When Renting, Don't Leave Home Without...

The basics A bank transfer is when money is wired directly to the owner's account—a process you're more likely to run into when booking a property overseas. You'll need info from the owner, including the account name; the bank name, address, and routing number; and the IBAN (international bank account number) where the money is to be sent. It's more secure than using Western Union, but you still don't have the safety net of a credit card. What it costs Transfers don't come cheap: Banks sending the money tack on fees, from $20 at Washington Mutual to up to $45 at Bank of America, and banks on the receiving end usually add on an extra $10–$15. A currency exchange will cost you another 2 to 4 percent. (Some owners' accounts accept dollars, so ask if the exchange is needed.) Account for all the fees before finalizing the amount you need to send. How long it takes It may take up to seven business days. Be sure to let the owner know when to expect the payment.

Consult guidebooks and the local convention and visitors bureaus to see who rents out properties. Here are the basic options: Management companies handle everything, from listings and reservations to maintenance, check-ins, and housekeeping. Rental agencies deal with rental transactions, while upkeep is handled by someone else—though some agencies do both. Hotels and B&Bs might own apartments that they rent out or might be the middlemen for owners of nearby properties. Rentals often have minimum-stay requirements.

There are certain situations in which renting directly from an owner may not be your best option. This may be the case particularly if: You have very specific requirements, such as wheelchair accessibility, an industrial kitchen, or three apartments in the same complex. You're traveling with a big group. The variables—do you need one mansion? several small homes? a dozen condos?—may be too difficult to coordinate. You don't trust the vacation owners in a region. A rental agency will be the one who's liable if anything should happen. And you can almost always use a credit card. You can't find anything. An agency might offer you a new option to consider.

Homeaway.com Both an individual website and the name for a family of rental sites, HomeAway owns cyberrentals.com, vacationrentals.com, and vrbo.com, among others. The different websites don't necessarily offer the same listings, so each one is worth checking out. HomeAway has about 118,000 listings of its own, with decent representation even in obscure, non-touristy spots, like Scranton, Pa. Unlike most other owner-direct websites, all of HomeAway's English-language sites reimburse registered customers up to $5,000 if a rental listing turns out to be a scam. Ownerdirect.com This site has 8,000 vacation-home listings posted directly by owners. Most properties are in the U.S. and Canada, with an ample selection at ski resorts—and more than 300 in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Rentalo.com While the volume of listings (200,000-plus) in this directory is impressive, the results will mix regular hotel and inn rooms with vacation rentals—so make sure to uncheck the "Hotels" and "B&Bs" boxes in the search function. Resortquest.com This is technically an international management company with exclusive access to 20,000 individually owned properties. The majority of listings are in 55 major resort areas in North America, which means the site is heavy on ski and beach vacation spots. For 30,000 more rentals throughout Europe, click over to ResortQuest's partner site interhomeusa.com. Vrbo.com Vacation Rentals by Owner, a sister site to HomeAway, boasts more than 100,000 properties all over the world—including over 100 options in Buenos Aires alone. Search results can be scrolled through quickly thanks to short descriptions detailing the price range, number of bedrooms, and number of people they sleep, followed by symbols telling you whether the property is pet-friendly (look for a paw print) and how many pictures there are of the place (indicated by the number next to the camera icon). Zonder.com This year-old rental operation deals mainly in individually owned but professionally managed town houses and condos in the U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean. Zonder recently began listing its rentals on travel-booking site orbitz.com. While there is less personality in the properties (and the listings) than at other rental sites, Zonder guarantees that its posts are legitimate and its availability calendars are up-to-date. The site is not just a rental directory; it also accepts bookings by credit card.