We enjoyed our family trip in Duck, NC. It is a great location, a beautiful house, dog friendly, close to restaurants and shops, the beach is steps away, and everyone in that area is very friendly. I highly recommend this place.
This house is perfect for anyone who wants a view of the ocean from almost every window! The short private walk to the beach is wonderful. The bedrooms are comfortable, and there are plenty of little nooks for reading and relaxing.
As advertised, the home is situated in dunes in a nice part of Duck with a well-appointed, open-plan living area offering sweeping ocean views. Our rental experience, however, was ruined by the appallingly bad support offered by the âfull-serviceâ management company â Village Realty OBX.
We were renting off season and during a cold night the main water pipe into the house froze solid, leaving the house with no water supply â no toilets, no showers, no water in the kitchen. We later learned that the insulation on this pipe had been damaged and never repaired. While this is disappointing, particularly as Duck does experience an average of 40+ nights per year with below freezing temperatures, it should not have ruined our entire holiday, as unfreezing a pipe is a fairly routine exercise for a plumber or maintenance technician.
It was when we rang the agent for assistance that things went horribly wrong. The emergency support number rings through to some far-off call center. This is not a problem as long as you eventually hear from a local support person. It took three calls and over eight hours (yes â eight hours) to finally get a âmaintenance technicianâ on site. This is a long time to be without any water in the house. When the technician arrived and we attempted to engage her in solving the problem (e.g., letâs find the pipe and determine how to get water flowing), she briskly informed us that she was only there to tick a box on her work order, which involved dropping off a space heater inside the house!?! When we informed her that this would do nothing to solve the problem, she told us that wasnât her problem and she just needed to tick the box on her work order. She then pushed pass us into the house so she could tick her box. As soon as the technician dropped off the space heater (continuing to argue with us the entire time), she left and that was the last we heard from the agent. A good-hearted neighbour offered to set up a space heater to warm the pipe, and finally, after over 48 hours, water was restored.
So, in summary, the house is fine, but my advice is to avoid this property until the owners switch management companies.
Mostly great! Loved the house just thought the bathrooms and kitchen could have been a little cleaner. Also there are no amenities like boogie boards, chairs, toys, bikes, a gas grill, etc. Just a warning to bring your own. Lovely location and neighbors and home.
Les points forts : Communication, emplacement, exactitude de lâannonce
Beautiful setting and great house
Our stay was very good. The neighborhood was close to the town of Duck with restaurants within walking distance and home was large enough to spread out but not feel separate. The home has a small grassy yard which was great for our pups. The home could have been cleaner-there was mold in the bathroom and the floor felt sticky. We luckily brought couch covers (just in case our pups didnât follow the rules when we werenât looking) and we are glad we did-the couches need a deep cleaning or to be replaced. The only hesitation on renting this property again because the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, was our check in. I received a text a few days before check in asking if I was going to arrive late to avoid traffic-I said no but I may arrive early and asked if they would alert me if the house would be ready early and Village Realty replied âyesâ. We arrived an hour early, no one was there, we tried to check in via the key code. When it didnât work I reached out to the the realty company and they were quick to respond âwe could check in at 4â. I let them know we had perishables and still a no go until 4 on the dot. So we sat there with 3 kids, 2 dogs and groceries for an hour after a long drive just to wait until the designated check in time even though the unit was ready.
I felt like that close to check in time they could have let us in or at least offered to let us pay a small fee to check in early.
It was a very good experience. The listing and the property were accurate. The only blemish was inconsistent WIFI performance impacting the TV. Village Realty staff were responsive on the first incident. The second incident occurred late Friday afternoon/ early evening and lasted through checkout Saturday morning. Have a troubleshooting guide and telephone help contacts.