The person who owns the house is the person who answers.

Foraker Stays is a handful of homes in Chester County, along the upper Chesapeake, and a few streets from the ocean in Ocean City. Brian owns each of them, furnished each of them, and looks after them himself.

There is no management company in the middle. When a keypad stops taking a code or something gives out on a Sunday evening, the number you have reaches the owner, and it gets dealt with that day. Four years of guests have said that is the part that stood out.

Years hosting

4Years hosting

Guest reviews

75Guest reviews

Average rating

4.81Average rating

What to expect

Real houses rather than staged ones. Kitchens with what you need to actually cook in them, beds made up before you arrive, laundry in the house, and quiet settings — a preserve on one side, water on another. Several of the homes suit a month as easily as a weekend, and dogs are welcome at some of them.

What you will not find is a resort. The Chesapeake house is an older lake house on the water and reads like one. Guests who want that love it; it is worth knowing which you are.