Large Renovated Cottage on East Lake Park

The location was right in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Birmingham. Check the stats. Most of the homes were abandoned and falling apart. the neighbors were pretty nice even still. The nearby lake was a plus.

The ad for the property was quite deceiving. When we turned into the neighborhood, I saw the look of everyones faces in our car. My daughter even asked were we lost. It was so unbelievable, everybody was taking photos. As much as I tried to ignore the mishap and make the best of it, things kept showing up. The place was dirty including dirty dishes in the cabinet. There was not enough linen for the beds. We had to go out and purchase towels. The outdoor garbage can was already packed. We saw roaches, dead and alive, and a boatload of spiders. We found food crumbs everywhere including in the sofa bed. The tv did not work. The back was missing off the remote. We discovered the batteries buried in a dirty bedcover in the sofa bed. The smoke detector upstairs was missing. There was a gaping hole upstairs covered by a piece of painted plywood held in place by a rickety headboard. The soap dispenser in the dirty shower had the entire front ripped off. There was a slug in one of the bathrooms. The bedcovers were horrible with all manner of stains and crap on them. The mattresses should be thrown out, they were so filthy. The carpets were not much better with their rips and stains. There was even broken glass on the porch. I tried to reach out to the hosts when we first arrived. The phone just rang and rang, no message machine or anything. The email link was a failure. If we had been able to reach someone, we would have definitely left. I didn't hear from anyone until we were back at home.