As the summer winds down, cash-strapped Americans are looking for ways to take that "last hurrah" vacation. And we don't want money woes to ruin the fun in the sun. The Robert family plans to spend a week at their favorite beach. This year, they're renting a condo they found online. "I would estimate that we'll probably be saving at least 500 dollars by staying in a rental instead of a hotel," Michele Robert told us. It's not only the good rate they found, but they can also cook their own meals. Michele says spending time at the stove is a small price to pay for what she's getting in return. "There's two bedrooms. We have our own private deck that we can sit out on. There's a flat screen TV in every bedroom," she showed us. 16 million Americans rented a vacation place last year alone. While most used an agent, 29% reserved online themselves, using everything from Craig's list to special vacation rental sites that put you in contact with owners. "All our sites are growing fast and demand, reservation requests, are especially growing faster than supply across most markets," explained Justin Halloran, whose company operates several home rentals sites. They include Cyberrentals, VRBO, and Homaway. The sites are pretty easy to operate. Halloran demonstrated. "When you find a property you like you click on it, you view the details and you contact the owner directly." Direct contact was a plus for Peter Leepson… a real estate lawyer who was in search of a temporary place for rest and relaxation. "I think the personal connection between us and the landlord -- very instrumental in making this whole thing a very, very pleasant experience," Leepson said. Travel expert Pauline Frommer said sometimes, talking directly to the owner is the way to go. But not always. "A lot of people now book vacation rentals direct with owners. This often is the most cost effective way to do it, but there are risks involved," she cautioned. If you're not planning to go through an agent, Frommer said you need to do your homework. Visit the rental if you can. If not, get lots of pictures. Confirm the address… check out the area as best you can… and the contract is key. "You might want to get in writing what all the different fees might be from cleaning fees to utility charges," Frommer advised. Also include who will fix things if something breaks…whether there's a pool, how many TV's…and… "Make sure that the number of people you are traveling with doesn't exceed the maximum. Make sure that you can bring all of your cars and park them," Halloran suggested as other key questions to ask. And…believe it or not, ask if you can have guests! Not asking that question left Michele in an awkward situation once. "We tried to have two friends up and the woman stopped us and said, 'no, there are no guests' and we didn't realize that," she remembered. Find out whether the rental site offers a refund if it turns out the listing is not legitimate… and Frommer says it's a good idea to get insurance in case you have to cancel. If you're going to rent a vacation home online, Pauline Frommer recommends you stick with the sites that connect you with owners, since they offer the most protection. You will find that some of the listings on those sites are also posted by property managers who represent owners.