For those with elderly members in their group, be aware that the house has three levels and to get to the kitchen from the ground floor, there are 27 steps to climb. Also the dune to the beach can be difficult to navigate for those with mobility issues. Here are the good, and the bad: • The good – the home was reasonably well furnished. The kitchen was adequate for a large group, but two of the burners on the stove needed to be lit with a match. • The bad - in one of the bathrooms (on the first level), the shower enclosure had a large crack and the fiberglass debris was still in the shower when we arrived. In another bedroom on the first level, the television became unwatchable after five minutes. Someone from Surf or Sound came out mid-week to look at the television, but determined that a new cable box was needed. That didn’t happen so no TV in that bedroom for the week. Housekeeping was lacking. There was still sand on the floors in some bedrooms and dirt in the corners of the bathroom floors. Not enough towels were left for each bathroom, but this was corrected on the second day. The bins containing soiled linens remained on the porch the entire week. The grill was not used all week due to its condition. The entrance to long drive leading to the house had several large potholes that really needed to be avoided. Lastly, there was an odor emanating from the bunkbed bedroom on the bottom floor. It smelled like a dirty diaper.

We had a lot of issues with this property. The house was not maintained. There were many boards that were not nailed in that were safety hazards. We had two kids fall through and hurt themselves. Also, we chose this house for the heated pool listing. The pool was not heated and not one attempted to fix this problem. The ocean was too cold for swimming, so we were relying on a heated pool. We let the realtor know as soon as we arrived and there was absolutely no attempt to fix this problem. The children only went to the pool one time, during which one tripped on the uneven concrete and torn off his toe nail. The dryer was so packed with lint that it was a fire hazard. We only learned about this when it took 5+ cycles to dry a small load. The inner lint vent was cleaned, but the outer tube was packed with lint. We all went home with bags of dirty laundry, as we couldn't do it at the house. No one attempted to rectify these problems. We went to the Surf or Sound office and were told someone would reach out to us. As of today (Wednesday of the following week) no one has check in.

The property was what you would expect for a beach vacation rental. Plenty of room; great location. The only issue was the A/C was not functioning upon our arrival. It got pretty hot for a couple of days. We arrived on a Saturday and the A/C was fixed on Tuesday. They actually replaced two outside units. I doubt you would have any issues with it now. We were very comfortable after the A/C was repaired.

Our week was cut short by 3 days because of the hurricane, something that can’t be predicted or is anyone’s fault, it’s a roll of the dice every year if weather is going to hamper any vacation - we were happy to wait until given the go ahead to check-in. We received an email telling us Surf or Sound Realty had inspected their properties and luckily they all sustained either minor damage or none at all - we were cleared to enter the island and start our vacation on Tuesday in lieu of Saturday, we were excited! It became apparent the realty office’s opinion of a property that is ready to accept vacationers and our opinion are pole opposites. The moment we entered, our breath was taken away by a putrid, acrid, ammonia laced odor, it was if we had walked into a cats litter box. We immediately opened windows to create cross ventilation and hoped that would help. Our granddaughter sat on the leather couch to turn the TV on and asked me why it was wet. Everything in the house, from furniture, curtains, the mattress all the way to the complimentary roll of toilet paper was damp, we hoped airing the house out would not only help the odor but the dampness too. Then to top it off, the cable and internet were not working. Do you know what it’s like vacationing with an 11 year old that can’t watch TV or get on the internet.....it’s brutal. I immediately called to have Maintenance come fix that problem (that was Tuesday around 2:45pm) fast forward, it was finally fixed THURSDAY. We paid the extra charge to have the pool heated -assuming it was full of cold hurricane water we figured it would probably take 24 hours or more to heat to 80 degrees. We checked it Wednesday and Thursday and the temp didn’t change. My husband investigated & found the heater control box - you guessed it, it was OFF, he flipped it to ON and nothing happened, it was broken and never heated the pool. Plus, the pool was never cleaned while we were there, a paper on the fridge said the pool will be cleaned twice a week. A representative from Surf or Sound Realty visited Thursday to access the odor and dampness, he admitted our house took on water during the hurricane and they didn’t have time to run the fans to dry everything up. In my opinion, the house was NOT ready to occupy. Stench, dampness, no cable or internet, no pool heat...tell me this prior to my arrival and let ME decide if I want to still come, that’s just the right thing to do.