This will be the third year that we have booked a condo unit at the Bay View Grand via VRBO. The first year we contacted the owner via an e-mail then confirmed our reservation and had some questions answered over the phone. Payment was made by sending a bank draft to their residence. The keys for the unit were sent to us about a month before our flight. Our names were with the security staff at the entrance and a property management firm looked after arranging the housekeeper according to our needs. The second time was similar,but the owner was a local resident of Ixtapa and met us at the condo (even though our flight was delayed by 3 hours). She also came by a couple of times during our stay to see if everything was OK and arranged for the maintenance staff to fix a couple of minor issues. Payment was sent to a bank she deals with in Texas. This year we corresponded via e-mail and had a contract to sign. The owner owns a business in the US and we were able to use a credit card for the down payment. Not sure how we will send the balance or how the keys will get to us but we have never had a problem with renting units in the Bay View Grand using VRBO.

We had arranged for a different unit this year with an owner for a condo and sent a down payment. It wasn't until we sent the money that he learned that his agent in Ixtapa had rented the condo out for one of the months we had requested. The downpayment was returned within a couple of weeks.

Hope this helps. Can't wait until January when we will again visit the warm and sunny Ixtapa/Zih area and that it has to offer.

I was very nervous about this aspect of our rental. We paid half immediately by check, then the second half plus $400 30 days in advance. It worked out fine for us and the $400 damage deposit was returned very quickly after our teturn. We had to fillo out a contract which actually made me feel a bit better as it had the contacts info on it as well. Probably the safest way is to ask which units have been rented here without problems, oir find other sources to do the same.

We have booked once on VRBO, but not in Ixtapa, it was a casita in a villa n Sayulita- $500 for ten days in August, a steal!

The owners lived in California so all we did was send a cashiers check through registered mail.

I paid the whole bill up front because it was so little, and yes I was a bit leery but everything worked out well. I would be very confident doing it again, I imagine anything not above-board gets weeded out fairly quickly on that site.

While looking at condos on the VRBO website I tried to pick one with credit card payment availability, it just made me feel more confident in the transaction. Our rental went off without a hitch. The owner lived in the US but used a property management service in Ixtapa. The manager met us with the keys and was available if we had any questions.