Buyer Beware!

Recently it was decided that my ONE and I would look into renting a vacation rental in Laguna Beach, CA for her birthday. We both wanted somewhere close enough to everything to walk, cozy enough for two, a place with a full kitchen and clean enough for the ever observant eye she possesses. 

We did what every smart shopper does and began our searches individually on the Internet. Typing in "vacation rentals" into the Google browser, searching Expedia, combing through different ads on www.vrbo.com, and even the ol' search through Craigslist.

While on Craigslist I came upon this really great deal for a North Laguna Beach, one bedroom condo that was about a block away from it's beautiful beaches. The ad was incredible! Great pictures, the condo looked very nice and very clean. To top it all off, it was a great price... Only $100 a night. I couldn't believe the luck I was having.

Here are a few of the pictures included in the ad. Not my own pictures.

I quickly emailed my ONE and directed her to the ad on Craigslist.  At the same time, I responded to the ad to ask if they had the dates available that we were looking for. Did I mention that I'm very gullible? Thankfully, she is not. She read over the ad and was skeptical. She's been to Laguna Beach several times and knows that units that are usually that inexpensive... Usually look very inexpensive as well.

I got a response from the Craigslist ad almost immediately from a gentleman by the name of Andrew Lewis. He advised me that he was the leasing agent for the unit and that if I was interested I had better act quickly because these units tend to go quickly.  With how beautiful this unit was, I didn't doubt it. He told me that the total would be $600 up front, $400 deposit and $200 of the rent for the 4 nights we requested with another $200 due upon arrival. If we returned the unit to him clean and undamaged we would get $300 of our deposit back and they would keep $100 for a cleaning fee.  No taxes or parking fees would be charged.

This all sounded very fair and I was excited about this deal.  I asked him to send over the contract so I could fill it out and send it back.  This unit had everything we were looking for, I wanted it. 

He quickly emailed the contract over to me and I then forwarded the contract over to my ONE.  She read it over and quickly became alarmed. She was very familiar with some Craigslist scams that were going around because unfortunately, at another time, she too had gotten her hopes up about a rental that turned out to be part of a scam.  What clued her in immediately was, in the contract, Andrew had written that when paying the initial $600 payment, we should do so only with US cash.  Ummm... we live in America. What else would we be paying you with?  Those were her words exactly. Ha!

I wanted to believe so badly that we were actually getting a deal and set out to prove her wrong. I would find this ad on another website, I would show her! Well, I found the rental on another site... a legit one. And boy, was I wrong.

I went on www.vrbo.com and found the unit that I had been looking at on the Craigslist ad.  On the VRBO ad it had the owner's name and phone number, so I decided to call. A very nice gentleman answered and I asked him if the unit was available for the dates that I had originally requested. He advised no. I asked him if it was available, how much would it rent for? It was well over $100 a night. Then I asked him if he by chance had another ad going in Craigslist? He said, no but that he was aware of a scam going around where people are taking the pictures off of his ad in VRBO and making new ads on Craigslist. They then tell the victim that they need to send the money right away or deposit into a bank, (the bank they had requested I deposit into was Guaranty Bank in Wisconsin), fill out the rental agreement and send it back. He said unfortunately, when they show up thinking they are going to have this beautiful unit for their vacation, the victim finds out that they actually gave the money to a stranger/scam artist and they are out of luck. No refund, no condo, no vacation.

I'm so happy I got to speak with the owner of the property to find all of this out before I sent any of my money away.  The owner of the unit then asked if I would be willing to cooperate with the detective he had been working with in Orange County. I agreed, as I would be pleased to help in any way I could to prevent someone from being a victim to this scam.

The detective contacted me and asked me if I would continue to go along with the scam. Pretending that I was still interested. Filling out the contract with false information on my end, just so we could get the bank info; routing number and account number.  Possibly the persons name that was on the account.  I did as he advised. Blind copying him on every response I sent back to Andrew Lewis/Scam Artist.

Everything was working as we had hoped. I got the routing number, the checking account number the name of the person that was on the bank account and I told Andrew Lewis/Scam Artist that I would be depositing my money the next business day.  I copied the rental owner (the real one) and the detective so they would have all the info as well. 

UNFORTUNATELY, the detective replied to all... INCLUDING the SCAM ARTIST and blew our covert operation! He mistakenly replied to Andrew Lewis as the rental owner and basically told him that they were going to do everything they could to catch the guy! But because Andrew Lewis/Scam Artist was in Wisconsin, they would most likely have to refer this case to the district attorney in Milwaukee because Orange County will not extradite the individual for prosecution in California.

Talk about a major screw up! -____-  Oh well! I did my part. Needless to say, the detective never responded to me when I told him of his error. Thankfully, neither has scam artist.

So here are the things I did learn when looking for vacation rentals on Craigslist:

• Look to see how the contract is written.  Are words spelled correctly?
• What kind of monetary payment are they asking for?
• Do they include a phone number?
• Do they have a name listed?
• How about a website?
• Do some thorough research!

I hope that this is helpful to you in your future searches. While there are some really legit ads on Craigslist, unfortunately... you can bet you will run across some scams there too!

Be Safe!

Where am I?

The family that road trips together, stays together. (Or something like that!)

One June summer, my sister and I decided that we would take a road trip with our kids plus a niece. That's a total of 5 kids! Oh yeah, and we can't forget my other baby... Bella, my prized pooch!  We loaded up the 7-seater Dodge from top to bottom and headed to Holland, Texas to visit our aunt, uncle and cousins. 

The estimated drive was going to take about 15 hours and the plan was that we, my sister and I, would take turns driving. Somehow, I ended up doing most of the driving because someone...(clears throat)...kept getting tired every time she got behind the wheel. (And honestly, as crazy as everyone  thinks I drive, I still only trust my own driving!). It was a LOOOOOOOONG drive, but we all made it. No tickets, no missing hairs and no fights. Very sleepy, but alive and thankful.  Even Bella made it all the way with no incident.

We stayed a couple of days in Holland and then we were to make our way to a beach house that our aunt and uncle had rented for the week in Port Aransas, which is near Corpus Christi.  This was another 4 and a half hours away from Holland.

On the way there we made a stop in Goliad to visit the Presidio La Bahia, a national historic landmark.  We also got to tour Our Lady of Loreto Chapel and read a little about the history of many battles that were fought on the grounds. 

Pretty interesting if you're into that kind of stuff.  I think my uncle and aunt may have enjoyed it more than all of us. The kids looked bored and I think I was hungry. But when isn't that the case?

Anyway it was a good spot for some great pictures and it was only $4 for adults and $1 for kids, (children under 5 were free).  If you want to learn about this place, here is a link: http://www.presidiolabahia.org/index.html.

 

Back on the road, we finally get to Port Aransas.  It was dark, hot and humid, but the house was beautiful and huge!  It was a two unit rental; my aunt, uncle and cousins had the downstairs. Me, my sister, our kids and Bella had the upstairs unit. 
 

 

 

Plenty of room for all of us and a short walk to the beach.  It was located in a small community with no traffic or noise.  If you want to escape, I would recommend this area.  I'm sure that during Spring Break it gets pretty crazy being that it's so close to Corpus Christi, but at this time of year it was a perfect little getaway with the kids.

They enjoyed playing in the sand, boogie boarding in the Gulf of Mexico, finding dead jelly fish (gross!), building sand castles and collecting shells.  All that fun stuff you do when you visit a large body of water.

Because the house had two kitchens and was fully furnished, we saved money by buying our own groceries and making our meals.  We rented DVD's, brought board games and books. There were gift shops and other local stores so we made trips there a few times to look around the city. This is definitely a tourist town so there are plenty of hotels and motels to stay in. I personally loved having the house. So if you can manage it, maybe get a few family members to chip in, I'd look at renting a house as an option.

 

 

 

Finally, the time had come to leave and we got to ride a ferry out of the city. This was something that we had never experienced before and the kids were very excited about it. It took a little while to actually get going, but that can also be because we were leaving on a workday morning. 

The trip was pretty inexpensive, created some lasting memories that the kids still talk about today and was a good escape for all of us. Pretty much what you would want from a family vacation. It was a fun week, and I recommend everyone do a fun road trip at least once in your lives!  I just don't know that my buttocks would ever be able to take another 40 hour road trip! 

San Francisco: My Second Home… Should I Ever Win $1 Million Dollars!

One of my most favorite places to visit is San Francisco, California. The first time I ever went, I immediately fell in love.  The hustle and bustle of a big city, the endless opportunities for people watching, the food, the arts, the wharf! Really, there is so much to do and see in San Francisco that I would not dare try and fit it all into one blog entry.  Instead, I will tell you the best way to get there on a budget and things you can do to save some money yourselves. 

 

 

First of all, I am from Phoenix, Arizona.  The mileage between San Francisco and Phoenix is approximately 751 miles, which translates into what could be an 11 hour car ride.  Now, unless you are really, really, really fond of car rides… I don’t know who in their right minds wants to sit in a car for that long.  Your best bet for anything over six hours is a nice, quick plane ride.  I’ve flown on two different airlines the few times I visited San Fran, (that’s what I’ll be calling San Francisco from here on out), Southwest Airlines and US Airways. I have always personally had a better experience on Southwest.  You never have to pay for your checked luggage, unless you have more than two bags, not including your carryon. The flight connects straight thru so there is no stopping in any other city.  And bonus, Southwest sometimes offers some pretty cheap fares! If you are able to plan for it, they usually have a semi-yearly sale based on the amount of miles to travel between the two cities you are departing from and arriving at.  I was able to get tickets at one time from Phoenix to San Fran for a total of $198, round trip, for coach seats. Pretty cheap considering some airlines charge a lot more, and then you have to pay to check your bags on top of that.  Another airline I have used to fly into San Fran was US Airways.  I was actually booked by Priceline with them as it was a total package deal, the flight plus the hotel.  Although I can’t remember exactly what I paid for that package, I can remember that my flight was horrible! We had to sit at the very last row in the coach cabin, the seats did not recline and it was terribly loud.  We had an hour layover in Los Angeles and then finally we landed in San Fran.  It was the worst flight I’d ever been on, and I am only basing that on our seats.  There are a lot of price comparison sites out there for airlines, I suggest you shop around and plan.  Pay attention to Southwest Airlines though, it could be your cheapest option considering you’ll more than likely be taking some luggage with you.

For a place to stay, I always use Priceline’s Name Your Own Price tool. You can save quite a bit of money using this tool, especially if you know what kind of hotels you like and around how much they can cost.  The only bad thing about naming your own price is you never know what hotel you are going to end up in until the end, when a hotel actually accepts the offer that you’ve named.  If you’re o.k. with that, then you’ll be fine using that tool.   What I like to do is first pull up all the hotels that are listed in San Fran on Priceline.  Then I’ll sort by either price or rating to get an idea of what the “normal price” is for each room.  Look at the star rating.  Are you going to be o.k. in a 3 star hotel?  Is a 2 star hotel too shady for you?  Go read reviews and even look in Google Maps to see where they are located.  I do all of that.  Researching where you are going to be is very important as there are a few sketchy areas in San Fran. I would suggest anywhere in the Financial District, the Fisherman’s Wharf area, Nob Hill, or the Embarcadero area.  Your hotel is what you are going to be spending the most amount of money on, so plan wisely. Name your own price, you should be able to find somewhere decent for about $150 a night. Otherwise, you’ll be staying in San Mateo or somewhere further out and you really don’t want to have to rent a car.  Especially with all the public transportation available in San Fran.

Speaking of public transportation, there is plenty in San Francisco.  You have the BART, light rails/street cars, buses and cable cars.  There are also taxi cabs everywhere and if you really need to get out of the city, there are spots where you can rent a Zipcar.  Although, if you are thinking of renting a Zipcar on vacation, you’ll have to make sure you apply for a membership before you actually get to San Fran and make sure you have a driver’s license and credit card ready.  Keep some cash on you for cab fare and tips.  Remember that San Francisco is only 46.87 square miles so nothing is too far and should be terribly expensive if you are staying within city limits.  The most expensive cab ride will probably end up being from the airport to your hotel and back.
 

Ahhh… Now breathe, you’ve come to the end of this blog entry and I promise you that once you land at SFO there will be so much to do and see you will be happy that you took the opportunity to visit.

• Remember to do your research on flights. Watch out for Southwest Airlines’ semi-annual sales.  As they let you check in two bags free, where other airlines will charge you for checking one.
• Figure out what sites in San Francisco you’d most like to see.  Look around hotel review sites like Yelp and read what customers have said about the different hotels in the area.  Know the star rating of the hotels your most comfortable at and then search on Priceline to see what you find there.  If you are o.k. with letting Priceline pick your hotel for you, based on star rating, use the Name Your Own Price tool.  I’ve gotten pretty lucky a few times with some really nice hotels.
• Don’t worry about renting a vehicle in San Francisco unless you absolutely hate walking and public transportation or you plan on traveling outside of San Francisco’s city limits.  Carry some tip money and don’t forget to take some comfortable walking shoes and hand sanitizer.

I hope you are moved to visit soon; it really is just a beautiful city! 

 

 

In the future, I will post more on different things to do in San Francisco.  I wouldn't do the city justice trying to fit it all into one blog!

Until next time!

First Post: Scenic Route to Forever!

To get lost in the world is something that I've always craved. Traveling to different corners of the earth; exploring, experiencing and most importantly: living!

Unfortunately, real life happens and to be absorbed by wanderlust was not fitting for a new mommy/college student/full-time employee.

Years pass, the income increases and the kids grow a little older when all of a sudden the realization hits: Hey... We can go places now!

While they haven't all been extravagant trips and Lord knows that there have been many challenges and tears along the way, I've been reminded by ONE that there is no rush on the scenic route to forever. And that our journey has just begun.

So, enjoy my adventures! And may they encourage you to create a few adventures of your own!

The picture below is from a Labor Day Weekend road trip to the Grand Canyon. This was taken as we were driving into Jerome, AZ.