From the outside, this place looks like an unkempt flop house. Dying grass, broken steps, old battered door mat, and a pretty dirty door. I was afraid of what I would see when I opened the door. But I was fairly pleasantly surprised at the difference within- newish floors, functional furniture.
Along the theme of "flophouse" is the fact that the couch has some huge, disturbing stains. I see that this has been brought to Erin's attention previously and it still hasn't been addressed.
The other significantly problematic issue is that most of the windows do not open (mostly painted- or aged-shut). And the one that happens to do so has no locking mechanism. We had a bunch of high-end audio and video equipment for a family wedding, so we did not sleep well not knowing whether someone could come right in.
At the same time, because the windows couldn't open, the interior of the house was 95 degrees or more-- about 10 degrees higher than outside. We left the front and back doors open as much as possible (and waived at the neighbors and passers-by). That was the most unbearable aspect of this place.
I now know why there is no picture of the bathroom (even though it is clean and appealing to the eye)-- it is super tiny. The sink and cabinet are out of proportion to the room space itself, making it difficult for my 88 year old mother to get to the toilet seat (!).
I was surprised (but shouldn't have been if I had read all the reviews) to find that the 2nd bedroom was down a set of very steep, narrow steps. It wasn't a problem since my mom could use the main floor bedroom, but would have been nice for Erin to have at least given us a head's up about this when I inquired about whether there were any steps up to the front door (again, for my mother's access purposes).
Cleaning issues-- cobwebs on the lamp in the main floor bedroom and the handrail going to the downstairs bedroom is a bit sticky. That may just be the finish used on it, but the stains on the couch had established a mindset that otherwise questioned that hypothesis.
On the positive side, the house is nicely situated-- only a few blocks from Crema for morning pastries and coffee (yum!), and for us, a few blocks from both my daughter's house (she was housing other family members) and the wedding venue. So from that perspective, we were fortunate to find this place.
My recommendations:
"Musts"
--Replace the couch
--Fix the windows so they'll open (global warming is not going away!)
Suggestion:
--At least clean the front door (to set a bit better "first impression").