Have a seat. This is going to be long, but it'll help make your decision whether or not to live here..
There are definitely worse places to live, but trust me when I say there are also MUCH BETTER. Upon moving, everything was fine, no complaints. Very shortly after that, my family and I started realizing that some of the office management were extremely rude and nit-picky and we began receiving corrective action emails for things that made no sense to us. At the time, we had a dog. Myself and the other person living with me both worked (obviously, because, for the area and what you get, rent is way too expensive), so we would leave the dog on the patio instead of locking her in a crate for 10+ hours a day. The dog being a living, breathing, animal would have to go to the bathroom eventually. The patio was NOT covered in feces or urine, it was well kept and we would clean up after her usually the following day. But that wasn't enough. We started getting emails stating that we were violating the lease agreement and would be kicked out if we continued to leave the patio the way that it was, meanwhile, we weren't the only ones with animals who did what they were trained to do and go potty outside.
I would also come home to a note on my door stating maintenance had entered my home for an unknown reason and not only was I not home for this, but I also was not notified that it would be happening.
On to the parking situation. The complex is so full that at one point, there was a waiting list to move in. There are not enough parking spaces for all of the people who pay to live there. You get ONE covered parking spot, and no, you cannot buy another one, but you can pay $50 a month for a guest parking pass (because that's essentially all it is) and hope that when you get home there's a spot open for you. Security had gone around stocking bright orange stickers on windows and windshields for the most ridiculous things. Those stickers do not come off easily, I scrubbed mine for months. I, and my boyfriend had both received warning stickers because, according to security or maintenance or whoever is making these decisions they have no authority to make, our registration was not up to date. Did you run our plates? If so, that's a pretty neat golf cart you got there because that would be the only way you'd be able to see if that was true. And I know because we had both paid quite a bit of money for our tags, but, I'm not apartment security I guess. The parking lot rules are extensive and also stupid so make sure you read the huge sign by the entrance, especially the one that states you can't park backwards unless you drive a truck. It takes up the same amount of space no matter if you back in or pull in? They've towed people for this, I've seen it happen.
Do you like to sleep? Don't live here. Work nights? Definitely don't live here. Maintenance walks by with a leaf blower everyday, and I mean every. single. day. And yes, you will walk out to your clean car with leaves and dirt all over it from this. The lawn is well kept, however, that means that every other morning, you get to wake up to the beautiful sound of a lawn mower or weed eater that doesn't stop for hours. Not to mention, maintenance is far from polite, they're actually quite rude. Being someone who works nights I grew extremely frustrated with the fact that everything is tailored around office hours because not everyone works a 9-5 job. Something to keep in mind, Desert Lakes, there are businesses open past 6 o'clock, which means the seemingly unnecessary repairs that so urgently need to be done at 6am that nobody is kept up to date on start in the middle of the night for some people!
That leads me to my next point. There is constantly something that needs to be repaired either in your apartment or outside somewhere. I mean, how broken can something be that every other week it needs to be fixed? You are notified of the repairs that "need to be made," but keep in mind, it goes on Facebook first. Yep. Facebook. Don't have one? Well you'll be the last to know because you won't be receiving on email on what's going on until well after a post is made on the company page. The water was constantly being turned off, and not just for a couple hours. The expected times for it to be off were from 9-5 and you're told to set aside a pot of water so you can flush your own toilet, brush your teeth, etc. so basically, you live like your homeless in an $800, 600sqft, 1 bedroom apartment in the hood (I can say that because I grew up in the area lol). Word of advice though, read the lease. You're going to need to have all the knowledge possible before living here. Lots of food for thought read more
