PROS: Awesome balcony views of the ocean for coffee drinking in the morning & wine sipping at sunset. Great for people watching…we got to see a grown man on rollerblades, in a Luigi onesie, with a boom box backpack dance on by!!
The proximity to the beach, Belmont Park & awesome restaurant choices, all within walking distance, is 100% perfect!
Parking included for free under the house (it’s TIGHT but it exists. For ease of exit, I made everyone get out before I parked)
Price is cheapest on this strip. With regard to listing accuracy I would say that the most accurate thing is that this IS the cheapest oceanfront rental. And so if you are simply going for cheapest of all, you simply cannot beat the views, or the location for the price.
CONS: The are definitely some pretty big things that ranged from simply inconvenient to actually concerning with regard to safety. I would agree with the listings opinion that the layout is definitely “not conventional” & that for our family, this is even part of the charm of the house. However, the listing noted the lack of using contracted labor & this becomes obvious the minute you walk up the somewhat shaky stairs & go in the front door which is sometimes difficult to get unlocked. This is because it looks like someone gave a hammer to a third grader and told them to have fun finding things to fix. And that might be an insult to some third graders I know haha!
There’s a few glaring items on the property that could be really dangerous for people who don’t understand an unfinished “construction zone” mentality. Some rooms have electrical outlets with the covers yanked off & so the wiring is openly exposed. There is a power strip plugged into said outlet, so you can still charge your phone. But this is certainly not an ideal situation. Thankfully we knew to warn our youngest of our kids not to touch, but others, especially if they have toddlers, might not be so aware.
The loft was a super fun for my oldest son but the board connected to one of the safety rails in the stairwell is not properly tightened & caused some difficulty when using it climbing the stairs & the bottom stair is “up on blocks” … If it needs reinforcement, I think finding another way to do that would be safer.
There is also a wall full of dust bunnies behind the strangely placed dryer, which could be a fire hazard eventually.
The light as well as the fan over the stove doesn’t work. Kitchen has one pot, one pan & a Keurig machine.
Hot & cold are opposite in the shower. This IS mentioned in the listing, but easily forgotten & can cause issues if the youngest members of your family didn’t know.
The entry to the bathroom is a French panes glass door, which is not only difficult to open & close, but also makes your exit from the shower exposed to anyone coming in or out of the front door as well as the two bedrooms. We bought a cheap beach towel & used it as a curtain while we were there.
With regard to towels, I would recommend bringing your own bath towels as well as your own dish towels and dish soap. We also had to bring our own toilet paper & provide our own paper towels, which we are send a ton of, because there were no hand towels in the bathroom or dish towels for the kitchen. There were some provided bath towels, but these were thin, stained or had paint splotches on them. Again, we bought towels at the gift shop & washed them before use.
SUMMARY: Over all, this home has great bones & a location that is amazing. Sunsets are gorgeous, coffee on the balcony in the mornings was really nice. However, these are not necessarily things provided by the owner/rental folks & vacationing families could get those things anywhere along this strip, albeit for a bit more money, but with a feeling that the landlord cares a bit more for their property & guests instead of writing a disclaimer in their house rules. We ended up spending money on items not provided & could’ve used that to upgrade to a safer place. There are so many easy & little things that could be done to make this place feel safer & a few minor provided items that would make a big impact on the comfort of the guests & the overall feel of place.
Overall, we just felt that this place could be so sooo much MORE, with a quick trip to Target or even the Dollar Store & a little sweat equity put into it.
If they fixed the broken things properly, finished up the open holes in the ceiling, walls & obviously unfinished construction areas, cleaned up some of the clutter & broken chairs on the patio, removed the old & unusable items & added a few small, inexpensive items like clean linens & towels to spruce up the place a bit…we probably would be leaving a different & better review.
For the location & price, I’d be happy to return here with adults or older kids who understand the limitations that the property owner allows to go on in this house. But I’d be even happier if a few finishing touches & some love & care were given to this property & done before I returned.