This apartment is located in a very safe and beautiful historic Oakland neighborhood that has easy access to the freeway while being very quiet and peaceful.
The apartment is spacious and the owner, Vin, is very friendly.
I want to mention a few items that are preventing me from rating this a 5-star property.
1) Upon our arrival we only received one bath towel for the two of us and received no wash cloths or hand towels. (Vin was quick to remedy the lack of towels, but even so, he only had one wash cloth available.)
2) The bathroom faucet handles were wildly askew, pointing at 2pm and 1pm, when they should be at 9pm and 3pm. The hand towel rack on the wall wobbled and there was only one towel rack to hang both bath towels. A second towel rack would allow the bath towels to dry more quickly.
3) Getting to the apartment required navigating 13 exterior, steep and narrow steps down to the basement apartment, then 1 step up. A hand rail runs along the steps but is impeded by a very thick vine, so this is a safety issue. Because of the steps, this apartment is best suited for someone with a backpack rather than roller bags.
4) The handrail for the dozen interior steps up to the bathroom is very wobbly and does not continue to the top step. This is a safety issue.
5) The light switch for the interior steps to the bathroom is located at the top of the stairs, and because the stairs are made of dark wood, without some way to light the stairs at night, this is also a safety concern.
