67 Forestay - Kiawah Island, SC

This is a beautiful, larger home with lots of space and a gorgeous deck and pool/spa. The location is perfect!

First let me say we had a very nice stay at the home. The kitchen has everything you may need and it is set up nicely if you have little kids traveling with you. It’s true, the house could use some updates, mainly in the plumbing area. One of the shower heads in the master bath sprays through the knob when used, one of the sinks in the master bath does not drain and the main toilet in the living area flushes with an incredibly loud and high pitch. When we arrived, housekeeping was just finishing up, luckily, they allowed us to bring our luggage in. In the morning we noticed that the spa was drained, we left for a bit and when we returned it had been filled, but the indoor controls were not working to warm the water. Saturday, we called Vacasa and they had to submit a work ticket, but sadly, this was not fixed by the time we had to check out. The pool was cold so we only lounged on the deck.

One suggestion – It would be nice to have a list of the scheduled maintenance. Such as; Saturday the pool is cleaned (this we were told when we called on the spa), Monday, the yard is maintained, etc. Had we known someone would be looking at the pool, we could have left a note about the spa. On Monday, we were surprised to see a stranger with a leaf blower on the back deck!

All in all the trip was fun, our family enjoyed the spacious layout and the quick walk to the beach.

While the location and floorplan for this house is great, it is in dire need of maintenance. I felt sorry for the owners if they think that this house is being cared for...there is evidence that the roof is leaking in the living room (stains on the vaulted walls), light bulbs out, windows and sliding doors in need of repair, a pool that was never cleaned the week we visited and it looked like it had not been for a while...even very annoying things like remotes that didn't work because they only had ONE AA battery in them instead of two. We have rented most summers at Kiawah for over 35 years, so we are familiar with the island standards. This poor house doesn't measure up.

For starters, we have been traveling to Kiawah for 7 years now and are from Florida. We understand that beach houses are often ridden hard and put away wet. That is not the case with 67 Forestay.

The pictures in the listing are not an accurate reflection of the home's condition. It is obvious that little to no maintenance has been done on this house in many years. We arrived to find a rotted out threshold to the front door, leaving a large gap underneath that an adult could fit two fingers (height) underneath. Proceeding to the bunk room that we were going to use for our children, we immediately noticed that it was incredibly hot and muggy. It didn't take long to figure out why -- there was a badly broken out window (hole larger than 12" at least) that had been shoddily patched up with a piece of cardboard box and only duct tape on the sides, leaving the top edge and window exposed. The room was buggy and not habitable for our children. As this was a safety problem, and made the house not secure... we called Vacasa immediately and were assured that this was an unknown problem and that a contractor would be out shortly to address it. Later that night we got a call from a different person stating they did know of the problem, thought it had been fixed, but that no one could come immediately and that they *might* be able to come out the next day (Sunday). No contractor Sunday. No contractor Monday. We called daily and it took up an extensive part of our vacation waiting to see if contractor showed and contacting Vacasa. The threshold and the window were adequately patched (not fully repaired) on Tuesday of our trip. At this point, children were already distributed into parent's rooms and another guest stepped on a piece of glass, we decided it was not safe to put children in the bunk room. This, of course, defeated the purpose of renting a house... when we could have stayed at a very nice hotel (and slept in the same room as our children) for the same rate or less.

Beyond these first two examples, the house overall was in terrible shape. The roof has obvious severe problems with leaks and patches in various places, the walls were weeping wet after rains, the popcorn ceiling material was falling on our heads in the showers... not to mention... the bugs. Again, Floridian here, not afraid to step on a roach... the bug problem was serious even after the threshold gap and window entry points were patched. The wood rot on this home is extensive, the decking is falling apart with railings falling down and exposed nails, other exterior windows were also patched with tape. Inside, major appliances were broken, the cooktop is cracked, the kitchen was poorly stocked for cooking, the fridge was leaking water from the water dispenser constantly and a towel had to be placed in front of it to keep people from slipping. Most of the drawers/shelves in the fridge were cracked or some were missing reducing usable storage space. There was one trash can without a lid in the open in the kitchen, which of course only exacerbated the insect problem. The main hall/master smoke detector was found disassembled and lying on a table.

The less severe but obvious signs of disrepair like broken towel bars, lamps, faucets etc, is long and would have affected our "guest experience" but paled in comparison to the larger issues.

Bottom line: We thought we were paying for a (not fully updated but) well-maintained beach home and we got a lemon. We feel totally misled by the pictures and that it is is unethical to rent this home in it's condition, period.

While the staff that we spoke with at Vacasa attempted to be helpful and understanding from a distance, it seems obvious that they do not have local property managers routinely walking through houses assessing their condition which prevents their ability to ensure guests have a good experience.

We love Kiawah, we obviously did not love this rental.

The outside space is awesome. Unfortunately, it rained the entire 4 days we were there. Did get to use the hot tub however!

We loved our first trip to Kiawah. This home was in a great spot close to the beach and not crowded at all. The private resort was such an awesome experience. The pool and hot tub were a big hit with the whole family and the house itself was spacious and comfortable. House could use a little maintenance but nothing that disrupted our trip. I hope to come back with friends next year.

Spent the first afternoon attempting to fix broken doors, lights that did not work, doors that would not open, broken toilet seats, coffee grounds left in por, danger of sharp flashing at base of deck door, etc.

The house is spacious and comfortable.