Hi. It can be a very good thing to rent from and owner. But you want an owner who is experienced and who has rented multiple times. You can also rent through an agency, but the rental agencies charge a bit more. They do a good job, and if you can't find an owner, you could try them, but they do charge a bit more.
Keep in mind that if you want a popular season, such as from October through December, it is already gone (mostly booked up), as of now, when we are in February. Right now, in the Fall Food and Wine Festival period and holiday period, there is moderate availability for Old Key West and Saratoga Springs, Kidani Village also has some good blocks available, but most of the other resorts are pretty spotty right now. Whatever IS available in the Fall, will be gone very soon. So, the point is, if you want a popular time, you should book out as close to 11 months as possible. BUT, ALSO KEEP IN MIND, MOST AGENCIES AND MOST PRIVATE OWNERS DO NOT GIVE REFUNDS, IF YOU NEED TO CANCEL.
If you want to go in a less busy time period, you can sometimes get decent availability at about half the resorts, at 7 months out. This means that ANY owner with points could book those for you, and you don't need to find an owner who has Home Resort Privileges. This means there could be more owners that might be able to rent to you.
Always look for an owner who has a good history of lots of posts, including recent posts, on a variety of topics, on the message boards. Read their posts. Look at their posting history. See if you can also find previous Listings for Rentals from them.
Make sure you get their name, address, phone number and email, before you send them any money. Google these and make sure it all looks pretty consistent.
Consider going to the Orange County Florida Comptrollers Website
https://or.occompt.com/recorder/web/ Search for deeds in the name of the person you are renting from, to verify they are owners.
Ask for references, if you don't feel confident. References can be faked, as many other things can, but if they can give you the name, phone number or email addrss of several people who ahve rented from them, you might contact those people to verify the owner.
You WILL also be expected to give YOUR name, phone number, address, email and names of others travelling with you, plus the ages of children, for them to be able to make a reservation in your name. The owner might also send you a contract for you to sign, specifying your rental agreement.
Finally, DO NOT SEND MONEY UNTIL YOU HAVE A CONFIRMED RESERVATION WITH RESERVATION NUMBER AND ALL THE DETAILS. DO NOT send money for them to 'search' for you, or to 'prove your interest' or anythng like that. Private rental agencies can charge a down payment fee or search fee or whatever they call it, but private owners who are renting have absolutely no business doing this, and no reason to. If they ask for any money up front, I would find someone who IS NOT asking for money upfront.
Once the search and booking has been successful, the owner should be able to give you a confirmed reservation number. You should be
able to take that number and plug it into your My Disney Experience App ( MyDisneyExperience.com or Disneyworld.Disney.Go.Com) and bring up all the information, and confirm that the names and dates and all the info is the way you want it. ONLY THEN would I send any money.
Keep in mind, the Owner MUST keep their account, fees and other things current and square with Disney, or you won't be able to check in. Experienced owners should have no trouble with this. But this is also why you need to keep their contact info so you can call them if there are any problems at all. The Owner will also need to be the go between, between you and Disney, for scheduling Magical Express and Disney Dining Plan. For Disney Dining Plan, I sometimes put renters on a 3 way call with me and Member Services, so they can pay their cost by credit card, but I also have renters who have worked with me before, who just give me their credit card info and I do it for them. Only do this with someone you really trust. BUT, it isn't as bad as you might think, since if they commit fraud you could always contact your credit card company. (DO NOT use a Debit Card. That doesn't provide ANY protection.)
The owner should be someone you feel confident in working with, since they retain ultimate control, and can even cancel your reservation without your permission, if they choose to do so. Again, this is another reason to make sure you aren't being scammed and are dealing with a real person who posts regularly on these boards, and who has rented before.
When you pay them, you will most likely do that through Venmo or Paypal, though I have also had people send me personal checks.
I hope this helps.
