When we arrived, one of the first things we noticed was that the DirectTV did not work in the living room. We contacted the owner and tried some troubleshooting, but nothing worked. She had a new cable box delivered to us — it arrived the afternoon before we left.
The next thing we found out was that the beach area and pool nearby was closed due to Covid 19. The owner said she removed it from the listing, but it was there when we booked the house. That was one of the reasons we decided to book the house. All 9 of us (5 being kids) were very disappointed about this. This should have been communicated better to us.
Next, while making dinner, we realized the microwave didn’t work. I tried to soften a stick of butter, and gave up after 2 minutes. Also, my definition of a fully stocked kitchen and the owner’s are VERY different. The kitchen was seriously lacking. We couldn’t even find a bowl with a lid to store leftovers!
Our stay in Bracey, VA was a HOT one! We soon realized that the AC did not keep up. Even the days that we were gone all day and everything was closed up. We actually had to go out and buy a fan. There was one there, but we needed two, especially for the girls who slept in the “mud room”. The listing said that the mud room was recently converted to a bedroom. I guess if you stick a bed in a room it magically turns it into a bedroom.
Lastly, we were kind of freaked out by the “hidden” camera in a birdhouse on the path that led down to the dock. We found another one on the front of the house. I realize when you live far from your rental property, you need to be able to keep an eye on things. However, legally I believe that is supposed to be disclosed to the renters.
So after all that, I feel like I should say some positive things about the house...The beds were very comfortable, we never lacked for hot water, the covered porch and the fire pit area were very nice, and the lake was beautiful. That being said, we will definitely come back to Lake Gaston, but we will stay somewhere else.