Essentially, Access Realty gets somewhere between a 1.5 to 2 star rating for their customer service and a 4.5 to 5 star rating for their accommodations, so I reckon that works out to about a 3 star average. Let's start with the positives. They offer relatively decent rental pricing and their properties (or at least the one that my family stayed in) are very well-maintained and clean. You also get a little tote with some "orientation" materials (ie, local brochures and ads, some toilet paper) upon checking in. That was a nice touch. However, checking in can be somewhat of a nightmare when dealing with Access Realty (or at least it was in my experience). Essentially, they do not let you take house keys prior to check in time (even if check in time is approximately 40 minutes away and it's not like you're going to barge into the house), they stress the need for you to present back at their command when your keys are indeed ready, they then neglect to call you when your keys are ready, and all the while they act as though it would be a major inconvenience to them should you pick up your keys any later then 3:30pm (their established check in time) and only very begrudgingly admit that they man the office until 6pm. The bottom line is that I would book a beach house via Access Realty again in the future (as their houses seemingly are very nice), but I would just try to interact as little as possible with the staff. read more

Homeowners Beware -- My Experience With Access Realty I purchased a $1.89M beach house in April 2026 with plans to self-manage it as a short-term rental. At the time of purchase, I understood that the previous owner had an existing management that I was required to honor until the reservations already booked were fulfilled. Because of that, I had to work with Access Realty for the upcoming season. I had about one month before the first reservation. During that time, I repeatedly asked Access Realty to come to the property, review the changes I had made, update the amenities, and take new photographs. Instead, someone from the office took unprofessional photos, which I found extremely disappointing. The property was not accurately represented, and it took an excessive amount of time for the photos to be updated on their website. Lack of communication was another major issue. I repeatedly had to ask the same questions and request basic information. I asked whether I could handle the linens myself because homeowners are charged $203 per week reservation for linens, plus $8.50 per bed for making the beds. I was told I could. After the first reservation, I arrived on time to begin the laundry, only to discover that Access Realty had not communicated this arrangement to the cleaning company. The cleaner was visibly upset by my presence, and I was made to feel extremely uncomfortable at my own property. I went to the office to address my concerns right after. I explained that more than a month after purchasing a nearly $2 million property, no one from the company had come to inspect it, discuss expectations from both sides, inventory my home. I left feeling there was very little accountability for the problems or interest in understanding my expectations as the homeowner. I felt that my property was being treated as though it were their investment rather than mine. My property was just a cash cow for the company and I was in the way. I start cleaning the property myself. The cleaning fee is $550, but I was also charged a $30 inspection fee after I cleaned the property myself. I later found that the $550 cleaning fee was actually built into the room rent rather than being charged to the guest as a separate, itemized cleaning fee. This meant that when I cleaned the property, I was cleaning for free. If I hired a cleaner, I would have been paying that cleaner out of my room rent income rather than the guest paying for the cleaning fee. I was also told someone would roll the trash cans to the road, only to discover that this was an additional $20-per-week charge. Access Realty charges 16% commission on room rent and also charges guests a $250 reservation fee per booking, for admin work. I repeatedly requested itemized breakdowns of reservation charges and was told that obtaining basic information about my rental income was a "special request" I eventually hired an attorney regarding the cleaning-fee issue and how the charges were presented. During a conversation involving my attorney, a representative of the company stated that they had dealt with many homeowners who had threatened to sue them and that those homeowners had NEVER WON. I found that statement extremely concerning and unprofessional. Why are so many homeowners unhappy with their payouts? Access Realty's own statement to homeowners:"No Hidden Fees or Charges: We don't charge our homeowners any hidden charges or fees. Our easy to read owner statements will clearly show rental income, our commission, and any other agreed upon services or work orders. We don't charge our homeowners housekeeping fees or convenience charges." LIES I felt there were numerous individual fees for services and that I was being nickel-and-dimed throughout the contract. For perspective, one guest paid $10,497 for a week, while my payout was $6,640. I am extremely relieved that my contract with Access Realty is over and that I no longer have to deal with the company. There's much more context that I can't add for the length of the review. Just avoid hiring this company it's shifty. read more

This company is BS. They rented me a house with cockroaches. They even admitted it, but they called them Palmetto bugs. Prior to finding the bugs outside I squished 2 in the house, I was a little weirded out but decided to roll with it. After looking around the house it was dirty, the counters were sticky, dishes that were dirty were in the silverware drawer, plates in the cabinet were dirty. The pot holders looked like they had never been washed. When we saw the multitude of roaches outside we bolted, before we even unpacked. The Cool Story home needs an exterminator. Heck maybe the entire company needs an exterminator to put it out of everyone's misery. So disappointed The company has declined my refund....... Frickin' cockroaches carry at least 66 different diseases. Go do some research. read more

Access Realty - BTW do reach water bugs are different - Real Estate Agents Near Me - Surf City, North Carolina

We arrived at the house and everything REEKED OF DOG PEE. We went room to room and noticed a dog had peed on just about every single rug it was DISGUSTING! We contacted them and the next day The company offered to have the house cleaned AGAIN and sent over the same ladies who failed to clean it correctly the first time. They advised me that "the prior guest was a 2 week stay with a dog (who apparently peed all over) and they spent over 4 hours in the home trying their best to remedy what they could on the Sunday turn after the guest checked out to make it as ready as possible for you. The rolled up rugs in the kitchen was accidentally left behind by the inspector, who was absolutely mortified she forgot it when we asked her about it." (Rugs that were covered in pee and also left other rugs around the home with pee on them) They also sent over a maintenance person to clear out the COMPLETELY unusable fenced in dog area that was covered in weeds and pickers. Also almost every fence post is worn/unnailed and the dogs push them aside and can go in and out. (So not fenced in) LASTLY when I asked them what the owner said regarding compensation they stated they can only reimburse me $470 which is ONE nights stay. We had cockroaches and an infestation of ants because none of the windows or doors seal. I went back and looked at the photos online that I looked at before renting the house. THEY WERE ALMOST UNRECOGNIZABLE ! It seems they used photos from years ago when someone actually took care of the house and still promoted the house as being updated 2024. Will never use ACCESS REALTY AGAIN OR STAY HERE!!! read more

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We just signed a long term lease with this company. Ashley is very friendly and answers any questions I have. She is on top of everything. I highly recommend working with her. read more

I had a issues with elevator with this rental and reported to this company. Issues were confirmed by their maintenance person. After calling the second time I was told the owner agreed to reimburse me one nights stay. After a week I called to see status. I was told then the person I spoke with made a mistake, the the owner only agreed to pay 100.00 dollars but since they made a mistake they were going to cover the night. The rental cost before taxes and fees was 2145.00. I am told I will be getting around 307.00 dollars. Hardly seems like one night amount. Be careful of this company! read more

The cancellation insurance is a scam!! Beware!!!!! We are high risk seniors citizens and that is not a reason for cancelling our trip....we lost our money.....DO NOT USE THIS AGENCY! I am sorry for the rash judgement of Access Realty. I was not aware that they were doing everything possible to resolve our problem and was corresponding with my husband. As it turns out, I would give Access Realty a very favorable review and would certainly consult with them in the future concerning vacation rentals. They went over and above to please us and I am very pleased. Again, I am very sorry for the previous review. read more

Access Realty delayed our check-in for our beach rental until after 5pm on Saturday. When we drove by the unit at 4pm an Access Realty repair van was in the driveway. Our rental's inside temp was 80 degrees upon check-in at 5:30 and a big noisy portable A/C unit had been placed on floor in master bedroom with flex hose extended thru a window. Texted agent to report the hot temp issue and texted response was the A/C unit had recently been serviced implying it was working fine. Sent a couple follow up text that the unit is not cooling. Auto response text said I would be called when offices opened Monday morning. Never was contacted. Each day during our week stay the thermostat temp rose to 80 degrees by 3pm and would not lower to set point of 72 degrees until after midnight (outside temps were never above 87 degrees) even with portable unit running constantly. Once they have your money Access Realty assumes no responsibility to meet customer needs / follow up on critical requests. read more

This place is terrible. We looked at a couple different rentals in person and they did not look at all like the pictures on their website. We were very disappointed. We did go ahead and book a house and for unforeseen circumstances we had to cancel. They then kept over a hundred dollars of our money. BUYER BE WARNED! This company is not all that they claim. Plus on top of everything they told me they would refund my money only on Wednesday's then they waited till Saturday to mail out my refund even after I called on Thursday and they claimed it was mailed out on Wednesday. LIARS AND 100 of our hard earned money kept by them for nothing. read more

Access Realty - This is the break down of the money they kept. - Real Estate Agents Near Me - Surf City, North Carolina

Renting from Access Realty has been a nightmare. They told me when I signed my lease that the carpets would be cleaned and walls would be touched up before I moved in. They knew I was leaving to work out of town for two weeks so when I got the keys, I left without having time to go to the property and inspect. I get back in town and show up with movers to discover the house had not been cleaned at all. The carpets stink and are filthy. Paint never touched up, there are white splotches all over the walls randomly. I contacted them to advise same and they said they would send cleaners out to clean the bathrooms, but that I didn't tell them about the carpet and paint before ten days so they would not hold up their end of the deal. Even though I was under the assumption it had been completed prior to me receiving keys. So then I move in and find all kinds of issues. For one, an exterior door is rotted and leaking all the way down causing smell and water damage and mold. They refuse to test for mold. It took them almost SIX MONTHS to even replace the rotted door that was gaped open just letting rain pour in. The deck boards are rotted so I had to beg for three months for those to be replaced then the guy comes and "replaces them" but only does half of them, leaves several screws undone to where they could be stepped on and cause injury, and some of them weren't a even nailed down at all! So the next time he comes back I am watching him because he did so horribly before and he complains about it. Well if he did his job and did not allow danger traps where my children could get hurt then I wouldn't have to babysit him! It takes them days or weeks to respond if they even do. Sometimes you have to walk in the office to even get them to help you. I would never recommend this business and in fact I would say run far away as fast as you can. It has been a nightmare since the day I started dealing with them. These are just a few examples, but I could keep going and going. Horrible experience. read more

I had to fire Pronto Management Company for a variety of reasons and I hired Access Realty to manage my Surf City property and have had nothing but success after they took over the property. Emily J. has been especially professional and resolved several issues including parking passes, mailbox keys and the repair of a broken window pane all in a matter for a few weeks. I could never imagine asking anyone else to manage a property for me, and if I ever need a vacation rental, I will go directly to Access at the Beach. Thank You!!! read more

They get 1 star for the amazing views/locations of their properties, but everything else is crap. Oh, let me list the ways: - They seriously need to update their Internet listings. Every online map I used AND two different GPS' took me to an empty lot on the corner of Kinston and the main drag when you first come onto the island to check into the realty office. Except when you call them, they are actually back on the mainland, which means you have to sit through the 30 minutes of traffic on the drawbridge again. - The house was disgusting when we got here. Shaved hairs from the last people all over the bathroom upstairs and in the medicine cabinet (how?). Inches of dust on the blinds. Stains on the hardwood. I could go on, but you get the picture. - We paid for a screened-in porch. But the screen had long ripped off the doors, so it was just more of a porch with ragged screening hanging everywhere. - The Wi-Fi is abysmal. For one, they made the longest password for the router I have EVER seen. And I work in the technology field. It's not just a secure password, it is obviously something done by a paranoid noob who doesn't understand technology. It was really about 30 characters -- good luck typing that into your iPhone or Xbox 360. And once you do... the speed is horrible. I got 10 minutes into a show on Netflix, and it started having to buffer (even though it was running low-res to begin with) at about 1 percent for every three seconds. I finally gave up. They also don't have a router with enough range to cover the whole property. Better stay in the same room if you want much of anything at all. - The bedding and such is uncomfortable, dingy and flat as can be. Glad we brought some of our own. Should've brought more. - Some lights are just bulbs sticking out where the actual fixture has broken off. There's plenty where that came from. It's a shame, this is such a good location and such a cute little place with lots of potential. They just need to care more and do minor repairs, actually clean it, and update it to be current with what people expect in 2012 when they pay more than $2k for such accommodations. read more

We have rented through this agency for 11 years and until this year would have given them a much better rating. However, based on our experience with them this year, we'll never use them again. The house we have stayed in recently sold-we asked them repeatedly for other recommendations & they tried to steer us to $15,000 a week houses. The staff was rude at check in, a visit in between and at checkout. The house lacked basics like a can opener, dish towels, a grill lighter etc. .. which we bought and left for the next occupants. We left the place in great shape and they just called to say they were charging us $35 for 'extra cleaning' because the dishwasher (which we ran before leaving) didn't clean the dishes in it all the way and the grill (which we used once because it was filthy when we got there) wasn't clean enough (we'd left a hefty tip for the housekeepers btw). I repeat - we will never use them again! read more

When we arrived at the home we rented for one week, the set of keys did not work. The locks had been changed. We sat outside until someone from property management brought another set of keys. She said they had rented the house for 10 years and never had that problem. The linens we rented were sitting on the front porch which should have been a red flag no one from the property management company completed an inspection of the home prior to our check in. The WiFi had not been set up and the tv worked through WiFi. There was no DVD player but there was VCR. That would have been fine if it were 1982 and we could still rent at blockbuster. As I put sheets on the bed in the master bedroom, I found a bed bug carcass on the bed spring. We contacted the person working on call and the suggestion was seal off the master bedroom, sleep in the other bedrooms until pest control could come out the following day. If a problem was found, they would move us to another property. In the meantime, if there was a problem bed bugs may be in the other bedrooms they were asking us to sleep in! Dry cereal was in the floor of one of the rooms, popcorn was under the couch, the soap dish in the bathroom had dried soap residue. The property management company claimed a Covid cleaning however it is obvious this home was not cleaned at all and had a pest problem. We were told the home owners had been in the home for 12 weeks previously due to Covid and they cleaned the home before we checked in. However Access Realty had a responsibility to ensure the home was clean unless they have zero standards. In the end, Access Realty had no properties for us to move to and we left at 11pm. Access Realty gave us ZERO options other than staying in a home with bedbugs. read more

Access Realty - Bed bug - Real Estate Agents Near Me - Surf City, North Carolina

I rented unit F218 at Queen's Grant. Total mistake. Will never use Access Realty again. Dishwasher smells like something died in it and takes 5-6 hours to run a cycle. They sent someone to look at it Saturday but he can't fix appliances and Access, of course, is closed on Sunday. Maybe someone will look at it Monday. while our dirty dishes are piling up. Some of the beds had sand in them and the mattress covers had yellow stains. There was sand all over the deck and flys in the unit when we walked in. The cabinets are sticky and three drains (one shower and two sink) were clogged. The maintenance man was super nice and fixed the drains but the fact that I know him so well after one day means Access does absolutely nothing to ensure their quality of their rentals. Will never use Access realty again and will never rent this unit again. read more

If you're a homeowner that needs an AMAZING property manager, look no further!! Connie and her team are the absolute best! Background: My previous property manager decided to retire out of the blue and without tying up loose ends. Leaves me hanging. THEN, Hurricane Flo comes around and damages the house. So, I'm left with a damaged house and managing everything by myself from across the country. Thank goodness I have a good tenant or I would have been screwed even more. I sign papers with Access Realty and it's like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. Kim, the maintenance lead, helped me find local contractors to protect the roof before rainy season and Connie has been making sure the tenant is taken care of and that rent is collected. She's even helping me get back the money that was owed by the previous property manager! They get back to me quickly and have been super on top of it. I'm so grateful to have them there being my representative! Thank you, Connie, Kim, and the rest of Access Realty! I couldn't do it without you! read more

After reading the reviews I was scared, I had already booked a vacation for 10 of us and specifically at the house in one of the reviews. I emailed and called the office immediately to make sure all these issues were handled. Every person in the office got back to me each time I had any questions, everyone was profession and nice. I never had one issue with anyone at Access Realty. As far as the house, it was perfect. We had a girls weekend so we didn't have much use for cooking and cleaning so I can't say 100% it was perfect. However, the house was clean as can be, plenty of bathrooms, the location was great and view was just straight up amazing. We didn't spend too much time inside as the deck was awesome so if we were off the sand we were on the deck. We loved this house and a few of the girls want to rent the same house again next year. read more

A huge (belated) thank you to Access Realty for helping us find a short-week rental this past summer. We stayed at the Villa Capriani 202A - clean, updated, and comfortable! We had an amazing vacation. The office staff was very helpful, and worked hard to find a unit in our price point for the week we visited. read more

Do not book through Access Reality! Our vacation was canceled because the groom was put on stand by to be deployed to Syria. Access Reality didn't care that it was a military situation that caused us to postpone trip. We tried to get Access Reality to change our dates to next summer but they wouldn't. We tried to get Access Reality to offer 10% discount to try to get it rented that week, but they refused to help us. We lost nearly $1900 because we booked through Access Reality. read more

Property was not clean at all. Inside the cabinets seemed like it hadnt been cleaned in months. They dont supply towels, blankets, sheets just like any normal rental would. Even the super 8 motel supplies sheets. No dish washer detergent, no cleaning supplies other than a broom, the mop was completely unusable and yet they expect it to b spotless upon leaving. The company called me the next day after we left and tried to blame us for an issue with the stove even though it was ten years old and just needed to be replaced. Renter beware read more

We had a completely wonderful experience with Access Realty. Everyone we spoke to was pleasant and willing to help in any way. All the phone conversations went very well. They always did what they said they were going to do--and they did it in a prompt manner. Their e-mails were more than helpful--they sent the required stuff but they also sent a few prior to our arrival that provided that little extra service! When we got to their office, they were all smiles and provided us with excellent recommendations for fish markets, grocers, etc. They explained the unit was ready and that they just wanted to personally double check the cleaner's work. She said it wouldn't be long and she would call as soon as the check was done. And she did!! Many places won't call or say they will and they don't and some just say check back at 4pm. Plus they gave us a nice welcome package of goodies. We were thrilled to get the call and to get in early. Our unit was indeed very clean. My husband and I agree this we the most service-oriented realty firm that we have used!!! read more

We recently rented a house called Island Time through Access Realty. The property is advertised as a 5-bedroom house. We arrived to the house and entered in through the 1st floor. I walked around and kept looking for the stairs to get to the 2nd floor. Guess what? No stairs! The property was actually two separate apartments!! The downstairs had a kitchen and two bedrooms. To get to the second floor you had to use outdoor stairs. The upstairs unit had another kitchen and the other three bedrooms. I have three young children under the age of 7. We were unable to use the downstairs unit as it would not be safe to leave children unattended in a separate apartment. We were all piled up in a small 3-bedroom unit for the week. Not ideal, especially since I paid for a five-bedroom house. I called Access Realty and asked to be switched to an actual 5-bedroom house, or at least refund me 40% of the rental fee. They refused and the property manager rudely insisted Island Time was a 5-bedroom house. No where in the online description does it say the upstairs can only be accessed via outdoor stairs. Shame on you Access Realty for your deceptive, unethical rental practices! You ruined my family's vacation and stole our money. read more

My Husband and I have both been employed for many years in the business world, working with people. We've agreed that because of the gross negligence shown by Connie the Office Manager at Access Realty, Surf City we would wright this review to let everyone know how unbecoming their work ethics are towards their paying clients that trust them with their hard earned vacations. I just read how she wants everyone to be Happy, Happy Happy. That certainly didn't happen on our vacation. We were promised that the Condo AC unit at Surf Condos would be fixed by the third day into our vacation. Well that never happened either. Nor did Connie have the common courtesy to get back with us after numerous calls to her. We just heard a lot of excuses and false promises from them. No one in that office ever called us back or apologized for any of our inconvenience the entire week we were there or when we checked out. So don't trust that you'll be treated with respect if anything happens with your rental while on vacation. But,,,,,,,, they will be Happy, Happy, Happy with your Money, Money, Money! read more