This was our third year staying in the Highland Park community for fall break week, first time in this house. The location and community pool keep bringing us back. This house fell in line with our expectations around size, amenities etc.
Unfortunately a poor first impression was made the first night at the house--after a long day's drive we discovered around 9pm that the water heater didn't work, so only icy cold showers. Rental management office answered call that night, were able to get a plumber out the next morning.
Pros:
-Location (right next to trails, close to beach, restaurants), community
-Rental bikes included
-Great ice maker
-They were responsive in getting us extra coverlets & dish towels (only 1 at the house!). Plenty of pillows in closet (but not pillow cases).
Cons:
-Water heater snafu. Ended up working out eventually but it really soured our first day--an offer of compensation (or even an apology from someone other than the poor kid who has to answer phones late on Saturday) would have helped, but I'll be reluctant to rent from this management company again.
-Although contact surfaces (basically anything you would touch like counters, coffee tables, kitchen, bathroom sinks, floors) were clean, the walls & baseboards were really dirty, dust caked on in some areas like tops of wallplates, ceiling fans, etc. There is a rather high cleaning fee on this place so I'd expect it should get deep cleaned at least a few times a season.
-it appeared as though the house was power washed just before we arrived (covered porches etc were wet) which is great & all but that likely tripped the GFCI on the water heater (which is what the problem was), & a cigarette butt was left on the front porch. Stuff like that shouldn't happen, and Southern Vacation Rentals needs to make sure that it doesn't.