I want to preface this review with the fact that this place is of great value, and the hosts are extremely friendly, good people. But there are a bunch of little things that added up that made me cancel my stay.
It isn't so much a "lower-level unit" as it is a mostly finished basement. The price was still right, so this didn't bother me much. But it does mean that it has that classic Minnesota basement smell. There was a dehumidifier in the middle of the room that filled up after the first night. The A/C was "out-of-order," but luckily it wasn't needed, as a heatwave had just ended and fall weather had just begun.
It wasn't mentioned that the laundry was a shared space, but once I saw what the situation was, I knew I would be asked for permission to do some laundry. This wasn't really a problem but isn't what I expected.
I was surprised when I hopped on the bed, and it wasn't a real mattress. It was something just above a futon mattress in quality.
Although the potential noise is mentioned in the description and even some of the reviews, it's never brought up that there is a child being babysat all day, every day. I'm empathetic to this, but I wish I had known. I'm no stranger to noise in a living space. In fact, I have a high tolerance - I live in an apartment building on Hollywood Blvd with units surrounding me. But because it's a basement, there's nothing between you and the floor above. I'm sure the stomping and crying couldn't be helped - it's just the nature of the space and the situation. What can you do? Taking care of a child is hard enough without worrying about an AirBnB below you. But it was louder than I could handle.
Because it's a basement, the ceilings are extremely low. I don't think the photos were purposely misleading, but they were taken at low angles with a wide lens (probably a phone) and it made everything look quite a bit bigger and brighter. My hair would graze the pipes (I'm 6'), and it would make me feel like I needed to haunch down.
It's nice to have a kitchenette option, but I would never use it because it's essentially in a basement laundry room.
The water pressure in the shower was very weak. I avoided showers because of it.
All this aside, it still is a steal of a place. (As of this review, $60/night.) The location in Lynlake is perfect, and the space is private. But all these little things added up, and I ended up leaving halfway through my stay and booking a hotel.