Vacation Rentals by Owner

Perfect Home for All Seasons [#20296] | View Property

New Buffalo
House, 5 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths (Sleeps 14)
$2000-$4200 a wk
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Traveler Reviews (12)

• Great Location for My Family and Friends

  Great Location for My Family and Friends

  • Guest Beach Girls
  • Date of stay 04/05/13
  • Review Submitted 04/23/13
  Thank you so much. We had a great time. Thank you for setting up the wine tour and arranging for us to have a babysitter for a couple hours. The location to the beach was great, and very convienant. The home was great. Child friendly, wish the pool was open in April. We also loved that the home was fully stocked with all the disposable items. We loved the hot tub for the cool nights and the bonfire pit in the back yard. We will definately be back.

  Recommended for: Adventure seekers, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 0/0

• GREAT TIME WE WILL BE BACK

  GREAT TIME WE WILL BE BACK

  • Guest Family reunion
  • Date of stay 01/18/13
  • Review Submitted 01/21/13
  We rented this home and the house next door to have a family reunion. It was great we used the hot tub the entire time. We also enjoyed the comfort the home provided us. We experienced all the shopping, shops and casino New Buffalo had to offer. We were greeted with a bottle of Wine and everything we needed to use the fireplace the entire time we were there. It was very nice Carie stopped by and asked if we needed anything. The only other thing we could have asked for is snow. We planned this trip so we could go cross country skiing that did not work out. We have booked a weekend in September of this year because we are excited to use the heated pool. We will rent both homes again. The home next door to this one was also great it is called Lillys pad.

  Recommended for: Adventure seekers, people with disabilities, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• Management Company ruined our experience

  Management Company ruined our experience

  • Guest Frequent traveler
  • Date of stay 08/05/12
  • Review Submitted 09/06/12
  The house was decent the mattresses on the beds could definitely be updated. But the house had some nice features close to beach, nice pool and hot tub. However our main problem was with the management company Lake Effect Vacation Rentals. We were shocked when we were home about a week and got a letter stating $200 of our security deposit was being kept. The reasons stated in the letter were ridiculous, furniture moved, towels left in the outside pool box and blankets used that we're in plastic bags. None of these things were true all the towels were washes, furniture was not moved and there was plenty of blankets in all the bedroom closet so why would we have opened any other blankets. the gas grill also did not work it would lite but it wouldn't stay lit. During our stay a lady from the rental office came out and she could not ge it going either. We voiced our complaints to the rental manage and her responses were ridiculous. I kept all the mails. She then sent us photo copies of pictures that she believed proved her allegations you could not even tell what the pictures were of. She also sent letters from a cleaning service and a maintenance man that were not on any letterhead we could not find record of the cleaning service. We had to buy charcoal and lighte fluid so at least we could cook on the charcoal grill. If I was the owne of this home I would check ou my management company, they have complaints on yelp, Better business bureau and through new buffalo chamber of commerce. We have stayed at numerous houses during the last ten years and have neve had a problem. It was a shame our experience had to be clouded by your management company.

  Owner response: As you can see these people loved the home. There problem is with the management company. We do not charge a cleaning fee, so we ask renters to get all towels done before departure. When the cleaners could not find all the beach towels they went outside and these people had shoved all the wet towels in the toy box for the pool, they also moved everything in the home. As to the grill it works and has never been fixed and was bought about three weeks before these people checked in. What they are not telling you is that the grill is both gas and charcoal. There was also charcoal at the home. When we recieved a phone call gas grill needed propane I sent Darla over. She hooked up the gas and it worked fine. I never heard from the renters again until they were charged for taking all the beds in a bag that were sealed in airtight bags used them all. They even had people sleeping in the laundry room. The cleaners did not expect this and had to go to laundry matt. They did not have enough time to get the home back in shape before the next renters. We do our best to make everyone happy, being in this business for 15 years (nobody has ever done anything wrong). As to the cleaning service and handy mans they are people that work on their own and for us. They bill us the way they want too. I sent pictures and documentation. I tested the grill still working fine and so on. So all allegations are false. Great pool, beach, hot tub and to this day nobody has ever said needed new beds. I have let my own family stay in this home, they loved it. Great location to all the amenities New Buffalo has to offer. These clients are requesting $500 for gas grill not working. My problem with that is that Darla went over and said everything working fine. If these clients still had a problem they should have called. Instead when they get charged for the extra cleaning they want to ask for the $200 plus and additional $500. I love this home and have repeat clients that come back year to year.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• WE LOVED THE HOME AND WILL BE BACK IN THE FALL!

  WE LOVED THE HOME AND WILL BE BACK IN THE FALL!

  • Guest Gina
  • Date of stay 06/24/12
  • Review Submitted 06/30/12
  My family of ten just got home from our rental at this home. It was great the pool was heated so at night when it got cooler we still used the pool. The adults loved watching the stars and sitting in the hot tub. There was a brief storm while we were at the property and the umbrellas for the outdoor tables blew away. The rental company came out immediately and brought us two more. We also loved cooking our smores at the bon fire pit in the back yard. The beach across the street was great kids found some rocks and we took them back and painted them. The home also is great with having two common areas we could put the kids in front of the big screen TV and we could have adult time. We also loved that the yard is seperately fenced from pool. It made us feel very comfortable with letting the little ones run and play. On a side note Lake Effect the rental company gave a list of all the places to rent bikes, cribs, strollers so we walked everywhere. We all loved Oinks the ice cream place. Thank you very much to the owner and the rental company. Our experience was one to never forget.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 2/2

• Great vacation home in a great area at a great price!

  Great vacation home in a great area at a great price!

  • Guest BettyL
  • Date of stay 06/17/12
  • Review Submitted 06/27/12
  We had a family reunion and stayed at this home for a week. What a great home for such a get-together! The home was big enough, had a great upstairs and downstairs for gathering, playing games, socializing, etc. AND having the pool and hottub right out back off the deck was absolutely perfect! The house was clean and organized. The area itself was great too! We just walked across the street to the private beach, spent the day there, would come home and either grill at the house or walk downtown to the quaint restaurants. We've already booked for next summer!! Thank you owners!

  Recommended for: Age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, pet owners, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• Overpriced & Underdelivered

  Overpriced & Underdelivered

  • Guest Matt
  • Date of stay 06/10/12
  • Review Submitted 06/23/12
  At first, it seems like the perfect vacation lake house. Unfortunately, the "lake access" across the street is actually trespassing onto private property as posted. The house on the property is under construction, but you definitely feel like it's not okay and if you're a stickler for the rules, you probably aren't going to go. The electrical in the home is shoddy at best and makes you a little worried of the fire hazards. The main kitchen circuit trips when you make coffee and toast at the same time and the blender doesn't work. The outdoor lights didn't work our first 3 nights there and the outdoor shower doesn't work at all. Overall, it's just way overpriced for what you get.

  Owner response: I read this review to my suprise. The reason this review was submitted is that the clients breached the contract and we withheld their security deposit. The lease clearly stated one pet and a certain amount of people. The clients called about more chlorine for the pool. There is a pool company that monitors the pool and within 20 minutes we went over and put more chlorine in the pool. The problem is according to the lease and state law dogs cannot be in the pool. So because of the dogs the pool chlorine level was down and the pool needed to be completely shocked numerous times after these clients left and large amounts of chlorine added to the pool. The lease clearly stated there could not be dogs in the pool or multiple dogs at the home. As to the comments about the lake access it is an association beach across the street and this home pay dues to have rights to that beach. Also as to the electrical, it has been checked by the Inspector when he checked to make sure the home had hardwired fire alarms. The home being under construction I am not sure what that means. We have a guest book with numerous people who have rented this home and continue to rent every year. We love to make renters happy but as to the number of people and the dog rule that is part of the contract and if they wanted three dogs at the property we would have said absolutely not. We had to take all the comforters to get dry cleaned, from dog hair. We also had to have a professional come in and clean all couches and carpets.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/2

• Great Family Home

  Great Family Home

  • Guest southside
  • Date of stay 01/22/12
  • Review Submitted 02/10/12
  We just got home from staying at this home. My family had a great time. The only thing we were upset about is that there was no snow. We took the kids out of school for a week to go cross country skiing and snowmobiling. Instead we spent alot of time at the home playing games, watching movies and enjoying the town of New Buffalo. The hot tub and fireplace were a great extra we had. The nice thing is that we could walk to town with how nice this winter has been. Lake Effect Vacation Rentals gave us a great off season rate and we will be back when the snow comes. Thank you very much to the homeowner and the rental company for making this a great experience.

  Recommended for: Adventure seekers, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, pet owners, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• Good house for kids, good location

  Good house for kids, good location

  • Guest cinder1965
  • Date of stay 07/24/11
  • Review Submitted 08/06/11
  We rented this house the last week of July 2011. In our group were 4 adults & 6 teenagers. The house is very roomy & the layout was great. The teenagers could hang out in the lower lever & the adults upstairs. The house was clean when we arrived. The large roomy deck in the back is great for grilling out & having dinner, which we did about every night. We used the hot tub a lot. The pool is ok, it is an above ground pool, we were expecting an in ground pool which would have been preferred. The water was actually on the cold side, so we didn't use it as much as we thought. We should have called the property manager about it but we kept forgetting. Large back yard is nice. The house is one mile from the public beach & downtown New Buffalo, so easily walking/biking distance. Very convenient location. The inside is fine, it could use some updating & some maintenance, but we were fine with if for the week. Some things that disappointed us: .the ad says this house has lake views from the deck. It does NOT. Maybe in the fall & winter you can see the lake a little, but in the summer the trees block any view. The access to a private beach the ad refers to a very small patch of sand that you can walk down a long hill to reach. It is pretty rocky, you probably won't use it (except to watch sunsets, which is nice) & will just go to the public beach as we did. The outside of the house could be spruced up a little, the landscape is not trimmed & could be more tidy. We were actually worried when we first drove up about what it would be like inside because the outside just looked looked a little shabby to us. The propane gas for grill was empty, which we found out when we had meat ready to grill for dinner, so we had to go buy some ourselves. We were not happy about that. The property mgr said if we produced a receipt, they would deduct it from our deposit. I think that is ridiculous to have to produce a receipt, who wants to worry about these things on vacation? We will see if they reimburse us the amount anyway. We have rented several vacation places over the years, I would give this house a grade of average to good. If you have 2-3 families with kids & you need a bigger house with many bedrooms & lots of room, this house is a good choice. While it was fine, not sure if we would rent this place again, we would probably try to find a place w/ lake views & a little more updated. We had a GREAT time, New Buffalo is fun even with an an ok house!

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, families with young children, pet owners.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 2/2

• Coming Back for 2012

  Coming Back for 2012

  • Guest Doctor Cindy
  • Date of stay 07/07/11
  • Review Submitted 03/01/12
  My kids are so excited to go back to New Buffalo this year. We had a great time at this home last summer and have booked for Summer 2012. We loved the pool, hot tub and the firepit in the back yard. The kids loved walking to "Oinks" the ice cream shop. My mother and I loved taking the stroller and walking up town to go shopping and to the restaurants. We booked a week this summer and are trying to work out our schedule to be able to come up apple picking in the fall. The pool was absolutely a blessing it was heated so on the nights it was a little cooler the kids played in the pool to 10 PM. Then it was time for the adults as all the kids all went to bed. We love the home.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, pet owners, sightseeing.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• Misleading info but great pool.

  Misleading info but great pool.

  • Guest Abbie
  • Date of stay 07/03/11
  • Review Submitted 07/31/11
  This place advertises queen beds, but in actuality most are doubles. There is a king bed in one main floor bedroom, the twin beds are all as stated. The "queen" below the bunk bed is actually a double size futon, not even a true mattress. There is also a pretty significant carpenter ant issue here. That being said, the outdoor space was great, the pool was fantastic, and it was heated nicely. The hot tub was not functional during our entire stay. There was a repair man there at least twice to try and fix it, but it never got done. If the ant issue were cleared up and the beds were actually queens rather than doubles, my family might consider staying here again simply because of the pool.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 2/2

• Great place for a family vacation

  Great place for a family vacation

  • Guest Suzy
  • Date of stay 06/26/11
  • Review Submitted 07/16/11
  My family stayed in this home summer 2011. It was great. We had a couple cooler nights and the heated pool and jacuzzi were great. We also loved the fact the home was very clean. I thought it was great the rental company stopped by when we got there to make sure everything was perfect. If you have small children this home is great because you can walk everywhere. We took the kids for ice cream, shopping, to look at the boats at the harbor. I would highly recommend this home and we will be back. The kids loved the smores the rental company dropped off to us. We went down to the beach and had a bon fire. We are thinking we might try the home out in the fall we like to go apple picking.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, sightseeing.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• Great House! Will Come Again :)

  Great House! Will Come Again :)

  • Guest nrsg1
  • Date of stay 05/27/11
  • Review Submitted 05/31/11
  My family and I rented this house over Memorial Weekend and we had such a great time! When we checked in we found a nice gift basket waiting for us with a s'mores kit in it. It rained for two days but the home had cable, internet and provided board games too, which kept us busy. Then the sun came out and the pool had to be like 85 degrees! We spent the rest of our time enjoying the outdoors. We grilled, played bean bags and really enjoyed making s'mores by the fire pit. The house was perfect for my family and we will rent it again!

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 3/3