It pains me to write a review like this, however being a homeowner myself, I feel that it would be unfair to not warn future guests. First, communication with this owner is non-existent. After booking, we did not hear from them until 11am on the day of check in, when we were already on the road to Cape May. At that point, we received a 2 page detailed list of cleaning duties for check out, on top of a cleaning fee we paid upfront. It was even to the extent of us having to scrub toilets and showers.
Then, once we arrived, we noticed that all the trash bins on the side of the house were already full of trash, with flies all around. Add to that the fact that the screened in porch was torn in multiple places, so the flies from the trash were constantly flying in, making the porch unusable.
We were only there for 2.5 days, so it was a short visit, but in that time one of the women in our group went to use the toilet, and as she put up the lid, the base of the toilet cracked off. I assume that this type of break is a rare occurrence, since I've never seen it happen. When we showed the pictures to multiple plumbers in our area, then said that it looked as if the bolts at the bottom of the tank had been overtightened, which would EVENTUALLY lead to the tank shattering (it would likely give no prior warning). Without having taken the tank lid off upon check in, we would have never known that this event was imminent, however unseen. When we immediately contacted the owner, they did not get back to us at all. 10 hours later, they called and said they'd send someone out to 'look at it' (I had already sent pictures). Someone came out, left us a note and left. No resolution. The next day came and went and nothing was said to us, and nothing was fixed. We now had 6 women using 1 functional bathroom.
Finally, again with no communication prior, the owner held our entire security deposit. When I reached out with a detailed message and listed a few other items that needed to be discussed, they did not respond. 2 days later after I again followed up, and then they sent a very short message ignoring the entire conversation and blaming us for the toilet cracking. Even after we had professional opinions regarding how it likely happened.
The house itself was cute and had potential, however we travel very frequently using rental by owner properties and unfortunately this was the most disappointing stay and owner contact we have ever had.