The home is in excellent proximity to the beach in the surfers-only section. The actual swimmers beach areas are a bit further down. It's spacious, very clean and has two lovely outside decks. There are extra amenities in the bathroom and kitchen, as well as beach chairs and an umbrella which were greatly appreciated!
We encountered a few small issues worth noting: 1) It is not a self check-in as indicated on the listing. John met us at 3:30 pm, gave a 20 minute tour reiterating the rules in detail several times and also told us that absolutely no other guests at all except for the ones staying overnight can come in the house. We had 4 guests staying overnight but had wanted to invite three local friends to join us for breakfast prior to going to the beach for my birthday the next morning. John vehemently said absolutely no one but registered guests are allowed in the home for any reason, even though it can accommodate up to 8 people. We ended up changing our plans to eating at a restaurant instead, but it was disappointing because part of why we booked here was for the spacious kitchen and dining area for a quiet, intimate & casual breakfast with friends which we weren't able to do. I didn't think it would be an issue since the other guests weren't staying overnight but be aware that the guest policy is EXTREMELY STRICT and enforced. I understand his policy, but it would have been nice to know this prior to booking so I could plan accordingly. 2) There was zero AC flow in the two bedrooms on the main floor. Sleeping was very uncomfortable because it was so warm in the rooms and we were in a 100+ degree heatwave. There are no fans for circulation. My guests had to sleep on the couch when it got too unbearable. 3) The ice maker and water dispenser did not work, so we had to go buy lots of ice ourselves. Again, ice is a big deal when it's super hot outside and the nearest place to purchase is about 3 blocks away. 4) There is a weird open stairwell in the living room that leads down to the first floor level of the house and is covered up with a plant and fake mirror installation. This was odd because we didn't know if the people below us could just come up whenever they wanted and watch us or what. We didn't understand why it wasn't just closed off with a wall. 5) While John was very polite, he did also make us a bit uncomfortable because he just walked back into the house not once but twice after we had checked in and didn't knock, text or call first - he just opened the door and came right up the stairs to tell us more things. As women, this was concerning because we could have been changing clothes or something and it felt like an invasion of privacy. Both things he came to tell us could have easily been communicated via text or email and didn't need him to come walking in as he did. 6) It gets a bit crazy here at night. Neighbors were partying until 3 am very loudly, police were breaking up fights on the boardwalk and there were gunshots fired. I would definitely recommend staying inside once the sun goes down. 7) There are no check-out instructions, so we just kind of did what we felt was reasonable (strip the linens, take out the trash, do the dishes).
Overall, it is a beautiful beach house with some quirky decor, amazing views and fantastic amenities. I'm not sure that its quite worth the price that we paid for it given some of the issues we encountered, but we had an amazing weekend and I had a lovely and relaxing birthday weekend so we did really enjoy our stay here. The beds are very comfy to sleep on!