This cottage was cute and pictures of the interior were accurate in the listing. The hosts were quick to respond to all the inquiries. It is located in Torrance close to a number of freeways/highways which is a huge plus. The check-in and checkout process was easy. The rules of the house were clearly communicated.
As soon as we arrived we felt little bit disappointed at how unkempt the front yard was. The view from the street of the house is a yard with over-grown weeds and no landscaping. The house looked like a vacant lot and we had a hard time locating it as a result. The front of the house was not pictured in the listing so it was a bit of a shock when we got there.
We followed the parking instruction provided after we booked to park in the designated spot accessible through the back alley by opening a gate manually. The backyard consisted of gravel and thin Astroturf which was uneven and uninviting. We felt unsafe from the beginning because anybody can open the gate to access the backyard and the cottage since the gate does not have a lock.
In addition, some of the windows did not have screens or curtains and some of them did not even lock properly. Because there’s no air-conditioning in the unit, opening the windows was the only way to cool the house. Having no curtains or privacy shades, it felt unsafe to open the windows. When we left the house during the day, having a broken lock or no locks on windows made us feel unsafe to leave our belongings while we were gone, especially with the gates with no lock.
It was an adequate enough experience but not worth the price we paid to book it. The fact the first things we saw were the unkempt front yard and the cheap astroturf backyard with manually operated gate which was not included in the listing made the stay disappointing tbh.