When we arrived at the house, our immediate impression was “meh.” The pictures make the parking area/bridge look a lot larger. The bridge itself has many wooden planks that are badly worn, soft, and give when stepped on. The adjoining pavement is uneven. The screen door looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in years or simply needs replacement. There are thick cobwebs at nearly every window. The interior of the house is also a lot smaller than it appeared, but also looks shabby. Scratched wooden walls everywhere and literally less than 3 feet from the front door there is a steep wooden staircase to downstairs.
This staircase is very steep and narrow and made of slippery wood and not up to code. The smallest/youngest of our two dogs started exploring and fell all the way down those slippery stairs within the first two minutes of our being in the house. My larger, senior dog could not possibly ever make it up or down those stairs. My senior mother also struggled. I believe that this staircase either needs to be brought up to code or CLEARLY disclosed and/or pictured.
The other major inconvenience was the temperature. When we arrived it was EIGHTY FIVE(!) degrees inside, although it was only 81 outside. The owners might consider black out/insulated blinds to block the heat and light and probably portable AC units for the bedrooms at least.
There were myriad other small issues, some of which we reported the first day, but the property manager never responded. The ceiling seems to be deteriorating or there are termites because we would wake up to wooden dust on the kitchen counters every morning.
There are also (at least) two undisclosed surveillance cameras on the property (driveway and side of house) and round monitoring devices of some kind above the two patio slider doors. The undisclosed devices are a violation of VRBO’s policy.
That all said, the kitchen is well stocked and is a nice remodel. We found most of the kitchenware we needed and cooked most meals at home. The bedding was generally comfortable. The decor is sparse but tasteful. This could be a wonderful home with a better vacation rental company managing it and a significant number of exterior repairs as well as other enhancements mentioned above.