Overall I'm still glad to have stayed here but it could have been better.
- Location: we were here for a conference at the convention center and it only took a 10 min drive there so it was a good value for the purpose of our trip. You'll see homeless people in their tents along the way but not in the immediate neighborhood.
- Safety: didn't end up having any issues. BUT on my way there from the airport for the first time, my Lyft driver (who was black, if that matters) said "how did you find this place? it's in a ghetto area and unsafe." then he advised me not to walk by myself to get dinner (which I had been planning to do) and to order delivery instead. I was scared stiff after that and spent the next hour trying to close all the blinds and make sure whichever windows there were I could lock shut. However the kitchen area has a lot of windows which don't have blinds (so neighbors can see in at night), and the windows are rickety and some of the locks were broken. the taxidermied bird sitting on the lamp over the dining table didn't help my anxiety either. After my companions arrived though and I re-read John's description of the area being an up and coming neighborhood, I didn't feel unsafe anymore. But I still wouldn't walk outside alone.
- Interior: has its own charm, to put it in a positive light.. slightly run down, in a negative light. The decor was interesting - see taxidermied bird above. There were small stains and a tear on the towels and bed sheet which I didn't mind. there are a lot of leftover things from previous visitors, like an old tube of toothpaste in the bathroom. the laundry room (which is shared) was full of clothes perhaps from visitors on the other properties. And forget about doing work, there was no outlet nearby the dining table.
- Communication: it was unusually cold in SD during our stay, and I couldn't figure out how to get the heater to work. I had to message John a couple of times, and eventually he responded saying he could come by to turn on a pilot switch or something. But I don't think he ever came because the heater continued not to work, and he never responded to my messages after that. there weren't any extra blankets either so I was just cold at night. I'm sure he was very busy but even after our stay I never heard back - it was a very strange radio silence that I had never experienced before with an Airbnb host.
still a good value all things considered, but if you have other options then you might want to explore those.