My husband and I rented this home from May thru Sept ‘22, due to a delayed new home construction. We chose this place specifically because there was a fenced yard, and we didn't want our small, older dogs to have to spend all summer in a hotel room or apartment.
The Pros - they allow dogs and there's a fenced yard, there are two bathrooms, the house is in a very quiet and very safe neighborhood with friendly neighbors on all sides.
The Cons - This house is extremely damp, smells musty and moldy, was not what anyone would consider well-cleaned or organized upon arrival. We're in our 60s/70s and didn't expect we'd have to thoroughly clean before we could settle in. The Keurig had an old k-cup in it and was caked with grounds, every window sill was thick with grunge and dead bugs, the oven had globs of burned food on the bottom (we bought an air fryer and left the oven as we found it), there were at least 4 missing/burned out light bulbs and a missing smoke detector, multiple blinds have broken strings/not functioning, the windows look like they've never been washed, the area rug in the master had stains that looked like pee.
We spent hours cleaning up twigs and debris in the yard and washing the furniture cushions which had clearly sat out all winter. The brick "patio" is buckled and sunken in multiple places and has multiple major trip hazards and was thick with old lichen, which we scraped and swept up. We wondered if we were allowed to use the grill, but upon opening it, we found a gross greasy mess with used bbq tools sitting inside, including a fork with chicken still on it - Gross. Obviously, no one walks thru and looks for damage or issues to resolve before new guests check in. It probably gets a basic cleaning, but never a deep clean between guests.
There was no info left out explaining how to operate or find things and no emergency contact number, only a log in for the internet. I messaged asking the owner to call or come by and give us a tutorial on how to operate the TV, he said he’d stop by the next day. The next afternoon when he still hadn't stopped by and I hadn't heard anything, I messaged again, and he said he was out on a boat with friends and couldn't come. I guess he couldn’t be bothered to let me know. So, we went out and bought a Roku stick so we could stream. When I informed the owner that the range hood didn’t work and a smoke detector was missing, he said he'd send someone to fix it. When I asked that he please give me a set time/day as I work from home and don't want to be on a zoom when someone knocks on the door, he never responded, and no one ever came. He also did not provide an emergency phone number until I specifically asked for one after the AC conked out and we had to reach him.
Bottom line, we knew after one night in the house, we couldn't stay there without a dehumidifier - the smell and the damp was overwhelming - we bought a $500 dehumidifier and ran it 24/7, it took approx. 36 hrs to get the humidity down from the 80s% to 40s%. We also bought a $200 air purifier to run in the bedroom. If you have allergies or asthma or anything immune-mediated, be aware that this house is damp and possibly moldy, especially in the summer months when the humidity is already high. If we had had any other option, we would’ve gone elsewhere, but as it’s nearly impossible these days to find short term accommodation, especially with dogs, we were thankful to have something. And at $37,000 for four months, that’s really the best I can say about this house.