Cape Coral Vacation Rentals - Vacation Scams

Vacation scams happen – unfortunately.

Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Before I discuss Cape Coral specific ways to protect yourself from vacations scams, let me give you two that work anywhere.

The easiest screen of all is – do they accept credit cards? A Cape Coral property owner who accepts Visa or MasterCard has been evaluated and approved by an independent third party. The credit card company did the credit check that you can’t, and is willing to bank on the person’s history of timely financial dealings. Even if you do not intend to pay by credit card, this is a big clue about how they conduct their business.

The next easy check is - how long have they listed their home for rent? While new listings don’t automatically equate to vacation scams, established listings (a year or more) are a safer bet, as vacation rental sites are very quick to eliminate listings that have been involved in any sort of scam.

If you want to rent a new listing or are still concerned about vacation scams after the easy checks above - Cape Coral has three online resources available to make sure the property you plan to rent exists and you are dealing with a legitimate and reputable owner.

In your first contact with the owner ask for a rate quote AND ask for the property address and under what name it is doing business. As soon as you receive a reply, check out Cape Coral’s easy-to-access resources for avoiding vacation scams:

Verify the property exists

1. Go to the official Lee County website and scroll down the left hand side of the page until you find “Database Search” and click on it.
2. Accept the disclaimer and from the next page select “Real Property Search”.
3. Enter the owners’ last name and the first letter of their first name then click “Start Search”. NOTE: the database is pretty picky about how you enter the address (ie. Property at 5322 Bayside Court has to be entered as 5322 Bayside Ct or it won’t show up – the owner’s name is an easier search.)
4. When you locate the owner and the correct property address, click on the numbers in the column labeled “Strap”. This takes you to a page labeled “Property details”.
5. The search results should match what you have been told and there should be a house in the photograph. An empty lot is a BAD thing.

In the above search, note the name and address of the “Owner of Record”. If you are asked to send your contract and/or payments to anyone other than the person/people listed here – BEWARE. While legitimate property management companies exist, verify their credibility and authority with the real owner before you send any funds. (Try www.anywho.com to search for a phone number for the actual owner if you do not want to wait for the mail.)

Verify the property’s resort dwelling license

This is the acid test. If the owner you are dealing with is one of the less than 40 owners in Cape Coral who went through all the hassle of getting this license, they are serious about their property rental!

The following steps bring up a list of everyone in Cape Coral with a resort dwelling license:

1. Go to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation website and select “verify a license”.
2. Select “Search by license type”.
3. From the drop down menu next to “License Category” select “Hotels and Restaurants”.
4. From the drop down menu next to “License Type” select “Resort Dwelling License”.
5. Enter “Cape Coral” in the space provided for the city.
6. Select “Lee” in the drop down menu next to “County”.
7. Leave “Florida” as the default selection next to “State”.
8. Click on the “Search” button at the bottom right side of page.
9. Scroll through the resulting list to find your property by owner, business name and/or address. In order to meet all the qualifications to collect state taxes, I had to obtain this license on my properties. If your owner isn’t listed, they may be collecting tax from you and not passing it on . . .

Still worried?

HomeAway is a group of vacation rental websites that offer Cape Coral rental properties as well as properties around the world. If you book with one of their owners, they offer a special vacation scam guarantee IF you register your stay within seven days of completing your booking. Their website states, “The HomeAway Rent with Confidence Guarantee provides travelers protection (and peace of mind) by guaranteeing up to $5,000 of a traveler's payment in the event the listing is determined not to be legitimate in accordance with our policy.” (http://guarantee.homeaway.com/, retrieved February 19, 2008)


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