Philadelphia Weekly

REAL ESTATE

5 tips to safely book a vacation rental

Online clues help weed out bogus listings

By Inman News Feed

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted May. 2, 2012

Most importantly, listen to your gut because it's usually right.

"There was a couple on a national TV show that said they went ahead with the rental even though it didn't feel right," Karpinski said. "What's up with that? Scammers usually count on people not paying attention," or heeding their intuition.

"Renting a vacation home is like anything else. It's not risk-free, but when you take steps to mitigate the risk, you can feel 99.9 percent confident that you're not getting scammed."

Tom Kelly's new e-book, "Bargains Beyond the Border: Get Past the Blood and Drugs: Mexico's Lower Cost of Living Can Avert a Tearful Retirement," is available online at Apple's iBookstore, Amazon.com, Sony's Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel eBook Store, and Google Editions.