The good points: Host is responsive to texts and information. Needed to know where to eat or chances of getting a parking spot downtown, he responded fairly fast. The residence is a bit over 20 min. walk to downtown, 10 min to a major shopping center, 2 min. to a great pub. It is a quiet location with very tight one-small-car parking. Easy to get to major roads going all directions out of Cork for day trips. We rented to be close to the University College of Cork for meetings. The beds are singles, firm and we got good rest. The kitchen is adequately stocked. There was even some instant coffee in the cupboard and fresh milk in the fridge. Plenty of closet space in each room. The speedy wifi worked great.

Now, the not-so-good things: This is a courtyard with 7 row houses facing into it. Think of the back alley of the projects. They seem to be mostly low rent multi-student apartments. Open the door to the apt and you will say, 'oh hell no'. Terraced apartment' means row house on an sloped bit of land. The stairs are about as strange as they come. Very narrow. If you have trouble with stairs for whatever reason, this is not your place to stay.

The furnishings are student apartment cast offs. The shower had mold outside and in. The fridge is rusty, the door to the freezer section was missing, 4 inches of ice filled that area. We found a moldy cheese ball in the fridge. The electrical system is scary at best. I understand that older homes in various countries have systems that some don't fully understand.

The real problem, the host will not meet you at the home. He has some excuse. To us he replied “sorry could not be there”. Want to know how to turn on the hot water (and you can only leave it on for an hour), you have to text him. Warning, the hot water will burn you. Want to know how to turn on the heat, text him. Turn on the bathroom heater (glorified hairdryer) along with taking a shower, and the breaker will blow. Text to him on how to solve the issue. Oh, and how you switch on the power for the bathroom heater and shower water heater... to text him. And some switches have post-it notes saying “turn off after use”, like the power to the stove/oven.

Spider webs in most windows areas, shower and kitchen, in the vent hood over the stove. The stove vent grease screen has not been cleaned in ages.

If you are a family with kids or a traveling older couple, skip this offering. If you are a group of 'dudes' looking for a place to crash, it will fit your needs. I expect the wrath of the owner to respond as he has done to others. That should give you an idea how he feels about this rental property.