The house does have lovely views. However, the experience was handled so unprofessionally by the host that this was a definite 1-star experience.
The most jarring of Bob’s behaviors came when he approached our friend who was standing in the driveway of the house chatting with us and yelled loudly in his face, at full volume with a red face while pointing his finger in our faces. He yelled in front of our three young children (9 months to 6 years old) who were also in the driveway. It was a shocking display of loss of control. We had already discussed the issue by phone and had done everything he had asked of us.
A short list of concerns/negatives includes:
1) Many summers, there is concern that the well could run dry. This was conveyed both via conversation with him, as well as many signs requesting things like not filling the bath tub. We understand wells, and it would be a bad experience if it ran empty right in the middle of our vacation.
2) The decks and outdoor stairs have many exposed upturned nails and staples and rough spots. Use caution, especially on stairs. We gave our children a rule that they could not go on the deck without shoes after the second foot injury.
We reserved this house months in advance. We knew our immediate family (2 adults, 2 children, 1 infant) would definitely be there and listed them on the registration. Our plans changed in the months between booking and arrival. At check-in, we explained that mid-week, grandma planned to leave and another couple planned to join us. Bob said he would “make an exception” about this.
On one evening, we had company come up to our house. We fully acknowledge that we were “over the limit” briefly, but we did so with care, treating the house and water use responsibly, and in the spirit of VRBO.
Bob called my husband the next day and said that he felt “betrayed” by what had happened. My husband apologized. Bob asked us to do an extra load of laundry before leaving, which we said we would (and we did). We expected that to be the end of the concern as we had discussed it and agreed to a way that we could make it right by doing the extra cleaning ourselves.
At 10:00, we were out of the house, having cleaned up, done three loads of laundry, started the dishwasher running, packed up our things, and prepped the kids for a long car ride. Suddenly, without warning, Bob came up to our friend and yelled loudly in his face and a pointed finger.
