To start, we enjoyed our time at Lake Martin. This review is meant to be honest about our stay & not intended to discourage someone from choosing this house, but to inform their decision.
The house we chose was at the end of a tiny finger off the lake. It was right across from Chuck’s Marina, which was closed when we stayed (end of March). That was perfectly fine with us as it appears it's a party place and we were there to take it down a notch and relax. Access to the water was easy. We kept our kayaks at the water's edge all week and no one bothered them.
We arrived on a Saturday, just after check in time. Entry was easy. We dropped off the stuff, left the kids to explore, and headed 25 minutes to Dadeville to get groceries. It was a little after 8pm when i went to turn on the grill, and found there was no propane in the tank. We reached out to the owner who said he would reimburse us, but we had to go get the propane--off to a bad start. We took a pic of the receipt and within minutes, we were reimbursed for the propane--but not for the trouble and gas (~9 mile & 30+ minute round trip). If it were me, I'd make sure to have 2 tanks on premises to ensure that my renters don't run into that situation on their vacation; but that's me.
The house was live-in clean (as in like my house), but not short-term rental, $100+ cleaning fee clean. Not a huge deal, but to pay such a high cleaning fee, the cleaning crew should have that place spotless. The Vrbo description says it sleeps 6, but there were only 4 sets of towels. We also had a flare up on the grill, which was on the upper patio (all wood). I was able to quickly take care of it, but I went to grab the fire extinguisher just in case it happened again, but there wasn’t one (which is illegal in Florida).
The first night the house was cool, but the second night it was cold. I woke up the next morning and tried to light the fireplace (which is shown in the pics). I found it was not operational since the home’s external propane tank has been removed. Turns out the house was cold due to a problem with the HVAC unit, which turned out to be a tripped breaker—easy fix. But I had to trouble shoot that with the owner (on my vacation) and that was after the fourth night which was even colder. And the fireplace not working should be in the description of the property.
As I said before, we enjoyed our time. I'd like to say some positive things (because there are some) but Vrbo limits the character count...