Our experience with Twiddy Vacation Rentals in the OBX was beyond disappointing. What was…read moreadvertised as a premium beach house felt more like the Motel 6 of vacation rental companies. The listing was inaccurate, and several amenities that were clearly advertised were either broken or not available at all. Some bathrooms didn't even have basic supplies like toilet paper. One shower had such low water pressure it was completely unusable. The dishwasher was broken for the entire week, which meant hand-washing dishes for 14 guests, three meals a day, for seven days. That is not what anyone signs up for on vacation. The house itself was not properly cleaned. There were cobwebs on multiple surfaces, visible rust throughout, and an overall neglected feel. For the price we paid, the condition of the property was unacceptable. Customer service was effectively nonexistent. We reported the issues, and nothing meaningful was done to resolve them during our stay. There was no urgency, no accountability, and no effort to make things right. Also worth noting: reviews appear to be filtered, showing only glowing feedback. Based on our experience, you are not getting the full picture when you read the listings. For the amount of money these homes command, expectations should be much higher. We would strongly recommend considering another rental company. You've been warned. Terrible consistent reviews on TrustPilot, Yelp and many other pages. The feeling is clearly unanimous and Twiddy clearly does not care.

The home was in appalling condition. The air reeked of must and mildew. Filthy blankets had to be…read morewashed upon arrival--completely unacceptable given the cost. Vents were caked with mildew, the bath mat was filthy, and dishes and cutlery had been put away wet and dirty. Dust covered the pendant lights and furniture throughout, triggering allergies for all of us. Absolutely zero effort had been made to maintain this property. The deck was riddled with rusty nails--my children were literally picking them up, an outrageous and dangerous hazard. The pool area was no better: the pavers around it were so scorching hot they became unsafe to walk on. We endured because of a death in the family, but this property was disgraceful. I would never rent again, nor would I trust any property under Twiddy's management.

Sadly, Shore Details went out of business a few years back and existing reservations went to…read moreBrindley Beach. The first time all went well, we stayed at Surround Sound and the property was beautifully maintained. This past week we've been staying at End of the Rainbow. After reading all the terrible reviews I feel we got very lucky as the house and property are well maintained. The pool has not been cleaned at all this week and it's too dirty to swim in. I informed the rental agency and never heard back. I miss Pam and Shawna from Shore Details. They immediately addressed any and all issues.

Received an email the day before our fully paid reservation requesting MORE money. They said they…read moremade a "pricing" error. They didn't text or call me-just an email asking for more money citing the Errors clause. Completely unethical. We cancelled and rebooked with another company for less and a better stay I'm sure. When we stayed at a Brindley property in 2011 there were ants in the cabinets-didn't rent with them again until now.

BEWARE before you rent from Corolla Classic Vacations by Vacasa!!!!…read more"Cancellation Policy: If you cancel within 24 hours of booking, you'll receive a full refund. After that (unless stated otherwise in the home description and unit-specific terms), if you cancel 30 or more days before the first night of your reservation, you'll receive a refund of any rental payments you've made, minus the booking fee." We reserved a beach house in June 2022 for the next year June 2023. My first payment was $4226 and another payment due in 2023. I cancelled that reservation 6 weeks later. They charged me 10% of my total bill $803. That's some "booking fee" for them considering the house was only off the market 6 weeks one year in advance.

Extremely poor customer service and responsiveness. Wouldn't answer the phone, wouldn't call back,…read moreand wouldn't reply to emails in a timely manner. You expect to get something of value for your money when you pay almost $4,000 for a week stay. This rental property failed to provide basic necessities and supplies to make an extended stay comfortable. If you're going to require your guests to "...gather all dirty dishes and run them through the dishwasher," then you need to supply dishwasher soap. If you ask your guests to "wipe down the stove and oven daily..." you ought to provide some type of cleaner. Sheets and blankets had holes in them. Most of the blankets had people and animal hair on them and stunk. When we went to wash the blankets the washer turn knob came right off making the washer un-usable. Bathrooms were dingy and dirty. We weren't allowed to put the thermostat lower than 72 degrees which means there was likely something wrong with their system but they don't want to get it fixed. Many of the outside lounge chairs were cracked. The whole experience was disappointing to say the least. We'll be avoiding this home in the future.

Note this review is for the cafe/lounge only. Be aware they…read moreserve different meals (breakfast , lunch, dinner) on different days of week. Check out their website for details before you go. This is a cute and cozy (tiny) place that serves sandwiches and drinks. We decided to go for breakfast on a Wednesday morning. The menu consists of various paninis with scrambled eggs. Sides are breakfast potatoes or a small fruit cup. The sandwiches are large! I had the rambler which had scrambled eggs, havarti, avocado, onions and yellow pepper. It was very crispy and tasty. The coffee was also good, but be sure to check out the Banana Dog coffee truck in the parking lot for delicious iced coffee drinks! The server was extremely friendly and had a great attitude. That goes a long way in today's world!

We had such a lovely stay here! Stayed for the weekend, great service. Walking distance to historic…read morearea and beach.

Upon arrival at 9pm (we drove from South Florida) the last thing I wanted to do was make beds. In…read morethe morning I realized that the house wasn't actually cleaned after prior guests. Dining table was filthy. Dried up stickiness that I scrubbed off. The floor was sticky and sandy, the bathrooms weren't cleaned, the carpets are filthy (in this day and age, who has carpet in a beach house?) A pair of women's panties left in laundry area, fan blades super dusty, bathroom rug was dirty. Prior guests garbage in bins but smelled like dead fish. For 3 days we had to pass this stench. After garbage was collected, we had to bleach out the bins. A kids sippy cup was in a kitchen cupboard with some juice still in it. For the first time in my life, I had to strip all the beds, collect all towels and leave it all by the front door. I'm on vacation, I don't want to make beds on arrival nor strip them when I leave. I tried my best to clean up as much as possible because I don't want the next set of guests to clean up my mess. I was so grossed out, I put paper towels on the chair to sit on. I wore my shoes in the house, I washed everything I could. I contacted Sun Realty about the situation and all they did was refund my cleaning deposit. No, I'd also like you to send out your cleaning crew and actually clean the house. What they do is pop in, collect dirty linens and toss rolled up sheets into each room, leave a bag of towels, lock up and go "clean" next house. It was never cleaned. Gross. Not using sun realty again.

We stayed in the home called Tequila Sunrise (WHL-805) the week of Labor Day for just shy of $9K…read moreafter the fees. We were so very excited to stay at this home again after being married here in 2007 and staying two times previously. Unfortunately, within a couple hours of arrival, the house caught on fire. One outlet went up in flames, another burned inside the wall. We called the fire department and also the rental agency. Thankfully the fire department was easier to get a hold of - I kept getting punted to voicemail for Sun until about an hour later they closed and I was able to go through to their emergency line. LONG story short: Sun did send out an electrician that night but were kind of wishy washy if they were going to. Thank god they did bc the electrician found another outlet that had obviously been on fire upstairs. The downstairs outlet went up in flames when (unknown to those of us outside cleaning/watching kids in pool) one of the people staying there noticed power was out in half the house and flipped the breaker that was tripped which is when the fire started. What's scary is that the breaker didn't trip again - we had to manually turn it back off. It never tripped for the one upstairs. Needless to say, we all slept with one eye open that week after this. Over the week there were numerous safety concerns: a board not nailed down on the stairs to the beach that flipped up and nearly dumped someone about 10' down to the beach, quite a few wasp nests, a defective smoke alarm that didn't stop chirping despite batteries being changed, tripped GFI outlets outside that weren't replaced/addressed, loose outlets that caused the lights to flicker/surge, switches that were glitchy due to water leaking on them from the front window... it's so much that I literally forget everything that was wrong. Then there was just the annoying/cosmetic things like fire ants in the dining room, a toilet turned off, two water bubbles in the ceiling causing paint to flake off in one room, and the house was definitely not cleaned before we arrived (the kitchen was sticky everywhere, towels left in the washer, floor sandy and dirty etc)., most of the rooms didn't have screens for the windows and some of the rooms were missing screens for the sliders, a few of the sliders were impossible to open... again, I could go on but you get the gist. Sun did send maintenance out to fix most of the problems but it did impact our trip constantly having to make literal lists of all the issues and be waiting at the house to walk them through what was wrong because often they didn't have an idea of what the problem of the day was. This was beyond the normal "tired" home at the end of the season or high expectations not being met. I've been coming to the OBX for 40 years and this home in particular for 20. I know that oceanfront homes especially get worn quickly, that at the end of the season things are a bit beat up and that sometimes stuff is sticky. In my 40 years of renting I've NEVER had to call a realty company for anything - this is not how I normally roll. If the house is dirty, I clean it. If things are missing I can live without, I ignore it. You can't ignore safety issues like this, especially when people recently died in a fire in the OBX. We were told we couldn't be moved which we understood due to the lack of inventory but I think it's fair that we get some partial refund but there's been silence on that end. If you are looking to rent Tequila Sunrise in Whalehead Beach, I would ask for current photos before making the booking. It pains me to warn others but what we encountered was beyond cosmetic issues.

I stayed at The Chesapeake with my work and their friends for a week getaway…read more This house is on the 4x4 beach and requires you to deflate your tires on a 4x4 vehicle (tons of fun)! Up one arrival, you notice the jaw dropping size of this rental/wedding venue! When you enter the house, you are quickly amazed by the giant double sided bar with a shuffleboard, fooseball table, and an electronic darts game. On one side of the room, there is a bathroom with three sinks and three individual stalls. Next to that, there is a makeshift gym (bring your own equipment). On the other side of the bar, there is an aquarium that looks into the theater with wall to wall surround sound. This floor connects you to the back patio/pool area. On the second floor, there is a chef's kitchen, a smaller kitchen, ginormous dining area, two patios, and a sitting room with a fire place. The third floor is the private honeymoon suite with a patio. This house has two wings with a first and second floor. All floors have a washer and dryer (4 washers and 4 dryers in the house total). There are 24 bedrooms in all and each bedroom had a full size bath, king sized bed, and a private patio overlooking the pool. Each wing has a bunk bed room sleeping 6 in each room. The back patio has two bars, two grills, two hot tubs, PLENTY of seating and lounge chairs, a ping pong table, a gated pool (about 5ft deep), and a large shaded area to host a wedding. This house is MASSIVE and apparently popular in the Outer Banks. Many of the 4x4 tours were stopping to talk about this house. This house is just a small walk away from the beach. This house includes almost everything you need. It has clean linens, towels, pillows, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. It also has a full sized kitchen with 3 coffee makers, 4 dishwashers, tons of plates and silverware, pots/pans...it's fully stocked. All you need is food, body wash, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, paper towels, and maybe extra toilet paper as there is only one roll per room (though I did give everyone the idea to take some from the rooms that weren't being used). But that's not all! Don't no need to bring ice because there are a whopping 4 ice makers in the house as well as three refrigerators and two freezers. I can go on and on about how amazing this house is but I'll let the photos do the talking. And yes, there are wild horses in the beach!! It's a wonderful house if you can afford the whopping $29k for the week. Luckily, I was here for work and got to enjoy the beauty without spending a penny.

The owner of this business doxxed me, and posted my full name on the internet in response to my…read morenegative review of my experience of renting a property he owned. It was not made clear on his website that a 4x4 wheel drive vehicle, with deflated tires was legally required in order to access the property. (A fairly important piece of information that should be clearly stated to potential renters!) After I left a review pointing this out on Google and Yelp, he responded with publicly disclosing my full name, along with misrepresenting the accessibility to the property.

From the owner: Stay at The Salty Seahorse for Unmatched Serenity! Indulge in country living by the sea at The…read moreSalty Seahorse! This beautiful home, adorned with upscale and unique décor, offers a haven of tranquility on the 4x4 beach. With a private dock for fishing in the canal and the chance to witness wild horses up close, your stay promises a unique and unforgettable coastal experience. The sandy beach is just a short 1-mile drive along a picturesque road. Property Features: Sleeps 18 people comfortably Hot tub Huge Pool Private dock for fishing, crabbing, boating, and kayaking Beach parking passes for parking directly on the 4x4 beach. No need drag your cooler or walk, just park directly on the beach and relax! Pet friendly, with outdoor doggy wash! See the wild horses right from the screened in porch

Catherine was our buying agent and was wonderful. Responsive and prepared. Knew the area and helped…read moreus find a great home.

We highly recommend Catherine Strachan-Brown if you are looking for your "forever" home in the…read moreNorthern Outer Banks in North Carolina. We had first met Catherine over two years ago. She worked with us throughout that time to find is exactly the right home to meet our current and future needs. Catherine actively listened to our wants, needs and concerns and then came up with a realistic plan to make our dream a reality.! Kind regards, Craig & Pamela Elliott Carolla, NC