Just for context, I moved to Stafford in January of 2020 and by March, as we all know, the WORLD shut down. I went with a two-bedroom because I wanted there to be plenty of room for out-of-state family to visit.
I'm giving Stafford a 5 out of 5 because of the current management and staff (Beau, Ally, Abby).
My experience has shown that whatever the name is on the marquee it's the people that make the difference! I can vouch for the people I interacted with in person and via e-mail and it was professional, respectful, and endearing because I got the impression that they actually cared about the experience of the people that lived there.
A couple things, acts of kindness for me, is the staff seeing me out in the rain and offering an umbrella, giving recommendations on churches in the area, after I shared, I was looking for one. Leaving a card thanking me for being a great resident and last but certainly not least, after I moved out the staff (along with the help of the current resident - kindness of strangers) alerted me about mail that had not been forwarded!
Concerning the actual unit, I would give it a 4 out of 5 and that is because I'm very particular and I wanted the carpet to be replaced. The carpet wasn't threadbare or anything but I could tell it wasn't new. The carpet had been cleaned but there was still a lingering smell in one of the rooms. I was informed that Stafford (Champion Property Management) was not scheduled to replace the carpet and I was given the option to replace out of pocket. I was glad and relieved that at least I had option to remedy my issue (either pay to have carpet replaced in both rooms or pay to get carpets cleaned again). I ended up not doing anything and living with the carpet LOL!
Just a couple more bullets below to summarize my experience at Stafford.
- I never had an issue with parking, as in I could always park nearly in front of or very close to my apartment.
- I noticed the foliage around the mail box area was starting to get a little overgrown and in the coming weeks they cut it completely down. Awesome!
- At one point area walkway to the mailbox had only pavers in the grass (sometimes too muddy) but that was upgraded to an actual poured sidewalk. Awesome!
- On social media and on review websites you hear horror stories about experiences with neighbors. That was not my experience at Stafford (#blessed). I had a kind neighbor (older gentleman) next door who introduced himself was neighborly and was always friendly.
- The trash compactor was the bane of my existence (I'm kinda dramatic, but ugh I hate trash)! **heavy sigh** I'm not sure what a Property Management Company can do about this situation. The situation being that residents will pile their trash in the chute versus tossing it to the actual dumpster. Except, OMG that I do remember a solution, **shudder** pull out EVERY bag of trash from the chute that was clogging it **shudder**! I forgot that, that is EXACTLY what one of the property management staff did (It was Beau). So once one person (I'm assuming) places their trash in the chute, it signals to all other to do the same? The problem is the chute is not designed to compact trash. **heavy sigh** I'm not trying to be a jerk or condescending I just have to assume that people don't know how to use the trash compactor!!! I want to think that perhaps people are not physically cable of taking their (heavy?) bag of trash and making sure it goes from the chute to the dumpster. At one point very soon after I moved there, I'm assuming Stafford added a long, slender beam type stick so perhaps folks could push their trash from the chute to the dumpster. Just about every time I went to throw away my trash I would use that stick to push others trash bags out of the chute to the dumpster. I'm not trying to give myself brownie points I'm just trying to explain the pros/cons of living in community (the burden of humanity - LOL DRAMATIC!!).
- I lived on the first floor (LOL!) and from time to time yes it did sound like a bowling alley above me but such is apartment life! It was fine!
- The two times I called for maintenance service it was super quick and the maintenance staff were professional and prompt.
- I really enjoyed that it was a newer apartment. I liked the pendant lights and hardwood style plank flooring in the apartment.
- I felt safe in my apartment and in the area (5 stars).
- I would still be at Stafford now except I wanted a first floor 1-bedroom apartment and when my lease was up they didn't have any available. read more