Our neighbor had used homes4uu.com when they went a few years ago and were totally happy with them.
I spent several weeks pouring over various homes/townhouses/condos on VRBO website and was ready to book with one until I read the cancellation policy; just couldn't afford to lose that kind of money. Of course each owner is different and different policy.
I then stumbled across vacationhomerentals.com and found the house that we rented for our trip in November. I called and talked with the owner and there was just something that felt right about it so we booked.
I think a lot of it is going with your gut too. I called quite a few places and talked to several owners about their properties. I eliminated a lot of the places where the owners were in the UK or outside the US just because if there were issues, I'd rather deal with someone in the states.
There are pros and cons, just like with anything in life. The owners are taking a risk just as well as the renters are too. Most owners have a management company that is local as they're generally out of the state. Be careful that the management company hasn't rented the home the same time the owners have. We rented from a one owner rental and they use the home as their own for several weeks of the year (during the winter). This is our first time to rent a home and it was a very scary thought about paying the kind of money we are not having a large hotel chain to back you up.
Good luck! I sure hope everything goes well for myself too!!
