For starters, this location cannot be beat. It's literally two blocks from the charming downtown area, and a short bike ride or five-minute drive to the beach. The street is lovely, and the neighbors were friendly.
Hosts were appropriately communicative and provided everything in the listing, as well as some extras like Keurig cups and firewood. There were several light bulbs out throughout the house, but that wasn't a big deal.
What was surprising was the general condition of the home. While tidy, it is in pretty desperate need of improvements. Not much appears to have been done to it in the last few decades. Finishes are very old and rickety. The walls, ceilings and floors / carpet show a lot of water damage / sagging over time. Several rough-looking DIY patches throughout the place. The deck area is nice, but is collapsing / lacking supports on the back side of the yard. Moreover, the rest of the neighborhood is really gorgeous and shows a lot of pride in ownership. These are not complaints about staying in an old place... our home was built in 1898.
Also, to be clear, none of the photos in the listing were disingenuous, they just didn't set up our expectations correctly. The place was totally functional as advertised.
It may be that the owners are saving their rental earnings to do improvements down the road, which would make this a really tremendous location. The hosts seem like good folks, and we wish them well with the property.