We are sad to say this but we have decided against going to Sandbridge anymore. The place is nice, but the realty companies are not good there. I dont know about the condos there... maybe that would be OK. But renting a house from either of the main realtors is too big of a risk, unless you can visit and find out if you can do a walk-thru of the house (very close to when you want to rent it.) We went there the past three years. The first year, we were lucky. So we went back. Last year, we had a bad experience with Sandbridge Realty. The house had never been cleaned when we got there! I mean, the former tenants' dirt and stuff was all over and there were bugs, etc. They told me they would come clean it but after repeated calls, never came, so I had to clean it myself. There were numerous problems. We chalked it up to one bad experience, so this year, we rented from Siebert, the other major realtor. Well, this was WORSE! The fridge was broken for 4 days!! There was water all over the carpets in the main areas and bedrooms. You sloshed in it when you walked. It was so moldy and had ants. No one at Siebert would respond to us. We spent $4000 on the week, and that price was also because it had a pool. Well the pool filter was broken so the pool was green & we couldnt use it! We tried repeatedly to get a response but they dont care. I think there are just the two realty companies, so they both figure that if anyone goes there, they have no choice but to rent from one of them, so customer service does not need to be an issue. I did like the area because it is quiet, but this year was our last time there! I just caution anyone to rent a beach house at Sandbridge. We have talked to other people who had similar experiences from both rental companies.

You do realize that you've just set yourself up for the biggest slamming ever?

If anyone happens to click on your name they will find a post from 2 years ago by you where you had an even worse experience with them. So please explain what on earth made you rent from them again after your posted warning to the public to never do so? Or are you still whining about the experience two years ago?

Frankly your decision to rent there was either the dumbest thing you've ever done, or else you have some ulterior motive in posting about this place. Which is it?

OK, maybe apologies are in order, because I guess you are talking about two different companies, but it's hard to tell since you said you repeated an experience with Sandbridge realty which is the place you used in 2004. But I still think you should have learned a lesson the first time -- although now you say that the first year was fine. Not what you said at all on your post dated two years ago. Why am I so confused?

Are you serious that you spent $4000 for the week and yet you lived through this nightmare for a whole week once again?

Maybe you're confused because the timeline is confusing.

Sounds like Meems went to SB in 2003 and enjoyed it, returned in 2004 and had a bad experience with Sandbridge Realty. Posted about it in 04. Not sure what happened in 05. Meems returned in 06 and had another crap house, this time with Seibert.

There seems to be a year missing from Meems' life.

Another poster had a horror story recently about a beach house that was severely misrepresented.

In this part of the world, full payment is expected 30 days prior to arrival so anyone with a real gripe isn't exactly operating from a position of strength. Are things different, payment wise, elsewhere?

Gotta say tho, there's no way I'd spend a week in a house with sloshing carpets and no fridge. My aerobed would be installed at the realtor's office awaiting a negotiated settlement.

Well, here's a post from 2005:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Author: Meems
Date: 09/05/2005, 10:00 am
. . . . (We are traveling to Sandbridge Sept 10-17).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So I assumed that's the time she means now when she says "Last year, we had a bad experience with Sandbridge Realty. . ." Or is she confused and when she now says "last year" she really means two full years ago? And did they not end up going last year at all, despite the fact she said they were going just 5 days before they were to go and now she says they rented last year?

Yet she posted that scathing report about them an entire year before in October 2004 saying that the horrible dirty rental was in September of that year. So what in the world were they doing renting from Sandbridge again "last year"?

It's strange enough when someone posts a scathing report telling people never to use a particular company, but it's even more strange when they themselves return to use that company themselves. Is it any wonder I'm confused?

>>Is it any wonder I'm confused?<<

Nope. It's unfathomable. I give up.

Oh well, in any case, I see that Meems only appears here around this time each year and it seems to be mainly for the purpose of talking about this horrible Sandbridge place, so I suppose we'll have to wait until September of 2007 to get our explanation.

Sorry for the confusion! I guess i wasnt clear. The first two times we went to Sandbridge, Va were in 2004. The first time was May 2004 and we loved it. We rented from an owner. So, then in September 2004, we went back because we liked it, but rented from Sandbridge Realty. That is when the house had not been cleaned from the previous tenants. So since we still liked the area, we decided to go back in Sept. 2005. But we rented from Siebert Realty that year and it was fine. So we decided to return in 2006, and bring my parents with us so we got a bigger house w/ a pool and hot tub. We rented from Siebert again since we didnt have any problems with them in 2005. WE DID NOT RENT FROM SANDBRIDGE REALTY after the first and only incident in 2004 with them! So then this year in 2006 was the really bad situation. And, as far as not staying in the house, we didnt have a choice. We left repeated calls to them and they would not call back. If I reached anyone they said since it was a holiday weekend, there was no one in that department who could help us and they would call back, but they never did. My point of posting this is just to alert people that they should be careful renting from one of the realtors there. I think since there are only two to chose from (that I know of anyway),they are able to take advantage of the customers. That's all. I think it is a nice place, so that is why I said "sadly, we've given up." This is also because we live too far away to go and check out a house in advance. We could have done that the year before when we were there, but we didnt know what we would decide to do for our vacation plans the following year. It is simply an alert to anyone who may consider going there. If I lived close by, I wouldn't give up on it. I would just go and check out the house before I rented it. Of course, that would not have helped with the carpets etc because that only happened a few days before we got there, and you have to pay in full in advance of checkin, but at least we could get an idea of the overall condition of the home, rather than going by pictures which are not dated, and by what a rental agent is telling us. When I rented from Siebert this year, I told the rental agent we had a bad experience with Sandbridge in 2004 and a good experience with Siebert in 2005 and that is why we were returning to Siebert. I told her all we wanted was a clean and safe house because of having small kids. And this is what we got. Again, sorry for the confusion.

And, as far as me only posting these two times, you are right. I dont spend time on here and I understand that people who travel a lot are on here a lot and are experts in travel. I am not. We do one week long vacation a year. So this is extra disappointing to us. I will search on places we may want to visit, but I never do post. I only posted these past two times because it was not a good experience and I just wanted people to be aware. Thanks for taking the time to reply.