Vacation Rental Amenities and additional details
First floor:
The Family Room provides a great place to come together as a family, play board games or watch a movie on the wall-mounted LED TV with a DVD player with a library of movies. It has LVP wood floors and new comfortable sofas this year. It is bright from the 9-foot sliding door leading to the screened front porch. The screened front porch is great for reading the morning paper before others rise. It has a small table plus a wicker loveseat and chair. At night you can hear the ocean waves in the distance when there is an ocean breeze.
“Ocean Breeze” is Bedroom 1 and is in the front corner and has a Queen mattress. It has double windows on the front and a single window on the side. There is a wonderful cross breeze and sounds of the ocean in the distance when the weather is moderate and the AC is off. Also, a full-size armoire for storage.
“Palm Plantation” is Bedroom 2 and is the master bedroom in the rear left corner. Light and bright with a Queen mattress and wall-mounted LED TV – plus an attached half bathroom.
“Kids Hideout” is Bedroom 3 and usually where the kids sleep, as I did during the 1960s! Twin over twin bunk bed with stairs plus single bed (keep your suitcases on upper bunk if you don’t want your children to use it.) Nice big double window overlooking the big backyard plus a big armoire to hang clothes or put them in drawers.
The full bathroom has a double sink vanity, brightened by a window, and complete with a tub/shower. Next to it is a stacked washer dryer if you really want to do laundry while on vacation but most people just bring enough clothes.
The kitchen has bright white cabinets and a neat refurbished butcher block table that seats 8+. The adjacent dry bar seats another 2 with dry storage below. The kitchen has double windows on the side and another 9-foot slider, opening to the big back deck.
Outside: The back deck is where you’ll want to hang out before going to dinner, with its large table and umbrella. Wide stairs off the deck open up to the big backyard where the kids can play. A beach cart/wagon to tote the provided beach chairs and umbrella. When you return from the beach, you’ll enjoy a full hot and cold enclosed shower. We provide beach buckets in each room to carry your shower supplies to alfresco showering. The charcoal grill is ready for an old-fashioned cookout – perhaps while sitting back having a beverage as the kids enjoy the private backyard for playing soccer, lacrosse, horseshoes, or more. Bring your bikes and chain them up to the clothes pole when you’re not exploring Cape May.
Second floor:
Our 5 bedroom beach house includes 2 bedrooms, one with a full bath upstairs, facing the rear yard.
“Surfcomber” is Bedroom 4 and is the corner bedroom with a Queen-size bed and windows on the side and back.
“Lighthouse Room” is Bedroom 5 – a mini-suite because it is similar to a lighthouse, being that it is at the top! Moderate in size, but cozy with its own full bathroom, Queen- size bed, and wall-mounted LED TV. Note that there is a lock-out section - 2nd floor front, including 2nd floor front porch which is not accessible to renters.
See more pictures on the other tab sections.
For availability and rates, go to "Rates"s tab at left.
Convenient location.
See the aerial shot of Cape May. The yellow push pin at the upper right shows where the house is relative to the beach - You pass by 6 houses and a hotel on walk to beach. ( 2 houses on each block going toward the beach) Historic/shopping district is the push pin to the upper left (5-7 blocks). Boardwalk shops/Convention Hall is push pin at bottom left. Boardwalk starts at push pin at bottom right.
Clean and well-maintained
You are renting from the owner, not a realtor or big business. This is our shore house and it has been in my family since I was a little kid staying there with my Grandparents.
We do a lot of work each year to keep it very well maintained, which is somewhat unusual for beach rentals and even hotels at the shore.
The house has a "shore cottage" feel. It was a one-floor cottage until 2004 when we renovated it and added the 2nd floor. We intentionally kept the 1st floor true to the original cottage feel, except we updated it. And there are 2 rooms upstairs, facing the back yard. Therefore it is cozy, not massive.
Nice yard. Ample free parking.
Nice rear yard for kids to play or adults to relax. Rear deck now has new deck furniture and umbrella. Front porch is now screened.
The usual people that rent this home in the summer are 1-2 families, 8 or 9 people; often it is a family and Grandparents/In-Laws. Note: There is a "lock-out" area (the front of 2nd floor of the house) which is simply locked off, not part of the rental, not accessible and this includes the front 2nd floor porch.) When we enlarged the house, we wanted an area for storage and a room to leave our own things. You still have plenty of decks (1 front first floor plus 2 out the back, one on each floor so there is no shortage;) That room is not counted in the 5BR, 2 1/2 baths description.
Hope that helps! :)
I know it isn't easy comparing houses to rent...they're all so different and hard to tell how nice they are inside...I know because I check out other places to make sure our rates are fair.
This is a well maintained and renovated house with a "shore cottage" feel. The rooms are not large, but renovated or new and very well maintained. Unlike other listings, this house sleeps 8-10 in beds (when renting the 5 BR house) not on floor or sleeper sofas like most places. There are no sofa beds nor is there extra floor space for more people...but there are 5 bedrooms and beds for the amount of people allowed.
Activities and Attractions:
Cape May has it all - for all types. And all Fall, there are great events, like Victorian Week, The Food and Wine Festival, Fall Jazz Fest, etc. Of course, there are great beaches - Cape May has been ranked one of the top beaches in the US - one of the nicest being just up the street (it is about 300 yards. You will pass about 5 houses and one hotel on the way. ((the blocks are narrow because they run parallel to the beach, so you pass over 3 streets with only 2 houses or one hotel on each block))There is a nice boardwalk for running, walking, shops and some amusements and a theater across the street. The historic district is 4-6 block walk. Cape May is essentially an island escape. You can walk or bike the entire small island. We park the car, and don't use it again until we leave, because everything is so close to the house and such great sights to see as you walk or bike. Of course we are biased, but we think our house has the perfect location - it is unique in that it is so close to everything, but on a quiet street where you can park easily, and it is a quiet relaxing area of town.
How does the lease and payment process work?
- We email you the lease
- You sign the lease and return it with roughly half of rental amount and a copy of your driver's license for photo ID in the mail within 2 business days.
- Then on March 1 for summer rentals you send remaining rent plus sec. deposit and cleaning service fee. Specific dates will be in the lease.
- Then about a week before your stay starts, I'll send you check-in and check-out sheets so you have complete information including the passcode for your stay.
All payments are based on personal checks. Any additional fees from other payment methods are the responsibility of the renter. Rental amounts of under $2000 are collected in one payment at the beginning.
Options:
If you are a couple or small family, you can get a reduced rate for the 1st floor, sleeping 2-6 people from Oct through mid-June only. 1st floor has 3BRs, FR, KI, 1 1/2 baths. But we can only do this Oct to mid June. Can be rented weekly, long weekend Fri to Mon, or midweek Mon-Fri.
Misc:
- Why do we provide a charcoal grill instead of gas? Safety. Not everyone knows how to use gas grills.
- Sec Dep. refundable within 30 days as long as house is left in same condition found without damage, missing items, or excessive cleaning needed. I have only had to deduct anything from a security deposit 3 times in 27 years.
- Cleaning fee covers cleaning crew of 2 people for 1 hour; if you leave it excessively dirty they will charge more.
- No pets allowed
- No smoking of any kind
- No parties
- Maximum of 10 people for the 5BR house, maximum of 6 when renting it just as the 1st floor 3 BR house.
- Our rentals are listed as non-refundable and thus we suggest purchasing travel insurance. We cannot guarantee that we can re-rent your reservation - especially later in the year when most people have already made plans. However, if a medical situation requires you to change plans we will work with you to find a replacement renter (which may or may not be possible depending on timing) or possibly apply your payment to a fringe season stay(s). A service fee will apply for our time.
Please read the other sections as most of your questions regarding pricing, house details, maximum amount of guests, minimum stays, etc will be answered on the web site. Contact the owner directly by email to book or ask questions: bartruffian@aol.com
For availability and rates, go to "Rates"s tab
Policies:
A lease is required with signature, photo identification simply to confirm your identity, and list of tenants. Roughly half of the rental amount, specified in lease, is due with lease return to hold your reservation. The other half, along with security deposit and cleaning service fee is due March 1 for summer rentals - exact dates will be in your lease. Unlike a hotel we do not have the ability to re-rent a week last minute; often people reserve their weeks many months or even a year in advance and then the demand stops. It can go from multiple people wanting the same week to no inquiries after people are all set for their vacation. Therefore we do not offer refunds. We encourage you to purchase 3rd party trip insurance. At our sole discretion, we may choose to work with you try to re-rent your commitment to the lease less a fee for our time if we are successful. The house is well maintained and we make all reasonable efforts to be sure that things are in working order. We cannot be responsible for things beyond our control such as weather, mandatory evacuations, or unexpected failures including but not limited to mechanical components, appliances, furniture or other components or contents of the house. If there is an unexpected failure, contact us and we will make best effort to resolve the issues as soon as possible but the exact time to resolve it may be beyond our control. We provide added items included but not limited to beach chairs and beach tags but we cannot guarantee that the prior renter will not accidentally take them home with them in which case after you notify us we will make a best effort to have them returned to the house as quickly as possible. Tenants are responsible for any adjustments to secure the house for child safety. The bunk bed provided is an extra bed, only for children over 8 yrs old and under 14, and it's use is at tenant's sole discretion and responsibility. We cannot be responsible for items or the use of items left behind by other renters. Thank you for your understanding. Unlike many rental properties, we do extensive maintenance and improvements on the house; we just cannot guarantee against the unexpected.