This place is for you if you: only care about location, want a place to just crash at night, and if you plan to have a car bc there is a parking space included.
This place is not for you if: you are a light sleeper, you like to take a nice hot shower, you plan to cook a lot and have food around, or you’re picky about the details.
I was very surprised to only find a handful of other reviewers that felt the way that I did amongst hundreds of glowing reviews. If you’re picky, stay far away. If you’re not so picky, this place will be fine.
Ants. Spiders. So many creepy crawlies. The place is revered for its cleanliness, but I disagree. The little ant traps laid out everywhere was unappetizing and largely ineffective. We had some boxes of cereal that were wrapped and closed and some fruit on the counter. By day 3 we opened our cereal to find dozens of ants. It was so gross - we threw everything out, and we hate wasting food so that was a bummer.
Walls of the entire house are paper thin, and by walls, I don’t just mean from room to room. I mean literally the construction of the exterior of the house. Because there’s no AC, sleeping with windows open helps with airflow but also makes it sound like people who are walking through the alley or whispering in their homes are right inside your place. It was terrifying and disorienting to feel like someone was sitting in the room next to you just because they were walking or talking outside. This kept me up for a few nights thinking there was an “intruder” inside the house. Other noise problems: planes, dogs barking in the middle of the night, the water heater clanking also in the middle of the night, and some weird birds that sound like they’re dying.
Broken: windows that don’t stay open without being propped, the lock pad to get your key is tricky, blinds without the pull cord and cascade down if not properly propped on the window sill, fan without the power switch, drawers without handles, and the key gets stuck in the top lock of the front door. All of these things seem small until they start adding up and suddenly you don’t feel like you’re relaxing on vacation anymore.
Dirty: there is a silicone drain stopper in the bathroom to keep hair from clogging the drain. It’s so gross to shower in your own filth as the water rises up. Speaking of the shower, do not expect a relaxing shower after a day at the beach. There water pressure is so low that it doesn’t even deserve to be called a shower. More like a fountain to fill your water bottle.
Also, little known fact, people in the neighborhood are strongly against vacation rentals and Airbnb. We were cursed out by an aggressive neighbor for being Airbnb’ers.
Overall, if you’re super low key and are prioritizing location, this is great. It’s close to everything in OB and you can walk everywhere. It’s got a friendly neighborhood feel, which feels nice. And the essentials are there. If you’re looking for a little bit more comfort and attention to detail, I would suggest looking elsewhere.