We had such a fabulous week. The house is on a lovely wide beach that was relatively quiet. The gated community helped keep crowds away from the beach, even when other Holden beaches were pretty packed. My three kids loved the surf, and I was able to take a long walk on the sand every morning. The house itself was really great as well. Plenty of space, and the windows in the living room provided the perfect view. The couches were incredibly comfortable, which is a minor thing that we ended up really appreciating. There are three big porches (two overlooking the ocean and one overlooking the sound), and they all got plenty of use.
A few minor drawbacks:
1. The location is pretty remote. Holden Beach definitely doesn't have the restaurants or shops of other beach areas and the commercial strip leading to the island was pretty rundown, so just go expecting to spend most of your time on the beach.
2. The bathrooms and kitchen at the house could use updating. They were all totally functional, but also a bit dated. The drawers in the bathrooms and kitchen came all the way out, which made me nervous that my youngest kid would end up pulling a drawer onto his foot. It never happened, but it did worry me.
These are minor issues -- we had a fabulous week!