We enjoyed our stay but I don’t see us returning for reasons that may not matter to you. First the pros: It is quiet, new construction, clean and comfortable. We rented the garden room, with the bathroom; other rooms had dedicated bathrooms across the hall (I counted four for guests but expect there were more). The bathrooms are gorgeous, with nice showers and sophisticated tile. The closet had two luggage racks which is a nice touch for a traveling couple. The cleaning service visited and refreshed towels and there was easy access to more.

The shared kitchen was nicely appointed and we made coffee, toast a few times. Other housemates were nice, friendly but not too much. The neighborhood is well located.

The cons. Again, you may not care about these things and we stayed 6 nights so a shorter stop would also minimize the impact of these complaintsobservations.

Privacy during the day isn’t what you might expect. Twice I returned to our room to find the door left open and the curtains re-opened. While none of our stuff was touched, it felt very intrusive and inconsiderate. I didn’t appreciate the sense that other guests could see that not only were we NOT there but that our belongings were; we never received a key to our room so we couldn't secure our space while we were away. I also wonder who entered our room? The outside cleaning service? Sarah/Pankaj?

You may not use the outdoor space. I specifically wanted to have morning coffee outside while in CA and we enjoyed one morning in the lovely patio, which is beautifully done but oddly missing a fence to separate it from the neighbor. Perhaps this is why we were emailed and “reminded” not to use the space. The neighbors had complained we had violated their privacy. Huh? We were never told the space was off limits, but if you reread their description and reviews it never says you can either. So. I think you should know this in advance. Apologies to the neighbors, we certainly didn’t mean to creep anyone out by drinking coffee and admiring the fruit trees/plans we don’t see at home.

The hosts are clearly not on good terms with their neighbors or the city. While they certainly do live there, it was explained that they are in a defensive posture about this with the city. They will ask you more than once to put in their reviews that they do live there. Sure, okay. Not being able to sit outside and this repeated request left me feeling a bit complicit in something – or at the least participating in an argument I walked into the middle of and don’t have the whole story. I chalked some of this up to just SF politics when a local told me that exploding real estate demand is creating lots of feels, especially when it involves the tear down of vintage buildings for upscale modern renos (like this one). I empathize with both sides here. Clearly Sarah & Pankaj have made a considerable investment in the property with the sole intention of recouping those costs through paying guests. Their dream house is also a business model and I respect that. I also get the whole ‘capitalism is ruining SF’ point too. I think I would prefer my choice of where to stay to to be a little less political. Just me?

Again, you may not care about any of the cons I’ve mentioned. The pros to this place are significant. But given that we spent a week there and had some insights you can’t get from the description I am sharing exactly as I would if you asked my review in person.