This is a wonderful little house in a fantastic location, with lots of thoughtful touches to make you feel at home and well taken care of—from a garage full of gear to the entertainment center to high-quality appliances. Carl was attentive and responded quickly to our questions and problems with the house, and we would recommend him as a host any time!
A few notes about the neighborhood for future travelers: Everyone we met was super-friendly, and there are lots of people who walk by on their way to and from the walkway above the cliffs and the ocean. The house is set back on the lot, so privacy isn't an issue. But the neighborhood is tightly packed, so when the neighbor's dogs bark (as they did routinely in the morning), don't expect to sleep through it! And if you're sensitive to woodsmoke, be aware that there are LOTS of fireplaces nearby. Carl's house is pretty tight, but we could smell woodsmoke in the house coming in around and underneath the front door. It was stormy during our stay, and the wind seemed to pool the woodsmoke right outside the front door. Inside the house, it was bad enough to trigger an asthma attack. (We taped the gaps shut, and that cleared up the issue.)
Not only was it stormy, it was cold, and we had problems with the furnace and the Nest thermostat. The furnace didn't stay on long enough to reach the temperature set on the Nest. It would run for a while and then shut off. We figured out how to trick the furnace into turning back on by setting the Nest to a lower temperature and then back up to the temperature we wanted. This would not have been such an issue if it weren’t so cold — this required frequent intervention, and at night, the temperature dropped into the low 60s without the furnace coming on until we manually reset the Nest.
The WIFI is stellar, and the entertainment center is pretty complete for digital media, which we appreciated. However, there is a lot of light in the house, which makes viewing the glass-screened TV a challenge because of the reflections. We also were not able to get Hulu's live TV service to work on the smart TV because of an outdated app, so we had to plug our computer into the HDMI to stream live TV.
This is not a good rental for scent-sensitive individuals.
Finally, the house was spotless except for a few trouble spots in the kitchen, which we've pointed out. Given how attentive Carl is to details, I would expect these to not be issues going forward.
Overall, this is a sweet spot in a friendly neighborhood, close to the ocean, and walking distance to an exceptional health food stores.