Rating: Dirty broken down homes..RUDE peeps 5/2/2018
Reviewer: @ate

I've been going to the Outer Banks since I was 13 years old I've rented from pretty much every rental company from Corolla to Hatteras this by far was the worst home Maintenance and the management which is all family-owned is rude and snotty and they're shady. Trust me beware go Google about their homes do more research about this company trust me!

Rating: Good company 10/23/2017
Reviewer: Painter KS

I’ve stayed twice in Cola Vaughn properties and had a good experience both times. They responded quickly to a small repair issue in one home. They are the company I check first when I’m looking for a rental.

Rating: Great customer service! 10/23/2017
Reviewer: jdj1991

We've rented through Cola Vaughan for several years and have never had a problem with one of their homes. The homes are as advertised and most have keyless entry which allows you to go straight to your home. I've never had a problem with their homes that required a service visit but booking with them has been without incident. They are friendly and helpful each time I've spoken with them. They have one of the best selections for pet friendly homes as well.

Rating: Happy 11/7/2014
Reviewer: Beachy in the Valley

We stayed at the happy crab. The views of the ocean were great. The house had everything it was advertised as having. We enjoyed the proximity to the beach acess. The hottub was relaxing. It had games and puzzles and books to use. Along with some beach equipment. There was an air hockey table down under the house but we didn't try it. We liked the fact that we could bring 3 dogs. And not having to go to a rental office to get keys was nice. The living room could use a chair to make it less crowded on the couch. The queen bedroom was very small and it's closet was filled and not useable. Also the chest of drawers had a missing drawer. The front door was hard to un lock and you had to be careful not to nick your hand on the screen door spring. The house was clean enough but was ready for its end of season deep cleaning.

Rating: Same house, same great company 1/3/2014
Reviewer: Leon

We stayed at Sweet Retreat again this year. The house has changed owners and they have made many improvements, including new beds, furniture and appliances as well as fixing the minor delayed maintenance issues we noticed last year. The photos have not been updated, but the description has been, read carefully or call them. Megan at Cola Vaughan is extremely helpful. Looking forward to staying there again and see what the owners do next! Thanks for a great vacation.

Rating: Not up to par 9/8/2013
Reviewer: marlene

Stayed in a Cola Vaughn rental in So Nags Head 2 years in a row. Had problems both years with the AC. Checked the filter and it looked like it had never been cleaned all year. (What kind of maintenance do they do on these cottages.) Also had ongoing problems with the hot tub. Will not be staying with them again.

Rating: Hooterville by the Sea 8/5/2013
Reviewer: Lisa Adams

We rented originally from a large company in Nags Head, but had to use our trip insurance to cancel that trip. Having nothing left in our price range, I called Megan @ Cola Vaughn for a dog friendly rental and she was so very helpful. She was even willing to work with us to pay the final fee because we were waiting for our insurance claim money from the 1st house. She was 40 min. late to let us in when we got there, but was very nice and apologetic. The cottage was WONDERFUL!! Would stay there again. The "well equipped" kitchen could use a few things, but other than that, no complaints here, almost everything was new. Would definitely rent from them again.

Rating: Happy Crab, South Nags Head, NC 7/29/2013
Reviewer: Christine F. \

I have rented from Cola Vaughn Realty several time in the past. The rentals have always been clean and well equiped. I rented the Happy Crab from 7/13-20/2013. It is not clean. The carpets are spotty. The comforters on the beds were worn and not very clean looking. Pillows are spotted. The mattresses were terrible. I did not sleep well all week. The kitchen was poorly equiped. No paring knives. The one decent skillet was bulged out on the bottom and just sat and spun on the stovetop. I killed six spiders in one day. There was dust hanging from the fans and ceilings. Needless to say I was very disappointed for the $1300. plus dollars we paid to rent this house. The only good thing about this house is the location.

Rating: Cola Vaughn 7/1/2013
Reviewer: Trisha

We have been renting with Cola Vaughn for 4 years now, mostly because we love the house that we have rented, and can not find one with similar amenaties and location at the price that we pay. We have had very few problems with the house. I think it was the first year we rented there, there was a problem with the down stairs shower, that the people before us had reported, but we did not know about, so we also reported it, and a repair person was out that afternoon. One year the door would not lock. It took them several days to have someone comeout to fix it. This was concerning to me, due to someone coming in and robbing the place. Who would be held responsible? Then last year we made our reservation in Oct./Nov. for a week in Aug., and sent in our money to hold it. In February they called us to tell us it was no longer available for that week. The only other available time for that house was a later week, but we were not sure if our daughter's school would start that week or not. They gave us a whole week to decide if we wanted to change the date of our reservation. No credit for the inconvenience, or anything. We ended up taking the later date because as I said before, I can not find anything similar for that amount of money. We have rented with them again this year, and so far so good. So all that being said. The house that we stay in is very nice, always clean, has great amenaties, and is not that expensive. But as for their customer service, it is lacking and could be improved.

Rating: Very Disappointed with this realty co. 4/26/2012
Reviewer: m. schaad

We started planning our vacation in aug 2011 and found a property and sent in all the necessary information and money. We followed up in december with the last payment and signed the contract. In mid feb 2012 we got a call from one of the employees saying the owners had decided to not rent this unit afterall. It was named the Albemarle and they advised the owner had done this in the past. She advised she was sorry that there was nothing she could do but refund our money. This company offered no additional properties and would only give us othr web sites to find another vacation property. The contract I signed was worthless for me and only protected the company and property owner.

Rating: Another great Rental from Cola Vaughan 4/22/2012
Reviewer: Leon

We stayed in Sweet Retreat March of 2012. Last minute rental, Megan was very helpful and was even able to shift the check in/out day to Sunday to accommodate our needs. Pet friendly house and company. House had some delayed maintenance issues(it is for sale), but nothing major. Should be noted that the beds are 3 Queen, 2 bunk beds, the web listing contradicts itself, indicating 3 queens but shows a photo of a bedroom with two twins. Also, the fireplace and skylights have been removed. Very clean on arrival, including a drained and cleaned hot tub. Overall great house, company, vacation and beach location. Recommend: Sam and Omie's, Tortuga's lie, Mulligans, NC Aquarium and Jennette's Pier.

Rating: very excellent 12/17/2010
Reviewer: wis

we'v rented two different houses so far both excellent. four seasons back in 2009 the owner was very nice and the 2nd was blue marlin pointe 2010 again it was fantastic!! were going again this year no one bothered us at all or had any complaints

Rating: DIRTY DIRTY DIRY 7/4/2010
Reviewer: rebecca

i will start this off by saying that we had a lovely week at Nags Head, as we always do. nothing that happened in relation to our rental house caused a ruined week.

HOWEVER, we have been renting houses at the OBX for many many years, and we've never encountered a DIRTIER house than the one we just left this morning.

we waited until only a few weeks ago to finally decided on a date to head down to the beach for a week, so our choices from all rental companies were limited. a local friend found this house for us (Hang Glider) and from the looks of it online, it was just right. we needed pet friendly, there were only three of us going, so we didn't need huge, and we wanted Nags Head. the location could not have been better. close to everything, including steps to a virtually deserted beach, which was amazing. we knew it would not be the nicest house we'd ever rented, but it seemed fine, and we always count on a house being clean above all else.

upon arrival, however, we were greeted with an overpowering smell of clean, which honestly always triggers me to question if it really is or not (too much air freshener, not enough scrubbing). upon further inspection we found dirty (GROSS) mattress covers, sand IN the beds (as well as ON the beds), the floor was sticky and dirty, we found large pieces of food under open rattan style sofas, but most importantly we found an UNFLUSHED TOILET with human feces. this is NOT what you want to welcome you in the first 15 minutes of a beach week.

i called and called the first afternoon, and finally spoke with Megan (Vaughan i think) about the situation the next day. she was perfectly nice, and seemed concerned, but offered no more than to send cleaning crews back in. no offer of a rental company fee refund, no offer of a future discount on a rental, nothing.

in general, the house needed a MAJOR overhaul in our opinion. everywhere you looked it was dirty and grimy and gross. i was thankful we had brought our own quilt for our bed (as others have said, they say you can lose your deposit for pet hair on furniture... which seems counterintuitive to anyone who owns a pet - if it's pet friendly, there will be hair!) and nothing was up to date... old crappy sofas, a bad job of vinyl floors. not a rug in the house so sand was everywhere, all the time. a tiny TV with horrible cable service. not a closet in sight and all the dressers were old and the drawers barely opened... and of course the drawers were filthy. it's honestly amazing anyone had even pretended to clean this house in months.
so we scrubbed and cleaned and swept and mopped and vacuumed to try and feel clean. for the remainder of the week we mostly just stayed on the beach, ate out, and tried not to be in the house very much.

all in all, it was a great week thanks to fabulous weather and lots of good food... NOT OUR RENTAL HOUSE. we would only rent through Cola Vaughan as a last resort in the future. and even then we would probably demand they be present at the time of check-in to personally inspect a house with us. i just don't think their version of "clean" and most people's version of clean really mesh.

Rating: NEVER EVER AGAIN 6/26/2010
Reviewer: Howard Family

We rented a sat-sat at the Diftwood. The house was great with a great location, about a block and half from beach. Had a wonderful time UNTIL it came time to pack up and leave. A lady (if that is what you call her) came barging into the house yelling that we needed to be out it was 9:40am I told her Yes mam we know. She continued to run though the house acting like a crazy woman yelling. Walked in on teenage girl trying to get dressed she (crazy woman)did not leave the room until she was told to get out. We were told we had to many people staying (I guess if you count babies we were over by one on the last two nights after my son came down after work.) I guess by the look of the cars you might assume there was. But my oldest son, my daughter, and I were the only ones off from work all week and we all came from different locations. That is why most people were taught never to assume. Called the police (Bless you both I am sure you had better things to do) after my son told her (in a pleasent but firm voice without any cussing unlike her) to leave the house until we were done loading. If she only knew he was telling her to leave because she was causing a stressful envirorment for his older brother with TBI (trumatic brain injury) So what happened next, my oldest son was screamed at because the trash cans were facing the wrong way at the street (who is deaf completely in one ear and hearing loss in the other do to getting blown up in Afghanistan. He did not need the stress she caused. She calmed down when she realized we got the insurance and didn't put down a deposit. I guess people will try and get money anyway they can, which is very sad. I made sure I walked though the house with her before we left so she could not come back and say later something was not done. This was suppose to be a family vacation for us to be thankful for each other and a time for my son and his wife and two small girls to get away from the many appointments and therapy he has under gone since Oct 4 when we received the phone call no parent would ever want. So thanks lady for causing us stress. Got home and thought that vaughan realty would like to know how their employee was unprofessional....nope I was wrong... who I talked to was just as unprofessional he said he was the owner and that it was his wife that was there this morning. That is a couple with potty mouths. My husband finally took the phone from me and hung it up. But to whom ever the owner is of the house, Thank you for sharing your home with us. May God Bless You and Your Family

Rating: Great Vacations 5/27/2009
Reviewer: Bochans

Great company, great rental, wonderful vacations.

We have been renting with Cola Vaughan for over 10 years and have never had an issue with the rental or the rental company. We have had a dog with us every year.

People need to respect the properties that they rent and treat them as they would their own home.

Rating: Loved It 5/8/2009
Reviewer: Michelle

We rented Driftwood in 2008 and are going back to Driftwood in 2009. We can not wait, a block from ocean, we walked even with 3 children ages 5 to 12, not an issue.

Rating: Never Again 3/17/2009
Reviewer: Phillips

No problems while renting but with getting back our deposit. They told us we caused the septic system to overload??? Along with some other ridiculous accusations. What! We paid a non refundable pet fee of $100.00 and then they also took a rug cleaning fee out of the deposit for the dogs. Apparently spied on us while we were there because later they said we had parties, too many people in the house, etc. If you count our family of 10 having dinner out on the deck-yes I guess we did! They advertised it as sleeping 10 and then tried to tell me later that it did not! I showed them on their website. Out of $250.00 deposit, I only got back $88.00 for what?? No detailed receipt! They are rude and I WOULD NEVER RENT FROM THEM AGAIN! They should ask up front for additional fees instead of trying to get them out of your deposit!!

Rating: Never Again 9/16/2008
Reviewer: Linda Dudley

First time and last time to ever rent from Cola Vaughn! Would repair WARM refrigerator for us at our expense. Never heard of anything so ridiculous.Probably okay to deal with if nothing goes wrong with your rental!!!!

Rating: Driftwood 4/15/2006
Reviewer: Elizabeth Halatayi

We only had about 3 nights that we could stay in Nags head. On the fly my husband contacted Cola. He is a very nice gentleman.
There were only 4 of us so the house was really big, but it was beautiful. I was a little upset that we couldn't get ocean front , but this house is only 1 street from the beach. I'm hoping to go back with other family and spend a whole week! Absolutely recommend this house to Savy vacationers.

Rating: Nice people 6/25/2005
Reviewer: Regina

We've rented the Egret's Nest twice from this company. We did not have any problems at all. The property owners at this cottage live next door and are extremely friendly "pet people", as are the folks at the office.

Rating: Simple but nice 4/30/2004
Reviewer: Leon

We rented the Evans Fields house back in 2001. Nothing fancy, but clean and functional. No problems w/deposit. Very nice employees. We would rent again from them if we stayed in Nags Head.