How to choose a rental property for your next vacation

It’s National Vacation Rental Month. Therefore, it’s a good time to start looking for a rental property for your next vacation. There are many benefits to renting. For example, there are no maintenance costs and real estate taxes, as well as a renter has more flexibility for where he or she can stay. Renting a home can be a great alternative to staying in a hotel.

However, when looking for a property for your shortterm stay, it’s important to find the right place for you and your family. Consider the type of vacation you would want to have at this property and search accordingly. Finding the right place could really improve your vacation.

However, it’s important to do your homework. An in-depth study by Better Business Bureau found widespread fraud in the online rental home and vacation market, with 43% of online shoppers encountering a fake listing and more than five million consumers losing money to such scams.

Better Business Bureau offers these tips for selecting a rental property:

■ Allow yourself the time to research hotels, flights and the area where you’ll be staying. Typically, the earlier you make reservations, the better the deals.

■ Search online for the owner and listing with words like review, scam or complaint.

■ Avoid broad internet searches. Try to avoid entering phrases like “best deals” into the search engine. Broad search terms can sometimes lead you to websites that look official but are designed to rip people off.

■ Beware of owners that want you to get off the platform to communicate or send money. Also, watch out for fake websites impersonating reputable platforms.

■ Be leery of listing photos with watermarks on the images, as well as vague details about the listing.

■ Be wary if the rent is far too low for the neighborhood or quality of the space.

■ Don’t give money before you have reviewed and signed a lease.

■ Use caution if asked to wire money through services such as Western Union or Money Gram, or if the landlord only accepts cash.

■ Consider travel insurance. It covers trip cancellations or medical emergencies.

■ Don’t rent with agents who are out of the country and cannot meet you in person.

If you come across one of these scams, file a report with local police, Federal Trade Commission, Internet Crime Complaint Center and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. You can also file a Scam Tracker report at bbb.org/scamtracker.

For more information, visit bbb.org or call 937-222-5825 or 800-776-5301.