Jive 'n' Whale

Our family of 3 adults, 2 kids and 1 small dog rented this house for a full week at the end of May 2021, and we would definitely rent it again. From our perspective, it appeared to one of the smallest houses in the neighborhood, which is part of the appeal. The size and layout suited our family perfectly and allowed us to be so close to a really nice beach at a very affordable price. A rare gem! While the kitchen and bathrooms are a bit dated, we found the home to be really clean, well maintained and we felt completely comfortable at home the entire length of our stay. Another plus for this house was the limited amount of carpet in the home, especially compared to many other comparably-priced rentals. The BEST part of this house is that it's an easy short walk to the Dolphin Street beach entrance, which we did every day with our beach gear in tow (a beach cart or wagon are advised since it's equivalent to 2-3 large city blocks with a long beach walkway with multiple steps of stairs). There are no sidewalks but you don't have to cross any busy roads and we went back to the house several times a day with ease. It's also walking distance to restaurants and shops along Duck Road, which was an added convenience we had not anticipated. The Dolphin Street beach is a wide clean beach with nice waves and easy beach entry ideal for families, and our kids made several friends while we were there. Note that there are no bathrooms, showers or parking at this beach entrance, however. We actually like this beach so much that we would probably drive there from another house in a nearby town if we could find parking somewhere nearby. Highly recommend! If we have any suggestions to improve this rental, it would be to add more high quality deck furniture and to clean them. Though we were there really early in the season, all of the deck furniture had cobwebs that we had to clean (the outdoor furniture is not cleaned at rentals). We loved the hammock swings on the lower deck (we bought some for our home) and the composite bar chair set, but we found the limited other deck furnishings lacking and there was no table outside. So, adding to the newer furniture would be ideal. Some families find it important to have TVs in every bedroom, so you should note there are only TVs in the master on the lower floor and the living room upstairs. This didn't bother us at all, because we prefer to spend our time outside and together and don't need TVs in every room but it would have been nice if the kids didn't have to watch TV in our bedroom downstairs when the adults were upstairs, so one more TV would be nice. Also, Village Realty helped us with a few needs and went above and beyond in some cases, so we will definitely feel comfortable using this company for our OBX rentals every time.

The house was great, easy access to the beach, older but charming furnishings, plenty of cookware. Small issues that came up but was attended to in a timely manner!

We were very happy with the beach house. It has everything you need for vacation, if you don't need or want to pay for fancy or luxurious. Location, pet friendly, good beds, open floorplan, porches with hammocks, outside shower. We were able to rent for 3 nights on short notice and Village Realty made it so easy! Just a short walk to a lovely beach with a lifeguard. Sunsets are amazing! Dogs had so much fun too! Thanks for sharing your house with us!

Perfect house for a family vacation. Rental has all the amenities needed for a fantastic beach vacation. Location is minutes from the beach and a short drive to many local shops and restaurants. Very peaceful and restful; highly recommend.

We really enjoyed how clean the house is when we walked in. Keep up the good work. Could be that we are the 1st rental of the year. Hope it would be just as clean thru-out the season.House was perfect for a family of 4 with a dog.Village Realty staff was very responsive about an AC issue when we arrived.Will definitely rent it again.

We really enjoyed our visit. The Jive n Whale was clean and amenities were perfect for a small fam of 4-8. One piece of advice, clean the deck furniture if possible. Thanks again.