Unique Castro Valley House 30 Mi to San Fran!

Reviews

• Charming Rural Container Home

  4/5

  I stayed here for 11 days with my three children, and visiting family, and had a lovely time overall. This property is rural, but also right by town. And that deck! The deck is amazing - huge, open, and beautiful. We were visiting a family member with a compromised immune system, and found the deck perfect for social distanced visiting. We had space and even a fire table. We could have spaced adults, and room for kids to play. It was obvious that the property manager is going above and beyond to correct any known problems. Previous tenants commented on the temperature so there is now a heater and AC in every room. Someone commented about washcloths and we had dozens. We had questions and, once we reached her, she came promptly, in person, with gifts and help. The house is rural and a bit rustic, but fully stocked with anything we could need. We had plenty of kitchen tools, some we don't even have at home. We had space, and comfort, and a giant TV with cable. We didn't realize in advance we wouldn't have WiFi, but that was our own fault. It was probably good for us to unplug a bit. We will consider this place again if we return to the area.Responding to previous reviews:- The house is made out of shipping containers, and cleverly wrapped through available spaces - but our family found this really cool!- We never had so much as a dip in water temperature or pressure even with back-to-back showers for a whole family.- Yes, there is an exterior door in one of the bedrooms, but no one in our party or the location staff treated that as a front door - more an emergency exit. The deck door is the front door.- The deck is outside, and is as clean as an open, outside space can be expected to be. We spent hours out there most days of our stay and it was LOVELY.- We saw maybe two daddy long leg spiders in the house, but outside we got to see tiny lizards and squirrels. Well within normal for a property that backs up on trees and open spaces.- People complained about the temperature, and they need to know how to live in the Bay Area to be comfortable in this home: during the warm hours close and cover the windows and doors, and as soon as it cools in the evening open anything with a screen. The house will largely even itself out if you take care of it, and you can touch up with the AC if you need to.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

  Manager's Response:

  Hi Bethany, the homeowner would like to share the following: "Thank you so much for such a wonderfully detailed and insightful review. I’m thrilled to know how nicely the property and home worked out for you. It was a real pleasure hosting you and your beautiful family. I will hopefully have the opportunity to host you again soon!"

• Not livable

  1/5

  First off, I have NEVER felt the need to complain about a property, even if not perfect.When my staff arrived at the property, first it was hard to find, but they did answer the phone and gave then directions. However, when they entered it smelled overwhelmingly like pot. That combined with the heat would have made sleeping a challenge (it was in the evening already). They were willing to tough it out, until they encountered the spiders. Evidently there were cobwebs in the bathroom as well as spiders in the shower. However, the last straw was when one found one in the bed. They reported the house in good shape, but NOT livable or clean... Its unfortunate because in cooler times and with a decent cleaning, it can be charming. I did not come into town until the following day when they informed me they got a hotel and when I sent the third one over she concurred that she did not feel comfortable there. I have send messages several times to the owner/manager several times and have received no response and there does not appear to be any other way to get through to VRBO. We absolutely should be given a refund. I tried to give the owner an opportunity to respond before writing a review, but they have chosen to ignore me.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

  Manager's Response:

  Hi Brook, the homeowners were surprised to read your review, as they are accustomed to providing 5-star experiences. They would like to clarify the following:
  - I recently changed cleaning teams and did a thorough deep clean of the house, including a pest control treatment inside and out.
  - We have been closely monitoring the house to ensure it is pest-free, and we have seen no spiders since our deep clean in May.
  - We did another deep clean just before your stay, and the house was spotless. There was absolutely no odor of marijuana or otherwise.
  - I was happy to provide directions when you first called but did not hear from you after that, nor was I informed that you were planning to stay in a hotel. I am a responsive host and would have been happy to address any concerns right away.
  I am confident that future guests will continue to enjoy exceptional visits at my unique home!

• No outside pictures were taken because most of the place is built from shipping containers and the pictures are not updated, looks great of when you get there and no tv.

  1/5

  I was not aware that it is mostly made out of shipping containers, there was no hot water for my entire group of 5 people, it only worked for 30 min and it cut off right in the middle of my shower and I had to finish taking a cold one. There was only two washcloths even though I booked for a total of 6 people, that was the only thing that was fixed. When I called asking why the hot water doesn’t work she said to unplug everything then had me flipping switches on the breaker box and she didn’t even know which one it was until she got here. Took her over 10 minutes to get there. It felt very uncomfortable to not have any hot water for my guests and very ridiculous, to not make sure your hot water is working. One of the rooms has the front door on it and I was not going to walk through their room to get every time to get in and out so we figured out a way to go through the back screen door. Patio tables were filled with dirt and grime so we couldn’t even enjoy the deck. I will never stay here again and I would not recommend. I will be calling evolve for a refund. This was absolutely horrible!

• Seclusion

  5/5

  Beautiful house on a large property, very private, friendly host who lives nearby and is very accessible and communicative.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

• Awesome Time

  5/5

  My uncle's family visited from East Coast. We live in San Ramon and my uncle wanted to rent VRBO close to us. Perfect house with privacy. The deck was awesome.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo