The house is old and mysterious but also really nice and comfy, everything you will need for a nice stay is provided, we really enjoyed our stay.
This house is in fair distance from Lower Manhattan, there is a free ferry departing every 30 min, but for us it was a bit too far to walk from the house to ferry station, so if you are travelling on a budget, it would be nice to know that bus to the terminal costs $2,50 for single fare. You can also buy different metrocards from nearby food shop (we bought $30/7day card) which you can use for unlimited fares to all NYC buses and subway. It is around 30-40 min from the house to Manhattan (bus+ferry).
There are couple of asian take- aways and little food shop just 5min walk away, also the bus stop is in front of the house.
We didn't met Alissa, but it was all fine because Alissa sent us detailed e-mail about our stay, also Alissa was really fast to answer e-mails and she was very helpful whatever problem we had.
This place is perfect when you are not a big-city-type of person, we really enjoyed escaping busy Manhattan and having nice scenic ferry ride twice a day (the Manhattan panorama from the ferry is gorgeous after sunset!). We would defenitely recommend Alissa's place! Thank you!