Agree you should be careful. However, we've used VRBO several times, and have been very pleased.

I found a scam last month in Virginia Beach.

Red Flags
- Any kind of wire transfer. Suggest putting on your credit card or payment through Paypal. They have fraud protections that you can pursue.
- Owner refuses to call you (email contact only)
- Owner calls you late at night (from a different time zone)
- Refuses to give references from previous tenants
- Google search the email/property address/phone number.
- Pictures or price is too good to be true.
- Only has pics of outside of the house or only interior pics
- Can't answer questions about the area

My family and I used a website called Rental Spot to find vacation homes in upstate New York. I was very pleased with this website and would definitely recommend using it to book vacation rentals. We also used the site to start booking our annual summer beach vacation in Florida and we love having the different options of homes and locations that this website offers. I was telling my neighbor about this site and she actually was able to list her vacation home on this website for free. Apparently they allow home owners the option of listing properties on their site for free as long as it's written in the standard code. Here is the website:

http://rentalspot.com/

Enjoy!

Thanks for all the PPs. I am completely disgusted by the thought that these scammers could have ruined my family vacation. Imagine we drive for a long day to reach NYC with two whining kids only to find out that we have no place to stay and have been scammed!!! I will definitely look into the sites suggested above. Thanks a million!!

Craigslist is also a scam for cheap London or Paris apartments. They steal the photos from the real estate sites and then put them on for ridiculously low prices.

Yes, OP, steer far clear of those NYC apartments. A friend of mine nearly got ensnared in one of these things in a moment of desperation. Fortunately, she called me and I said "no" when she told me the next step was Western Union. I told her to go by the apartment building and ask the doorman. That small step blew up the scam.

I think 10:07 PP is talking about vrbo.com. I have used this several times with great results, although not in NYC.

I personally wouldn't do it. The stress of making sure everything is on the up and up w/ VRBO takes a toll!

I would suggest maybe visit TripAdvisor and see what the reviews look like for the vacation rentals. That way you know you're dealing with actual renters ( I never truly trust the reviews posted on VRBO).

I have successfully used FRBO.com.

Anonymous wrote:I rented a house from homeway.com. It was lovely and a lot of the properties have reviews from prior guests.

There are a couple of other similar sites. The house I rented was also listed on alwaysonvacation.com.

I would avoid craigslist.

Thanks, PP. Prices on those websites you have listed look more realistic. I will look more closely to those.

I rented a house from homeway.com. It was lovely and a lot of the properties have reviews from prior guests.

There are a couple of other similar sites. The house I rented was also listed on alwaysonvacation.com.

I would avoid craigslist.

Thanks, Cloud. This is very helpful. From the 20/20 website, they actually said that they investigated vacation rentals on New York Craig's list and found that those incredible deals are in fact scams!!! I now will stay clear from that!! Thanks again!!

Might be a hoax. Watched 20/20 this weekend and there was a story about the hoaxes for "affordable" apartments with fake pics and everything. You wire a deposit to a Western Union account and show up at the address and there is no apartment there. Watch out. Too good too be true? It just might be.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/07/family-pays-for-vacation-home-that-isnt-for-rent/

Hi, we plan to take the kids to new york in august. I checked out the vacation rental listings on new york craig's list and was puzzled by how affordable the apartments are. Many nice one bedroom apartments in nice neighborhoods, such as upper west side, chelsea, greenwich, only cost $50 per night with free parking in a doorman building. Many two bedroom apartments are about $100. I am wondering how credible are these listings. Have anyone tried these vacation rental before? How do I know whether these are real and not scam? When I wrote to the owners, I was always told that I need to pay half the rent with security deposite up front. I am a bit skeptical about this. Would appreciate any advice from here.