We stayed in this house for the month of December, 2020. While this is a mixed review, we still think it is a great house and should be considered.
Pros:
-Hosts responded very quickly to our emails and provided the items we needed quickly, and even included an in-person visit.
-Living room is comfortable and well decorated.
-Rear of yard is as pictured and worked well for our visits from our kids for ample social distancing.
-Grill worked well, but must be lit manually which was easy to do.
-Beds are comfy and shower is very good.
-Washer, dryer and dishwasher all work fine.
-Safe neighborhood and very quiet. No problems with parking.
Cons:
-There is no information provided about the house or area other than lockbox code, wifi code, and garbage pick up date which is all listed under “Itinerary” online. Information about the idiosyncrasies of the house – like how to turn on the back light against the house as well as how to use the big heater A/C unit in the living room would have saved a few phone calls.
-Heating was the biggest issue. The central heat was not working so they have space heaters throughout the house. These are actually pretty effective if you leave them on all the time (which we weren’t doing but finally started to do after the host came by and explained this to us) BUT, the house is old as is the electrical wiring, and the circuit breakers would trip if we turned on any appliance (including coffee maker and toaster oven) without turning off one or two heaters. Frequently a circuit breaker would trip for no apparent reason. We were very careful about what heaters were on and how high, yet this was a continual problem.
-This won’t be an issue in warmer weather, or when the nights don’t go below 55 -60 degrees. Note that there is no central air conditioning.
-The house could use a deep cleaning.
-This is a no-frills house. Only very basic kitchen items are provided. One roll of toilet paper, 3 boxes of tiissues, dish detergent and sponge, and no other consumable items are included.
-A few staple kitchen and household items were missing, and they quickly provided them.
-Very limited storage for clothes, and with 4 people using the bathroom, this will be a challenge. There is a linen closet in the hall with good shelving and we used that for clothes and could be used for bathroom items.
Conclusion: This is overall a good house in a good, quiet location. With some effort from the hosts in terms of providing information about some idiosyncrasies about the house and info about surrounding restaurants, as well as a deeper cleaning and providing more supplies, like coasters for glasses, placemats, serving pieces, lighter for the grill, etc, this could be a much better house. Most of all, updating the central heating is the number one thing that would make a really big difference in colder months.