RECENTLY RENOVATED Private Chic Modern Mountain Home

This past July was the rainiest month in Vermont's history (since they started recording rainfall). As mentioned in the description this home sits on one of the highest points in East Warren on 36 private acres and Fleming Road (we bought the house from the Fleming family) is a 1/4 mile long driveway. Having spent much time in VT, I would not say it is 'steep'. I would say 90% of the roads and driveways in the Mad River Valley are dirt, it is a very rural area. As far as I know, no one (59 VRBO reviews) has complained about the road or got stuck on the road, even in the winter. We have a great local road maintenance company we use year round. The road after the rain storms was certainly navigable. I checked in with the current renters staying there and they have 3 vehicles and said the road is not an issue. However it is going to be repaired this week. As you can imagine with the many areas that were flooded by recent storms, the road repair providers have been incredibly busy and are scheduled to do the necessary repairs after the current renters leave after Labor Day. As to the noise in the morning, we do not soundproof any rooms in any of our properties. Of the 100 + renters we have had at this property, this is new. The house sleeps 8-9 people comfortably. The 'thin folding panel' in the master is a 11ft long folding door (panel) made of wood to match the rest of the wood in the house. You can see it in picture #14 on the VRBO listing. The goal of the Flemings/architect was to have huge window views throughout the house, including the master and living areas. As you can see from the photo, the master has a small landing just outside the folding panel with 5-6 steps down to a living room couch area. I will definitely update my description that Warren is very rural area and it's advisable to have a 4WD vehicle no matter what season you visit. Also keep in mind most homes in Vermont (anywhere in the state) do not have a/c and are not soundproof. If traveling with a group and you need peace and quiet in the morning and early evening from fellow guests, best to find a home with a separate inlaw quarters. Or if you do rent this home, the bedroom on the lower level is most quiet/away from the main living area.

Thank you for the feedback and commentary, it is much appreciated. I am very sorry you did not enjoy your stay more. This is our first ‘mixed’ (bad) review and it is very helpful for me as a small business owner in dealing with the changes we have seen and experienced since this pandemic began. For this property, the other 34 Reviews (including 2 stays immediately after these folks left) have all been 5-Star Reviews. Since everyone interested in renting this property in the future will read this review first, I apologize for the length of this response but find it necessary. I want to make it clear that I am the owner of this property (primary residence is MA), I have a full time property manager that lives in the mad River Valley whose name and cell number is on the VRBO website, in the Welcome Letter and in an information binder at the property. Our property manager is a local (4th generation Vermonter) property manager who is not only is the property manager for our 4 rental homes in Warren but is also a licensed general contractor and close friend. Not sure why this came up in the review but I do not go tuna fishing for fun nor do I own a tuna boat. My good friend is a commercial fisherman out of Gloucester MA and owns a tuna boat and he called me to fill in after one of his deck hands called in sick. Unfortunately I was out of cell phone range for 7-8 hours while out at sea and did not get the renters’ text messages about the gas fireplace not working that chilly July morning. The battery was replaced that night while the renters were out to dinner and has worked fine since. Unfortunately the batteries (2 AAs) for this gas fireplace (igniter switch) need to be replaced every 6-9 months, tough to time the replacement. I appreciate the 20+ photos sent during their first couple days of the ‘broken deck’, peeling paint (all outdoors) and the dirty filter from our personal Dyson vacuum cleaner. However I was a bit confused when told the parents/in-laws that live locally took some of the outdoor photos of the deck more than 3 weeks before they arrived (without asking my permission). It is important to note the deck is safe, it is not ‘broken’. About a foot long section of one of the 2x6 planks that is part of the railing had cracked. We hired a professional painter to paint the entire exterior 2 years ago. This part of the deck is in the sun about 8+ hours a day during the summer months. Since these renters left in July, we had our painter prime and paint (stain) the small areas of the deck that needed it. The cracked board was also replaced and primed/painted. We did have our painter sand/prime/paint the peeling areas below the roof trim. There was an active wasp/bees nest on the deck hidden under a side table next to the Adirondack chairs. Bees/wasps stings can very dangerous and it was taken care of the same day. Bees/hornets/wasps are very active in Vermont in early July so I have informed our cleaning service to check for wasp/bees nests in ALL outdoor areas going forward. Fortunately our property manager keeps an ample supply of bug/wasp spray in his truck this time of year and was able to spray and remove the nest. We have not had complaints from the 4 groups of renters about wasps/bees since these renters left July 11th. As far as the kitchen being understocked, the only issue I was made aware of was there was not enough glasses to host dinners when they had family/friends over. That they had to keep re-using glasses. I immediately ordered a dozen new wine glasses and a dozen new large drinking glasses for the house. Our professional cleaning staff is responsible not only for the cleaning after each renter, but also to check inventory with such items as dishes, glasses, tp, paper towels, etc. After these renters left my cleaning service did inventory and there were 10 wine glasses, 12 regular glasses and 8 coffee mugs. So there are now 22 wine glasses, 24 drinking glasses and 8 large coffee mugs at the house. Thanks for the photos of the filthy Dyson vacuum filter and the wet dog hair that came out. We had not thought of this. This vacuum is rarely used, mostly as a backup if our cleaner’s need an extra. Our property is professionally cleaned after every renter. We also offer an additional cleaning to renters staying 2 weeks or more. Thankfully the renters had the same model vacuum at their home and knew how to clean the very dirty filter. My solution was either put our personal vacuum in the locked owners closet, or pay the cleaner extra to check our personal vacuum cleaner filter regularly. I opted for the latter, to satisfy those renters who like to vacuum every day. Thank you for cleaning the dog hair from the filter and leaving the house so clean. As far as the landscaper starting work at 7AM on their first morning, that was a bad mistake. It was actually not our landscaper that cuts the lawn during the spring summer once a week (wed afternoons) but was a farmer hired by our property manager to brush hog the huge meadow out behind the house. We invested in a very large landscaping project at this property last year and this annual brush hogging is part of the maintenance and is done once/twice a year. The local neighbor/farmer hired to do the brush hogging by our property manager is 80 years old and as far as anyone knows has never been outside Vermont. He was scheduled to do the job a week earlier when there were no renters at the property, however his tractor broke down. When he got if fixed (had to wait for a part I am told) he headed over to our property at 7AM that Tuesday morning, not knowing he should not be there while renters are there. Needless to say, he was there for a couple hours before our property manager got over there and told him to stop. However the damage was done. I am certain very sorry for this happening on the first day of vacation. That will not happen again. We are adamant about not disturbing renters. With the exception of our plow guys in the winter months, landscaper in the summer months (cut grass only and always in the afternoon) and the trash/recycle pickup Monday mornings…No one is allowed on our properties while guests are there. These renters were very helpful with offering updates to our VRBO listing, our Welcome Letter (which we discovered VRBO stopped sending renters as of June) and things we can do to improve future guests’ stays. We did make some good changes/updates. Thankfully I was able to give them the partial refund of 2 nights stay ($1400) they demanded before their weekend began.