My bf and I had a fun stay at Joe's place. We spent much of our time in the studio listening to music— the speakers are really good, although because it is a recording room, it is designed for the sound to be “dead” instead of having a nice echo. Still, it’s nice to crank the music to whatever volume you want. And the view from the balcony was surprisingly pleasant and peaceful. Many useful things were easy to find— a heater, extra clean sheets, more paper towels can all be found within the house. Joe was friendly and available by phone to answer our questions. He also left us with a keg of beer for our enjoyment- what a perk!

However, a number of things needs to be upgraded and improved in order for the place to be a comfortable getaway. The place reminded me of a fraternity house due to the very stained carpet that greets you as you enter— it was pretty disgusting, actually. I did not feel comfortable walking barefoot in the house, the furniture was dusty, the decor needs some work especially in the bedroom, there was a lack of comfortable hang out furniture on the awesome deck, although wooden barstools and table are available. There was a notable lack of signage or instructions around the apartment regarding how to operate various things. In general, the place gets a B- for user-friendliness. The strangest part is that it would not really take that much effort to improve a lot of the issues— just someone thinking through the “user experience” and thinking about how to improve it. (e.g., why is the CD player in such a difficult-to-access position instead of conveniently and accessibly located?).

All around, though, we had a great time and for the price point, it was satisfactory, but I would be more likely to come back if the place was cleaner and upgraded even if it was charged at a higher price.