Honestly, it was exactly what we needed—thank you!

Charming little home in a wonderful neighborhood - great for walking dogs and with a pleasant park just a few blocks away. The kitchen is nicely appointed with tableware, cutlery, utensils, pots & pans, etc. and the bathroom shower amenities (gel, shampoo, conditioner) are lovely. The interior is nicely appointed with practical, stylish furniture and although the bathroom is postage-stamp sized, the shower water pressure and hot/cold control of the temperature is nice. The primary bedroom features a very comfortable bed, ample closet space, hamper, luggage rack, and nice built-in cabinets.However, there are two major drawbacks: (1) The listing for The Checkmate - under Amenities, under Safety - lists "Fenced yard" although the yard is NOT fenced. The neighbor to one side has a fence, but the south border of the property is open to a storm drainage ditch/creek. You have to read through about two dozen paragraphs - under "About this property" - to find the detail that says, "While the backyard isn't fully fenced..." and "The back yard is not fenced..." Kudos for explaining this, buried in the details, but a "Fenced Yard" should not be listed as a Safety Feature! (2) The front walk needs to be raised and improved. There was a heavy rain which left a LARGE puddle that you couldn't avoid when stepping from the front door porch to the walkway.

Great location! Very comfortable beds! The host communicated well and had an easy check in and check out process. House wasn’t as clean as I expected. There was animal hair on the furniture and cobwebs in the corners of the ceilings. Other than that it was a great place to stay!

We stayed here while in town visiting family for Christmas. It was a great house in a great neighborhood. However on our last day we arrived back at the house at 3:30pm to find the furnace had stopped working. We contacted the hosts immediately and they sent a maintenance person as early as they could - 8:00pm. At 8:30pm we learned heat would not be restored overnight. The hosts did not provide any solutions for us (providing a space heater, finding an alternative place stay, etc.) other than crediting us for the night and letting us know “we were welcome to check out early if we were too uncomfortable”. To keep our 3 kids warm for the night (one of whom is 13 months old) we purchased a space heater for the bedrooms. Upon plugging in and starting the space heaters the breaker flipped and we were unable to flip it back to restore power to the two bedrooms and bathroom. So we did have to pack up and leave right away. Luckily we had family in town we could stay with last minute, but moving so late and finding alternative lodging quickly was very stressful. I can’t imagine not having family in town and trying to find a hotel at 9pm with 3 kids. It’s completely understandable that things happen, but there are ways to go above and beyond for your guests to recover their experience. We have stayed with these hosts twice now, but we will not be staying again.