This was possibly the best stay we've ever had. TL;DR: The house is accurately pictured, is incredibly comfortable, beautifully situated, brilliantly equipped, and is a real oasis away from the hustle & bustle of LA.
We stopped for a week in August (myself, wife, daughter 14 and son 9) while visiting from the UK. We'd already done a few days over at Disney, plus a few more up at San Francisco, and wanted somewhere with a pool that we could base ourselves from whilst also exploring the area. The house itself is stunning: It's on a no-through road so it's quiet, and the views from the back are incredible. Loads of space: 4 large bedrooms meant that everyone had plenty of space to themselves, with a large open living area. All of the beds and bedding were *super* comfortable. The heated pool was a definite highlight on some of our lazier days, and my youngest found the projector room as a huge hit for watching movies on.
The house is tastefully decorated, and incredibly well appointed. Particular highlight is made of the kitchen that quite honestly had every appliance that any sane person could wish for, plus a few more! We mostly grabbed take out due to being lazy and on holiday, but did use the kitchen for making snacks, and we cooked on a couple of evenings. Everything worked as expected.
The rear of the house around the pool is beautiful, with views down and over the valley. The pool was warm and great for a dip, but the base does slope away to a good depth, so any non-swimmers would need supervision. There are loads of places to sit and it was our favourite place to sit and hang out at the end of the day. We spotted hummingbirds, lizards, and on one evening we were also visited by a racoon, which wowed the kids.
I'd recommend a car if you're visiting - it is LA after all! You could probably get away with not having one if you were content to stay quite local, but assuming you want to get out and about to see some sights, then it's pretty much essential. Sherman Oaks is less than 2 miles away down the hill and has pretty much all you need in terms of shopping and resources and, if you're looking to order in, there's an absolute raft of places to order from on Uber Eats if you don't want to leave the house. Downtown LA is a short-ish drive away (traffic permitting). Whilst we were staying we visited: Universal Studios (very close by), Hollywood Walk of Fame/Dolby Theatre/Chinese Theatre, The Hollywood Sign & Griffith Observatory, Century City Mall, California Science Centre, Santa Monica & Pier, Malibu.
Casey was an incredible host: We had regular check ins to make sure that everything was running smoothly, but we didn't feel at any time that we were being checked up on. We were also given some great recommendations of things to check out. The house rules were all simple, common sense things that you would probably naturally have done at home yourself. The house was beautifully clean and tidy when we arrived.
Bottom line: Book with confidence. The house is amazing and you absolutely won't regret it!