This was my first time using VRBO and it was a great first experience! The house is beautiful, in a lovely neighborhood, and has a huge yard & driveway. We walked down to the lake access (across the street and down one or two houses). It looked like it would be a fun and easy place for a family with little ones to have a picnic and swim. We chose to go to the beach at Silver Lake State Park one day. It was very crowded on a weekday; I would avoid on the w/e! We went to the beach at Little Point Sable Lighthouse the other day. It was our favorite beach near Silver Lake. Loved that we could park right at the lighthouse--no long hike! Definitely go there to watch the sunset at least once! We also loved the close proximity to the village (and beaches) of Pentwater and Ludington.
I appreciated the binder in the house explaining details of the house as well as brochures and maps of the area. My husband said it wouldve been nice to have the fishing information included in the binder since we didn't have cell coverage in the house and couldn't ask the host (as the binder says to do if you want to fish).
There were a couple confusing points in the binder though. One page said only hand and kitchen towels were provided, no bath or beach towels. Another page said bath towels *were* provided. Similarly, one page said dishes should be washed and put away before check out. Another page said clean dishes in the dish drainer or dishwasher were okay. (We planned to put them away to be safe but the dishwasher was still running when we left.)
One thing in the kitchen that surprised me was the lack of anything to store food in like plastic containers, ziplocs, foil. Maybe that's just a difference between VRBO and the other rental agencies? I really appreciated the huge fridge with icemaker, nice washer/dryer, a clothes drying rack, and extra drying rack in the upstairs bath. I also noticed a few outlet covers to protect toddlers.
The bedrooms are large and very comfortable. Not so much the sofa-bed, unfortunately. We had a slim 20-year-old on the sofa-bed who can typically sleep anywhere, but she said she could feel springs (or something hard) in the mattress and had a hard time getting comfortable. If you need the bed space, I would recommend bringing an air mattress instead. The bedrooms upstairs had ceiling fans which was awesome since the upstairs is warmer than the first floor (as is typical). Overall, we highly recommend staying here!