Venice, Florida
If seeking sun, sea and sand are your priorities look no further. This charming, lovely home near many beaches is exactly what you are looking for. South Venice beach is accessed by 2 min. relaxing Ferry boat ride. The ferry boat is about 2min. by car.
Just south of Sarasota along Florida’s white-sanded Gulf Coast, Venice offers 14 miles of beaches from Casey Key to Manasota Key and plenty of recreational opportunities, including swimming, sunbathing, fishing and boating. Shelling is also a favorite pastime in Venice, and fossilized shark s teeth can be found in abundance by sifting through the sand. Golfers enjoy excellent courses in the greater Venice area.
Venice also is a Florida Main Street City – its downtown graced by northern Italian architecture and beautifully landscaped boulevards that date to the original city plans of 1925 and are reminiscent of the Italian city of Venice whose name it borrowed.
We stayed at this rental for one month during Winter 2020. We were extremely dismayed with a number of safety and structural conditions of this property. Very alarming was the lack of most items from the ‘Advertised Safety Information List’ including non- working smoke alarm, missing fire extinguisher, no carbon monoxide detector, and no first aid kit. Structural damage included crumbling and rotting wood around house and carport, many inoperable windows (including broken glass), and moldy, rotting wood along some baseboards and closet doors indicating previous water damage. Major kitchen concerns were a very old and minimally operable stove with worn off oven temperature numbers and rusted, filthy pans. The mattresses in both bedrooms were old and worn. There was a pervasive smell of sulphur from all water faucets, shower, and washer. Air vents were filthy and dust-filled. The property lacked the featured kayak/canoe and we discovered the advertised community pool was at the YMCA which renters were expected to pay to use. We had access to bicycles, but needed to make them operable with some maintenance. Positive features included the tv/wifi and access to the private beach. Communication with the owner during our stay did lead to resolution of a couple missing items; however, we would not recommend this property for rental until the safety and structural issues are fully resolved. We would also encourage updated photos of all indoor and outdoor living spaces to depict true conditions of the property.
This property was good and fit our needs. However, the property owner was unresponsive and when we had to leave early due to the COVID-19 Virus concerns, she never responded to 2 messages we left and I ended up going to the VRBO chat line to see if I could get a response... all I wanted her to acknowledge was that we were leaving early and she never took the time to respond.