My wife and our two boy (3 and 1.5) recently stayed at the affectionately named Casa de Aptos. Over…read morethe course of our 5 day stay we were more than pleased with the simple comfort of the house. My wife and I loved the option of putting the boys to bed upstairs and adjourning to the downstairs for a glass of wine, listening to some music, and chatting, without disturbing the sleepers. There was even an extra room downstairs that I made into an office away from home. The location is just a short walk to the beach, where the boys could run for days. The local esplanade has a collection of restaurants, all very serviceable, which we enjoyed. Not far away is the quaint town of Aptos proper, with some really great restaurants and the entrance to a really neat park where we walked for several miles (thank goodness for the off-road stroller we brought). All in all a great place to stay for some quiet relaxation with many fun activities nearby. Will stay there again!

We had a wonderful weekend at Casa de Aptos. It's a beautiful house with comfortable bedrooms,…read moregreat showers, solar, a spacious kitchen that the whole family can hang out in together, and it's an easy walk to the beach! We had a fantastic stay - highly recommended.

Villa Viscaya was amazing, period. We had a weekend-long wedding event on 10/8/11 and it was…read moresimply fantastic. What's almost just as amazing is our story is almost EXACTLY the same as Leslie's from 2008. Our vision was to rent a big home for the weekend where we could have our families together with our closest 2 friends. All the other guests would be staying nearby (Capitola Best Western & Seacliff Resort). The wedding rehearsal dinner would be Friday eve (a reunion of sorts with old friends) followed by the wedding service & reception on Saturday where we would have all guests joining. Sunday was all about relaxing together, then Monday we'd checkout. We visited 2 places in the Monterey area and decided on Bella Carmel. But after a protracted conversation with the owner Larry Scholink we found that the proposed price was nearly double what was originally listed. That was due to hidden costs like a $3K "event fee", a much higher nightly price and other exhorbitant stuff. We had previously contacted Brooke at Villa Viscaya, so when we got back in touch thankfully the dates we were interested in. So we booked with Brooke Greene, who manages the property for Nestlin. Working with Brooke was fantastic. She is not only very articulate and intelligent, but she was extremely helpful when it came to aiding our wedding planning. She helped us think through our options and provided suggestions on everything from where to have the service to where to place the wedding cake. Just like with Leslie's experience, Brooke gave us excellent referrals. We used a caterer for the Friday rehearsal dinner (about 20 people) plus a bartender & florist for the wedding. All were sincere professionals who offered exceptional service at extremely reasonable rates. When our families, friends and guests arrived to Villa Viscaya, they were blown away about how grande the place actually is. You really do feel like you're in a mansion, starting with the foyer and topping off with the spectacular ocean views that seem accessible from everywhere in the house. Fortunately for us the weather was great - sunny and 70's. We had the service on the lawn under an lighted arch we brought, then had the reception dinner overlooking the ocean - ending at sunset. The reception party was in a combined area between the dining room and Veranda, so guests could be both inside & outside (able to look out to see an ocean view and the lighted arch on the lawn). In all it was just a fantastic experience. How can you miss with your families and closest friends with you for 3 nights in a beautiful home with amazing views? Not only that, but it felt like we had a $30K++ wedding for less than half that.

I can't say enough about how amazing this place is! I highly recommend it for a small, intimate…read morewedding or just a great family vacation rental. We had a very small family wedding here and the whole weekend was just perfect. Everyone staying with us said it was the best family vacation they've had. Brooke was very helpful and responsive; Ivy who was there for the day-of was the most amazing person and helped us out with favors, finding people we needed for pics etc and even helped serve food at one point; Kurt is their main day-to-day person at the house and he knows this place like the back of his hand. He was very helpful. We wanted an intimate setting for our wedding as we had under 40 guests attend. We decided on a vacation rental as we could have our families close by and visited a few in the Carmel/Monterey area. Villa Viscaya is so far above and beyond any of the other vacation rentals we looked at. I'm generally leery of vacation rentals as usually the places aren't kept up great, the furniture is drab and dusty, and it's overall not as nice as my house. However, this place didn't feel used or run down. The furniture is nicely kept, the carpet is clean and great, and overall everything was just superb. Our guests were so stunned by the house, as were our families staying there. All weekend long everyone was just saying how great it was, and finding another excuse to rent it again! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting for the wedding. And best of all, we even had whales playing in the ocean during our reception - which everyone got up to watch! So great!! The other thing I'll say is the pictures don't do it justice. I'm not sure any pictures could prepare you for how stunning this house is!

Simply wonderful. Beautiful setting, gorgeously maintained. Rustic yet clearly cared for with love,…read morehard work, and dedication. The grounds are beautiful, whether you just look out from the stately house, or if you wander on some of the trails -- maybe set for a spell on a bench. If you're looking to exhale and then breathe in amazing nature, you have found the place! The room is very comfortable, too. Our bathroom was plenty big and roomy. Loved the big bath (whirlpool, if you like). The 'full breakfast' is fantastic. Jen is a wonderful baker (a breakfast bread pudding one day; mini churros another day), and each morning we had a varied and hearty breakfast that was delicious and well-balanced. The house itself is big and inviting with hip old timey jazz pipedor more modern-day chanteuses gently piped in. Enclosed porch for reading or just relaxing. Our room had a private porch, too. So much here. So many ways to really unwind. Walking around the grounds is inspiring. I ran into Derek a time or two who was relaxed but busy on the many projects that keep him focused here. The whole place looks perfect for a wedding, or a family gathering, or even a business get-away. Or, of course, just a simple, lowkey retreat. Lovely hidden (but easy to find) gem. Can't wait to return.

Really beautiful venue for a wedding, beautiful displays on tables. (However, food: was so-so. )read more

My wife and I live in Santa Cruz currently, but lived in La Selva Beach before that. We wanted to…read moreget away for the night and visit our old neighborhood. We found this rental and were surprised to find it's great proximity to the beach, but it's surrounded by farmlands. It's very quiet and peaceful. I highly recommend it! Eric Lamascus

This is a wonderful place in the country but close to the freeway by a few miles it is quiet and…read moregrounds are lovely The rooms are clean and very nicely decorated ! Beautiful cozy bed and complimentary waters We will be back ! Also a very nice full breakfast in the beautiful dining room Unfortunately we had another night paid for to stay but I hurt my knee yesterday and need to see my Dr at home

My newly married friends chose to rent this entire vacation home for a post-wedding "friendly…read moremoon". I visited just for dinner and the place was pretty fantastic. Very spacious, easy to have 5+ adults simultaneously preparing dinner for 10 and then eating together. Since yelpers love details and are all about full disclosure.... I will say the only VERY small downsides are : 1) the upstairs and downstairs do not link from the inside making it a bit awkward to intermingle easily in either space (or wrangle up supplies!) without going outside first (but I suppose that's for renting out of both spaces to separate parties simultaneously?) 2) the driveway is a tiny bit difficult to discern given the placement of the mailbox but the pictures would really have helped me find it (lucky for me I recognized a friend's car!) 3) truly, there are nice views but I didn't see any super-close walkable path down to the beach which I assumed a "beach cabin" would have, but it seems like it would be a super quick drive, so there is definitely proximity! Overall, lovely accommodations for a large group :) I found two sites for reservations/reviews... http://www.vrbo.com/126590 http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p187551

We rented this house for 5 days for a family vacation with my brothers family,mine & our Dad. It…read morewas wonderful! Our kids, who range in age from 10-1 enjoyed exploring the property, the walk to the beach, and the ground squirrels.. The kitchen was well stocked with cooking utensils,pots,pans, and serving trays. The washer/dryer came in very handy to was our towles and the outside shower really helped to wash off the kids after their beach time so sand was not trekked throughout the home. It was very inviting and I have nothing negative to say about this home at all. We all had a fantastic time

We just stayed with Bailey Vacation rentals in Rio Del Mar. Their simply the best. Lisa in the…read moreoffice really took care of us. The place was clean and ready. Great location. They have great recommendations on places to eat just really great service.

This has been the worst experience I've had moving into a house in Santa Cruz in my 24 years of…read moreliving in this town. Beware of this company, they do not take care of their tenants, or do their job, which in it's most basic form would be to make sure the house is ready to be moved into on the agreed upon move-in date. I feel like I've been fighting with property management since the day I moved in a month ago, and it will probably take another month of back and forth ridiculous communication before I get all the things I paid $11k for to be done before the agreed upon move-in date. Here is a list of things I've dealt with, I am leaving them here so that others know what to look out for. The entire house was filthy on move in day, had not been professional cleaned for a move-in. It still has not, over a month later, partially due to them not getting communication right with the cleaners they finally sent, partially due to me being busy and out of town and not having the time to deal with it. They did illegally send cleaners into my home without my permission while I was on a trip, and still not clean. The landlord had agreed to moved out a bunch of his old furniture to make space for my stuff, and half of what was agreed upon to get moved was still in the house on Nov 1st. I moved it to the deck, for him to come and get, then told property management to get a tarp to cover it, so it would not get rained on. They never took care of the tarp, so it did rain on the furniture, one night I had to dragged mattresses into the house by myself. I went out and bought a trap the next day and they are now refusing to reimburse me for the tarp. The house was advertised with a hot tub, and it is broken, come to find out it has not been turned on for 2 years, which PM did not know, but the landlord did know. They put in the lease, that if the hot tub breaks down while I'm here they would not replace, but that was based on the fact that it worked to begin with. Then they said they would take $50 off the rent for each month the hot tub is not working, and when it came time to deduct that from rent they said "that is only if we can't get the hot tub working at all." (They are currently trying to get it working - so fingers crossed the can deliver on something they promised up front). The hot tub cover that was left behind, and the condition was disgusting, they said it was ready to use, though it is covered in black mold, slugs, and water is soooo dirty. There has been a dead rat under the house with rat droppings for this entire first month, and the landlord has stuffed old boogie boards on top of it twice, despite my request to take away the boards, which are mostly garbage. They left several large pieces of furniture for me to "deal with" after saying the landlord would be happy to take anything away I did not want to keep. cupboard drawers broken, closet floors need a carpenter to fix random floor boards, shower drain clogged. I am not going to get detailed about everything that has been out of integrity, but I'll close by saying, if you do rent a house from this PM be sure to go there a few days before your move in date and make sure you are getting your moneys worth and that the place is actually ready to move into. I like the house and the location, and I'm a really easy going person and fantastic tenant - worked with Portola PM for 13 years, no issues - so it's really been unfortunate to have this completely unnecessary experience, because it's tainted my view of the house, and left me questioning keeping it. My hope is that I can get everything worked out in my second month here and stay. And hopefully get to a place where I can stop communicating with PM about the house, they have been frustrating and terrible communicators. We shall see.....

The goats have moved on to greener pastures and I'm ecstatic with the results! There is not a…read moresingle square inch of green less than 6 feet off the ground anywhere. We thought this would take a week but it took 3 days - those goats take their work seriously. The good: -Billie and the goats and dogs (and emu) are all delightful. Billie was extremely accommodating and hard working. The goats and dogs are absolute sweethearts and all come running when they see you for pets. -Poison oak is now extinct on my property. -The ground is fertilized and there is nothing to clean up other than sticks. The bad: -Noise. The "baaa"-ing was one thing, but the guard dogs were pretty brutal through the night. We had some coyotes hanging around so there was lots of barking. So that's it, thanks for following. I'm really happy to finally be able to present this and I'm actively brainstorming on how we can get a goat co-op going in our neighborhood.

Lost Emu Farms run by Billie was one of the best decisions we had made. She came out to the…read moreproperty promptly on time to meet with us for an estimate. Her assessment was spot on and we decided to go with her services. She was kind, compassionate, extremely thorough and just plain fun to be around. The result of her services left our property so much safer and useable. We are so grateful for Billie and will have to have her back sooner than later! Thank you again!!! To anyone in the market for her services, we have recommended her to all of our close friends, if appropriate for your needs, you will be beyond satisfied! Best value ever!!!

We have been working with Sean over the past year as we converted our home in Aptos Hills from a…read morelong-term rental home to a short-term vacation rental. We needed to start from scratch and obtain the proper county permits as well as fully furnish our home. Sean saw us through every step of the way. He is very communicative, responsive as well as honest. He has also done an incredible job with marketing our home and ensuring our guests have a fantastic experience. I have no hesitation in recommending Sean and look forward to adding our additional properties to his management.

From the owner: Full-service vacation rental management. We handle your Airbnb so you can take a hands-off…read moreapproach. We manage all aspects of your vacation rental, including: - Guest communication - Cleaning - Linen turnover - Marketing - Listing Optimization - Dynamic pricing - Home maintenance - Landscaping - Supplies management Set up a free consultation so we can start building your Airbnb business today!

Beach condo located right by the beach. The owners provided all the kitchen and beach essentials we…read moremay need. The kitchen had a glass top cooking range, oven & microwave, every type of cooking ware. They also had extra storage that had things that maybe useful for the beach such as boogie boards, beach chairs. The only thing that the condo did not have was central air. We opened our sliding door and windows to let the air flow through.

I came here with my boyfriend's family for a one week getaway. It was a nice break from the outside…read moreworld, especially since the house was right by the place we were staying at! It was a 3 minute walk to the beach which is amazing. The house itself was wonderful and had amazing views. The neighbors and staff were very nice as well, which made the environment more welcoming. It was nice knowing that there are carts to haul your stuff to your place or car because the uphill climb is a bit tougher if you have to make multiple trips to your car. They also have pickleball, basketball, and tennis courts. I loved that they had a storage for the recreational area where you can borrow equipment. They also had a ping pong table which we loved. overall, I would definitely come back!