This home is in an ideal location--literally across the street from the beach. The porches surrounding the first and second floor offered nice, cooling ocean breezes day and night. The play set in the backyard was well-constructed and provided entertainment for the toddlers who were part of our group. Old family photos throughout the house illustrate the history of this large home. The homeowner takes a lot of personal pride in this home and devotes a lot of personal effort to its upkeep. However...,
If you like antiques and a classic beach house with "character," you'll love this house. If you prefer newer beds to support your back, quiet floorboards, showers (instead of claw foot tubs), and other modern conveniences (such as central air conditioning), you should look somewhere else.
When we first viewed the website in March 2012, it indicated that there was one King bed and four queen beds. Upon arrival, we realized that it's really three queen beds (no King) and two full-sized beds. Our 6'5" nephew was not pleased! Our teenagers were freaked out by the unfinished storage basement, and a man walking by on the street asked us if we liked staying in the haunted house, and then he laughed at us, shaking his head.
Several floor fans were provided to take the sting out of a few 90+ degree days, but central air would have really helped.
This house is priced appropriately for the location and the block on which it resides. However, it has not been updated in a very, very long time, which must be to the chagrin of the neighbors, whose homes have all been immaculately updated. We arrived to a broken dishwasher, broken refrigerator, and overflowing outdoor garbage containers. The homeowner was responsive to the problems with the refrigerator, and these things can break down, but we couldn't help but wonder that maybe, if the dated refrigerator had been adequately maintained, we wouldn't have had to adjust our vacation schedule on two different days to accommodate a property manager for inspection of the fridge and the delivery folks who brought a new one.
It's clear that the owners put a great deal of effort into simply maintaining this very old home, but it's probably time to either do some renovating/updating or start over. We won't be going back, unless we decide to take advantage of an off-season rate to celebrate Halloween!