interested in covering their costs to allow a "free" holiday for themselves/family so generally price cheaper that those caught with mortgage payments.
I've rented off a similar guy for this July/August, haggled my way to £1,000 for four weeks.

jonneymendoza

cheers thanks for that

TingTong

slave1 wrote: »

From that result it looks like this chap has been the villa owner since on-line records began back in 2001 and has paid all his taxes so at least you have that bit of knowledge.
From my experience guys in this situation have their mortgage paid off and are only really interested in covering their costs to allow a "free" holiday for themselves/family so generally price cheaper that those caught with mortgage payments.
I've rented off a similar guy for this July/August, haggled my way to £1,000 for four weeks.

This guy might have paid off his mortgage, but he obviously is not a business man and enjoys subsidising other peoples holidays, no concern of yours I know. Getting £250.00 a week during the busy summer period will not even pay the weekly running costs on that home. Give me his website address and I might even stay in his house in the future and rent out our own at the same time........it would pay me to.

jonneymendoza

flights booked with virgin

just need to sort out the villa and car rental. easily done

TingTong

just be careful with that villa. the website of the property appraiser just says he owns the villa right now ... it could well be in foreclosure . People will always pay the property tax bill no matter what but they may not be paying other bills like KUA (elec and water) Brighthouse (cable ) etc. Ask for the number of the mangement company and then call them to make double sure. I have heard of prople arriving at a gate and not being let in as the bank has forclosed on the property etc. It just sounds too cheep for my liking . Also pay by paypal or credit card that way at least you can get your money back if it is a con

TingTong

forgot to mention PM me and I will give you the e mail of a guy who always gets us great deals on car hire - way better than the prices advertised on websites -

jonneymendoza

TingTong wrote: »

just be careful with that villa. the website of the property appraiser just says he owns the villa right now ... it could well be in foreclosure . People will always pay the property tax bill no matter what but they may not be paying other bills like KUA (elec and water) Brighthouse (cable ) etc. Ask for the number of the mangement company and then call them to make double sure. I have heard of prople arriving at a gate and not being let in as the bank has forclosed on the property etc. It just sounds too cheep for my liking . Also pay by paypal or credit card that way at least you can get your money back if it is a con

so how could i found out if the owner is in foreclosurE?

Also the price is for 11 nights and dont forget, i am going off peak season, mid september, not during the peak season. during the peak season the owner charges more

http://www.manateevillas.com/rates2013.htm

pm the car rental details then mate. im based in london btw

TingTong

have pm ed you with the car rental e mail. I have also given you suggetions as to how to double check the villa

jonneymendoza

cheers

slave1

Try floridaescapes.co.uk for car rental, they specialise in blocks of weeks rental but you never know. They resell Virgin Holidays/Alamo so the great thing about it is you just walk to the garage and pick up your car, no messing around at a counter.

I've been renting for years, 9th direct rental in a row and everytime I post on a forum about how much it cost me there are rival villa/property owners on straight away scaremongering about not covering costs and getting there with no house to show for it etc., at this stage I just add them to my ignore list.

jonneymendoza

cool nice one

jonneymendoza

Hi all.

is this website really accurate and legit for checking owner and property https://www.osceola.county-taxes.com/public

the reason i ask is because there is a villa i like and it constant contact with the owner and i cant find her name or property on that website.

it is in a sub division. its their on google maps(only allows me to go as far as the entrance to the sub division thats gated) but not on that website!

She has done the best she can to convince me she is legit by saying i can email the previous person that stayed there(waiting on reply) and now her property management company has also emailed me assuring me the property is legit.

the villa is a "Dibbs" villa by the way.

dave2pvd

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Hi all.

is this website really accurate and legit for checking owner and property https://www.osceola.county-taxes.com/public

the reason i ask is because there is a villa i like and it constant contact with the owner and i cant find her name or property on that website.

it is in a sub division. its their on google maps(only allows me to go as far as the entrance to the sub division thats gated) but not on that website!

She has done the best she can to convince me she is legit by saying i can email the previous person that stayed there(waiting on reply) and now her property management company has also emailed me assuring me the property is legit.

the villa is a "Dibbs" villa by the way.

Looks legit.

First one I've seen that's not a dot-gov. Odd.

vickers209

hi all goin to florida in two weeks have a car rental with alamo through american holidays was looking around sat nav there site says they rent them at $12 a day thats $168 seems steep

a friend told me last year there car had a sat nav as stanard ive booked the cheapest car so dout it will have one. but he says they wont have a standard so would be upgraded free?
anyone any experince of this will i need one? its my first time in florida i was looking online u can buy a cheap one for $80 over there thanks

ProudDUB

Google where the nearest WalMart is to where you are staying, & go in and buy one for $40.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/GPS-Navigation-for-Dummies-3.5-FD-220-Portable-GPS-Dashmount-Value-Bundle/20925443

jonneymendoza

i keep hearing that driving down to key west from miami to spend a day is not enough and will have to stay their overnight?

TingTong

jonneymendoza wrote: »

i keep hearing that driving down to key west from miami to spend a day is not enough and will have to stay their overnight?

That's the truth. A few years back we travelled down to Miami after staying in West Palm Beach for the night. We hung around Miami until about 4pm (after seeing everything that Miami had to offer(boring) ). We set off at 4pm and did not arrive in Key West until about 10pm, the traffic was really bad getting down. We spent four days down in Key West and enjoyed every moment of it, the highlight of our holiday. I would advise to travel during daylight hours as the views travelling over the seven mile bridge are magnificent.

jonneymendoza

Missus really wants to chill and relax in Miami though. maybe we can do two days in Miami and two days in keys