PROS:
I really like…read morethe apartment, it is roomy, well laid out - believe it or not, the complex was designed by a young Cezar Pelli. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar_Pelli
We got a three bedroom with a huge lanai which has been great for having friends over or just working and hanging out.
I can live with the area, I work right downtown and it is super convenient.
I love the maintenance guys, they are wonderful...big shout out to them they work hard and keep smiling. (Unfortunately I needed maintenance a lot, see cons).
It's been a great spot for my dog and he has made many doggie friends.
I love the chickens and baby chicks (feel free to move this to cons if that's not you).
Most of my neighbors are very nice and I enjoy kids (kids see cons). The community is a mix of families, many I expect on section 8, students, and some professionals (like me).
I really liked Jennifer who helped me with the leasing process and the folks that call when maintenance needs to come in are efficient, friendly, and I believe do their best to help.
CONS:
I had a plumbing issue for the first three or four months, it was disgusting, the tub would back up with gunk and hair and debris coming from the next door apartment. Finally after maintenance came about 25 times I complained loudly to management and they finally got an outside plumber to come in and fix it. Now there are small blips but mostly the plumbing is fine.
If you don't like kids (or kid sounds) beware because the culture seems to be to allow kids to be up late, late, late into the night at least in the summer. I have 5 kids next door aged 2-9 and they literally kept me up until 2am many summer nights. To make it worse, kids need sleep and these kids were exhausted ALL THE TIME, so they screamed and cried...a lot. Sleep is a very important thing.
Oh and yes, cockroaches! But note they will send an exterminator.
I will say that worst experience so far (which may sound a bit silly) is how I have been treated by the leasing team as I decide if I will stay, go, or move to a smaller unit.
I guess I had this crazy idea that they would want to keep a decent tenant paying market rate rent. But they REALLY do not seem to care.
I went to the office to ask about moving to a smaller unit and was told that although I'd been living here a year and my circumstances hadn't changed, I'd still need to create a completely separate new application for the lower priced unit.
Could I transfer some of my $2,575.00 security deposit to a smaller unit? Nope, AND in addition to the new application AND new deposit they also want a $500 deposit to secure a new place that I can't see.
If there was any budge or anything done to make it any easier for me to stay here than go somewhere else, I'd probably have done it but there was absolutely NO effort made.
But honestly, it wasn't even the policies making it just as difficult to re-rent here as to go elsewhere...but rather the attitude that made it clear to me that I didn't matter to them and that they were perfectly happy to see me go...if even one person in the office had said "we'd love to keep you" it would have made a difference.
MP