Bethany Lakes - 38377 Virginia Dr

The home was beautiful, and the community was very family friendly. Pool, gym, tennis courts, pickle ball courts were an added bonus

The house was big, clean, and comfortable. We had two families stay in the property with 6 kids under the age of 10 running around the whole time. Despite this, there was plenty of room to space out and relax in quiet after the beach day was done. The neighborhood was safe and the driveway+garage made me feel comfortable leaving beach stuff in the convertible without fear of having chairs or umbrella stolen. The drive to the beach was actually kinda nice each day. It was maybe 6 or 7 minutes each way. The neighborhood was directly across the street from a big supermarket and a delicious pizza place. There is also a gas station in that same parking lot. A convenience on arrival and departure day for sure. But we admittedly ate the pizza twice because it was so good. The fridge was huge and had a filtered ice maker. We probably saved $50 by filling our coolers with the fridge ice instead of buying bags every morning before going to the beach. An underrated value-add for this house many might overlook. The private pool in the community was incredible. We went there several times over the course of the week. The waves on the beach were a little too rough for the littlest kids in our group, so having a big clean pool (and separate kiddie pool) was a perfect way to end each day. The furniture was a little tired, but it wasn’t gross or smelly. Just worn in places with some leather starting to flake around the legs. The WiFi was horrendous. It was easily the worst part of the house. Many of us were working periodically and the wifi would disconnect and require an email-login every time the phone, laptop, or iPad went into hibernation. It would even sign out of wifi when I left a movie or tv show on the iPad paused too long. I don’t know if there’s a way for the homeowner to fix that, but be warned that working remotely will be a constant frustration with this wifi. My only other minor complaint would be that many of the door latches didn’t line up properly. So even if the door was closed and locked, someone only had to push lightly and the door would still slide right open. This was particularly distressing on the master bedroom and master bathroom when so many kids were running around. This feels like a simple thing to fix, but also a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place. My family made so many irreplaceable memories in that house. A surprise birthday party for my mom, kids putting on performances for the parents in the family room, cigars and bourbon on the driveway after dinner, reading books on the porch or top floor deck each morning, and just standing around the kitchen island and laughing as we drank margaritas to numb the sunburns at night. Best vacation house I’ve even stayed in. No question.