My family has been coming to Great Island Ocean Club (GIOC) for 50 years. And in those 50 years, we've probably been to GIOC 35 times, and stayed in just about every property in their various transformations from cottage to house. And in those 35 visits, I can safely say I have never been more disappointed, nor stayed in a property as filthy and less cared for than 53 Powers Lane - The Mullins Home, rented through Waterfront Rentals. Upon entering the house, there was an incredibly strong, nasty smell. After searching high and low, we deduced it was the old carpet inside the front door that was wet, rotten and full of mold and mildew. We moved it outside and hung it over the balcony railing to dry out, but the smell never really went away, so we rolled it up and put it in the front closet. The bathrooms were atrocious. Smelly. Hair everywhere. Nasty shower curtains. Hairy, moist green shag carpets in a bathroom? I'm sorry, but there is no way they were cleaned before we arrived. Just. No. Way. The linens and towels in the house are extremely old. I could not fashion a guess as to when they would have ever been replaced. Some sheets had nasty stains. We washed them all again but the stains remained. How do you comfortably rent out your home with stained sheets like that? Who wants to have to wash sheets when they first arrive? Overall the window and door situation is a joke - In the upstairs master bedroom, there are two windows with no screens, and the upstairs bathroom window has no screen. The second upstairs bedroom had no curtains or blinds at all - completely bare. Only one window has a screen. My niece was going to fashion a sheet over the windows but finally found curtains in a random closet and installed them herself. The blinds were actually all tangled on the floor, behind one of the beds - who would even think of leaving them this way? One downstairs bedroom was missing the rod to twist in order to open and close a blind. We found it on the floor under one of the beds and installed it ourselves. The first floor bedroom facing the ocean has a metal storm window that rolls down. That would be great if there was a hurricane, but there wasn't. And yet the storm window was stuck rolled down about a quarter of the way, blocking part of your view out the door, and making taller people duck to exit that room to the deck. The screen doors in general are very old and no longer slide well. Exiting the living room to go outdoors is always a struggle to slide the screen door. Many of the screen doors and window screens have holes or tears. I thought about putting some clothes in the small wicker bureau in the bedroom. I wiped the base of the top drawer with a damp paper towel and it turned dark brown. Needless to say I left my clothes in the suitcase. Ants. Everywhere. I know those little black ants appear in cottages and houses on the Cape from time to time, but this house was full of them. So much so that we bought large sealable plastic bags and were putting everything in them. The outdoor grill was gross. We spent considerable time scrapping and scrubbing the grates of the grill, but decided to still go purchase metal grilling plates to place over the grates, as there was no amount of elbow grease that would fully clean them. The backyard was a mess. The best way to describe it is that the area within about 10 feet of the house, before you hit the dunes by the ocean, is filled with general 'debris'. An old ripped kite caught up in a bush. An old cracked whiffle ball. Scraps of paper. A couple of those individual dental floss picks (how nasty is that!?). Not the vision you hope for when looking towards the ocean. And for $6500 a week? Now my elderly parents, who arrived on the Saturday our rental started, are not ones to complain, but rather make the best out of every situation. Their solution was to clean the house. When I arrived on Wednesday morning, the very first thing I did was call Julie at Waterfront Rentals to let her know of the window screens and doors, grill, and front entrance rug issues. Her response was, "Gee, I wish you had let me know when you first arrived" and that she would address the screens issue and get back to me. The remaining 10 days of our 2 week rental came and went and we never heard from her again. I don't know what the difference would have been if we had let her know on Saturday, or Wednesday. She failed to respond and nothing was ever addressed anyway. I would highly discourage anyone from renting this home, through this agency or otherwise. For the amount of money they are asking ($6500 per week), it is nowhere near worth it. Fortunately, we were able to speak with some owners of other properties in GIOC who actually look after their homes and exchanged information so that we'll be able to rent directly from them in the years to come. read more