If you have allergies, be careful.
Submitted: August 13, 2012
Stayed: July 2012
To the owner's credit, I needed a very last-minute place to stay and he did not have a chance to get the house cleaned prior to my arrival. Since I was just grateful to find a good location for the last-minute, I took the property, anyway. As I expected to do, I spent two hours when I arrived dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning the main living space, kitchen, and one bedroom and bathroom. Based on the two hours I invested in cleaning, I would expect that would be enough to bring the home up to standards for the amount of money I paid per night.
However, the home was in need of maintenance beyond my two hours of cleaning or the standard cleaning from a maid /cleaning service. The fact that it had been empty for a long time was evident. The house was filled with dust, evidence of a hairy animal (although not prominent, but an allergic person can tell), and it had strong musty/mildew smells that were flaring up my allergies pretty bad, even after taking an anti-histamine. In other words, this was not just a case of mild hayfever.
The garden had a lot of potential, but it was overridden with weeds, so it wasn't the "1st class" location I was expecting. The house could also be spectacular if it had a very intensive professional cleaning and can identify/remove the source of the mildew or mold.
I hesitated to post this review since an intensive cleaning would resolve these issues and bring the allergens into the "reasonable" range for being in close proximity to the lake. But, my husband stopped by to drop something off one afternoon (I was on a "work retreat" to meet a huge deadline without kid distractions) and he had to leave immediately because the mold was so intense, he couldn't breathe! Therefore, I feel it is important to alert people with allergy concerns that this could be a huge problem.
If the owner comments that these issues have been resolved, then I would highly recommend this location!
Owner's Response: They say a good deed never goes unpunished, and that is the case here. I normally have a maid service clean the house completely after each visitor. They spend a minumum of 4 hours (2 people). They are availble to call anytime and they will come back if required. As far as the mold issue is concerned, we had a record breaking hot and humid summer here in Michigan and this house is on the Lake. Not much to do about that. I plan to stay there next week and plan to really inspect and clean it completely. And to review the process with the maid service to inprove in the future. Please call me anytime to discuss this issue!
Helpful votes: 6/7
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