I recently inquired about a house to rent for the weekend in Put-in-Bay for a bachelor party in June, and the owner emailed me back saying that basically it was a $300 deposit, and then she would email or mail me back a contract once she got my deposit. This sounded shady, as I don't really want to send someone I don't know $300, so I asked politely if she could just email the contract and let me look it over before I send the deposit... she then went on a tangent about me being rude implying she doesn't know how to run her business, yadayadayada, and that in her experience people who don't send the deposit right away sometimes back out.

I guess it's her prerogative, but I am not shipping this lady 3 huns. What say ye OC? Nigerian Scam or what?

Sounds like complete bullshit to me.

Sounds shady.

Hope this helps.

Tell her that if you send the contract back, you WILL include the deposit with the contract. There's no need to put down a deposit without any kind of contract. If you fork over money without signing anything, there's no official agreement as to what that money is for...

Find another to rent, if she is being like this before any paperwork is signed, can you imagine what she will be like after you leave her precious rental house?

Shady as hell. You have no recourse if she disappears with your $300. Go elsewhere.

It's not really shady, but it is kind of unprofessional - particularly if she wants a check or money order instead of a credit card. It makes me wonder what other sort of problems you'd have with her.

The rental company we use in Oregon requires the deposit before sending out a contract, but they have you send in a form with the deposit that states it's refundable if we return the contract unsigned within 30 days of receipt (or "x" weeks before the rental date, whichever occurs earliest). We did have to cancel once under these conditions - I had the money back less than a week after sending the contract back. Also - we pay via credit card - that takes the ball right out of the rental company's court if there is any garbage, as the CC company can take the money right out the merchant account.

Either way you are not getting the deposit back. You need to stay off of craigslist when looking for a place.

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