Lake Michigan's Gem

We really enjoyed the patio and seeing all the deer.

Really loved the location to the beach a d the dog friendly house. Place was clean and had everything we needed.

Great location very quiet and peaceful and very close to the water

Great location, 3 min walk to the beach. Plenty of room. Very dated but clean and reasonably priced.

We enjoyed this house and for the most part it worked for us. The only problem we had was the oven did not work or maybe we didn’t know how to work it as it is an older style oven. We loved that the house has a screened in porch and is a 5 minute walk to the beach. This house is great for a small family who doesn’t mind the old fashioned home feeling.

What was great: the fireplace, the spaciousness, the many windows, the area is beautiful, and being literally steps from the lake. What wasn’t: a bit too many things, unfortunately. Walking in, the place smelled of mold. All the curtains were drawn so it was dark and not welcoming. There were signs everywhere about what not to do. There’s a ring of dirt around the entire perimeter of the kitchen floor. There was a rushing noise behind the basement door so we were too weirded out to open it. There’s a ground wire sticking out of an outlet, wrapped around a faceplate screw. The oak floors, albeit beautiful, were filthy. Doors stick and don’t shut well. There’s an 8 foot long crack in the ceiling at a structural point. The bathroom was unpleasant. While the sink and toilet appeared clean, the floor around the toilet was gross and the vinyl made the whole room feel dirty. The shower grout, the falling-apart caulk, and dirty shower liner were all moldy, the in-wall soap dish rusted, and a shower wall is bowing in which is very bad. My husband refused to shower there. We weren’t comfortable, wondering what else might be icky. The laminated cards with area and check out info fell behind the kitchen cabinets so I couldn’t be sure I got everything done. Considering the painfully high cleaning fees alone were more than the rate of our two nights’ stay, I can’t say I feel bad if I did miss anything as we paid a lot for cleaning and the place was already dirty. There were so many fees (damage waiver, booking fee, cleaning) and the pet fee, which feels solely a money grab, was nightly which is frustrating. This definitely felt like we were staying at a grandparent’s cottage; not that that’s bad but overall it felt neglected, dirty, and dated in not the right way. There’s a difference between rustic and not maintained, and this is not rustic. While the place has incredible potential, the vintage charm is eager to shine, it’s not far off of being fantastic, there are enough cleaning and maintenance issues here that we won’t return which is too bad.