Broadly, Mike's house was very nice. It's been done up to a modern standard. There is top quality wifi and a big TV in every room. The kitchen is well appointed and a good place to cook. It's a comfortable place to hang out.
But... Many of the basics that we've come to expect from great Airbnb hosts just aren't there. For example, there's no welcome manual for the house. And, with all of its gadgetry, the house is very complicated. There's a Sonos, and TVs, and electric blinds, and so forth. Each with their own controllers. It wasn't clear at first how to make them work. The air conditioning didn't work very well when we first arrived, and we weren't sure how to fix it. There was also an issue with the parking. The listing calls out off-street parking, and there was a driveway, but someone else's car was parked in it all week. Now, it turns out that you can easily buy a parking pass for the street parking from the City of Toronto. But there was no way for us to know that until we did the research on our own.
There were other challenges, too. One of our guests was older and had some mobility issues, so it's worth noting that there are no railings on any of the stair cases, either inside or outside of the house. Although the listing claims it's a king, the bed in the second bedroom is a double (at best).
And most of all was the challenge of communications. Mike was out of the country during our stay and, as a result, was out of contact most of the time. That made it impossible to get our questions answered, so we just had to work things out for ourselves.
All of this is a shame, because the house and the neighbourhood are great. There is a cute street within walking distance with an excellent coffee shop, French restaurant, and Italian restaurant. And there may be other gems, but we didn't have a chance to explore them more. There are excellent attractions nearby. And the house is well positioned near transport if you want to go downtown or to the lake. The house itself is excellent, well outfitted, and a pleasure to hang out in. So I'm happy to recommend it, but urge you to be be aware of the challenges if you book.