I was a little disappointed in my dealings with Christopher's and I'll explain why. The store is…read morereally fascinating, with lots of beautiful and unique jewelry. The staff seem well informed and are very helpful, too. I went there looking for an engraved locket for my mother and while they didn't have anything in stock that fit what I needed, they told me they could easily order it in and engrave the locket in store but the whole process would take two weeks tops from beginning to end. They called while I was there and confirmed their supplier had the item I wanted and would ship it to Christopher's right away. I actually live in Los Angeles but my in-laws live in Champaign, so I paid in full for the locket and engraving and agreed that my mother in law would collect the order when it was ready and send it to me. Fine. Except it took over 10 days longer than the completion date they gave me and I ended up having to bug them about it. When I finally got the locket, the last letter on the engraving looked like an M instead of an N but I didn't bother to call them. I was just disappointed with the experience overall, and hope it may have been different if I'd ordered a custom item instead.

the original name was "the dragon's hoard"…read more stunning designs by master jeweler & metalsmith Chris Jupp. he made my engagement ring - rose-gold with a large sapphire - and our wedding rings - 23 years ago and they're still lookin' good! there are also loose gemstones, & ready-made jewelry in the shop. they do gemstone roundtables, too. chris has done a number of pieces for me over the years - like a beautiful opal ring with nautilis shells around it. ruby earrings set in gold. a silver hammered cuff bracelet. a silver quarter moon to wear on a chain. a vial of opal chips in water in its naturlal matrix fitted with silver bales at either end to wear vertically or horizontally on a chain (see photo). this is a fabulous shop to browse. and if you're lookiing for a special gift - even a small one - this is well worth checking out. the website is awesome and will give you an idea of chris's creative genius - and you don't have to live in c-u to take advantage of his designs. check it out!

These people cannot be trusted. They lie and they don't care. They have no imagination, no…read moreflexibility, and questionable ethics. We rented a home from Joel Ward for 4 months while we looked for a home to buy. This company was very friendly and even took care of maintenance issues in a timely fashion. When it came to leaving, we thought we had gone over and above to clean and polish the house, including pulling out the stove and the fridge and cleaning dirty messes (including a rat trap, a pile of kibble, and residue of an unknown spill under the stove; under the fridge, as well as dirt, etc., there was even a kid's refrigerator magnet). Those messes weren't just from the tenant before us who had been the owner and his son. We cleaned that up and polished the hardwood floors in the master and the front/dining room. There was one thing they didn't like. Neither did we. When we first moved in in March, there was an incredible amount of rain. During that time, the basement flooded twice, had to be drained and have the dehumidifier run for a couple weeks total - on OUR electric bill of course. This was all cheap indoor/outdoor carpet squares and why they didn't just pull them up, I don't know. Why we were naïve enough to think that it would bring us any good will to use our own electricity, I don't know. I swept and vacuumed the "carpeted" area to keep it clean of any mess we brought doing laundry. After the work the landlord did, to drain the basement, he also had a sump pump put in. That too, the hours of jackhammering, etc. were on OUR electricity. After the water was cleared and the pump installed was when the "carpet" needed cleaning. When we moved out, Joel Ward Realty (junior agent Darrin specifically) had the nerve to charge us for cleaning the carpet because, he said, that is what our contract with the owner required. I asked if he could discuss that with the owner, given all the surrounding circumstances (Darrin said they would take into account the short duration of our lease!). He said he would talk to the owner, but he never got back to me with an answer, only to repeat his version of legalese in subsequent emails. He also said he would speak to the current tenant to find out if a couple boxes we couldn't find might have been left in our portion of the garage. He never got back to us regarding that matter either. There are better agents out there. Keep looking!

Their staff goes above and beyond - John B is great, and I trust him to take care of any issues…read morethat crop up! Plus, I love their support for Habitat for Humanity. I'm a habitat volunteer myself, and having local businesses teaming up to provide assistance to families through habitat is great to see. Can't say enough good things!

You can bet the farm that this company will go above and beyond to help get the most for their…read moreclients. Hard row to hoe? Field Level Agriculture has the right tools for the job! Between appraisals, brokerage, and management they've got all your farmland investment needs covered now and until the cows come home. 5/5.

From the owner: Farmland Brokerage…read more Services: Agricultural Consultations, Appraisals, Farm Auctions, Farm Real Estate Brokerage, Farmland Appraisals, Farmland Auctions, Land Management, Management Consultations

I want to start out by saying that I am a Leasing Agent at another company near campus, so I am a…read morelot more tolerant of issues with the multi-family living industry. Some things, however, are just not permissible in my opinion. My apartment was not horrible when my roommate and I first moved in. However, upon further inspection, there were a lot of things we were unhappy with. Bedroom A's bathroom had a few issues. The toilet paper holder was broken, one of the doors doesn't latch, etc. It should be noted that we did not contact maintenance about this door, as it didn't bother my roommate that much. Maintenance did come and fix the toilet roll holder when we placed a work order. My bedroom, has a hole in it. It was there when we moved in. There is also a large dent in the wall (likely caused by prior residents slamming it). The apartment was covered in a light layer of dust, and did not feel clean at ALL when I moved in back in August. Despite, the condition of move in, my roommate and I agreed we wanted to relet our apartment. We were sent one (ONE) email in early September or October, I don't remember which month, that if we resigned by the 1st of the following month, we would get a special. Well, come Thanksgiving time and we decide to resign our lease. Our leasing agent, who I will not name, told us we could, and she'd send the documents over and call us back. Only when she did, we were told our apartment had actually been signed already, and they were sold out at the building. We were very angry. No notice was given to us. One email informing us of the special, and then nothing. I know firsthand that it is the ethical thing to do to give your current residents a deadline. However, this is not covered in the lease, so we didn't press the issue. I ended up finding another complex very close by that is a way better value. Nothing was done to try and remedy the situation from my understanding. A high turnover rate (the amount of resigned leases vs new leases is much lower) is a poor reflection on either the property management group, property, or both. In this case, it seemed as if GSR was more focused on getting new residents, and didn't give a crap about their current ones. This all said, we knew that this was a college apartment, and did not expect to be living in the Ritz Carlton. However, when our lock was broken a few months ago, we were asked if we could "just deal with it." Maintenance came by, it wasn't working properly, and we were met with that solution. After my roommate put up enough of a fuss, which she should not have to do since lock issues are deemed an emergency, they finally installed a different lock. Due to my (limited, but valid) experience, there are some issues I can make do with, and some I cannot. The lock incident was not appropriate. The renewal incident left a bad taste in my mouth, and I would not recommend this company. HOWEVER, I will say that they are very responsive to work orders, and there's something to be said about that. I'd advise exploring all options before signing with this company, but hey, maybe you'll have a better experience. I'm only sharing my own, which was below average at best.

I moved into the apartment at 209 E University Avenue on August 18 and immediately noticed a strong…read morechemical odor throughout the apartment. I documented it on GSR's move-in checklist and submitted a maintenance request right away. The smell made me really uncomfortable living there. Whenever I stayed in the apartment for a while, I started feeling physically unwell and experienced chest tightness. It wasn't just that I "didn't like the smell" -- I genuinely did not feel comfortable staying in the unit. What frustrated me most was how GSR handled the problem. They did not provide any practical solution, even refusing to provide a simple fan to help ventilate the apartment. There was never any meaningful investigation into where the smell was coming from. Every time someone from management came to inspect the apartment, the visit lasted less than two minutes and they would say they personally could not smell anything. During one visit, the staff member even said that she had a blocked nose and could not smell properly. GSR also kept saying that I was just too sensitive to odors. That was honestly very frustrating, because I wasn't the only person who could smell it. A number of friends came into my apartment and noticed the chemical-like odor as well. I even called the City of Champaign myself and requested an independent inspection. The City inspector also confirmed in writing that a strong odor was present in the apartment during his inspection. Even after multiple people, including an independent City inspector, noticed the smell, GSR continued to deny and say they couldn't smell anything and treated the issue like it was just my personal sensitivity. I repeatedly asked GSR for help, but my requests were rejected and no further action was taken to actually identify or address the source of the problem. So, think about this: When a tenant reports a strong chemical-like odor right after moving in, feels physically uncomfortable staying in the unit, several visitors notice it, and even a City inspector confirms that an odor is present, I think the situation deserves more than a two-minute walk-through followed by "we don't smell anything." Based on how this situation was handled, I personally would not recommend renting from Green Street Realty. If you are thinking about renting from GSR, I strongly recommend personally inspecting the exact unit before signing anything and documenting every issue immediately after move-in.