Academic

Beware: Summer Rental Scams

By Kevin Maillard

The NYT has a very entertaining, albeit alarming article giving advice for summer rental nighmares.  It is filled with stories of people showing up to beach or mountain houses filled with vermin, slugs, bats, and landlords with alligator boots and dollar sign chains. The most useful advice it gives?  Make a video.  View the property first.  Have a friend go and view it. 

Some of these are impractical recommendations, but they still make a lot of sense.  No one wants a house with mouse gifts or a loud construction sight next door, or a "weird, noisy, straight family" that lives downstairs.  (Ha!) The most shocking story concerns a scam in Hawaii where the vacationers arrived to find a locked house, with no legal chance of actually getting inside.  The owner had suddenly been called out of town, and advised the tenants to hire a locksmith, get their own set of keys, and send a cashier's check to a secret address. 

Now that the summer is about halfway over, some good deals on vacations may still be out there.  But be sure to do your homework before sending money.

Picture courtesy of http://www.thomaslockehobbs.com.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on July 10, 2009 (boomark / email).