*****Updated July 2018*****
This is a visibly charming, pleasant, and peaceful community. We've gone through a few on-site managers but all have been (varying degrees of) great. Jessica, the main contact, has been consistently excellent and professional. She's not always in her office and doesn't always pick up the phone, but responds very quickly to emails (which are better anyway because they leave a record for important communications). All paperwork is electronic and user-friendly. The leasing and move-in process is detailed and meticulous but efficient.
The craftsmanship in the units isn't perfect (looking at you, kitchen drawer that never closes and range hood that just burps dust), but it's more than adequate. We've also gone through a few maintenance staff but the current guy in charge, Sule, is awesome. Really takes pride in his work, goes above and beyond what's required, and is just an all-around great human being. If you get the chance, share a beer with him or something. He works really hard to keep this place up.
When we moved in a few years ago we saw a few bug corpses because there had been a recent infestation nearby. About one year in, a neighbor moved out and sent a fresh wave of roaches into the surrounding units. Both times, the management (very wisely) nuked the crap out of the offending location and completely resolved the problem in less than a week. Jessica also let us camp out with our pets in vacant units during the extermination efforts.
Aside from the incessant bird shit and tree sperm in Davis, parking is great. Spaces are plentiful, free, and unassigned. I've never had a problem finding a spot at any hour. If you have a nice car, please consider investing in a cover.
For the most part, the neighbors are lovely people, mostly students and families. The ones I've met are friendly and helpful (e.g., when I'm locked out of my unit), and respect each others' privacy. This is all very much appreciated, especially in a college town. We had a problem once with a group of extremely rude, loud, and disruptive students in our building, and when we told Jessica she promptly took care of it. The students left soon after, and peace was restored.
One of the best things about The Grove is how pet-friendly it is. That being said, my biggest complaint about the community is that a small handful of residents refuse to follow the rules and keep their dogs on-leash. Of those, an even smaller number have problem children that bark, run, or even bite at everything from the summer breeze to human ankles. Aside from the hazard and annoyance factors, this kind of shit gives the rest of us dog owners a bad name. Jessica tries to rein this in and used to send occasional email notices to the community, but I haven't seen one in a while. I'm not sure what, if anything, is being done about it nowadays.
The internet isn't perfect, but it's FREE, and good enough for us. About 95% of the time it meets all our surfing, streaming, gaming, and other needs, though it sometimes slows during busy hours. 4% of the time it's prohibitively slow, and 1% of the time it crashes altogether (the longest crash we've experienced was about 4 hours). I feel like it improved in recent years, though I don't know for sure. In short, don't count on it for that term paper due in 45 minutes; otherwise, it should be fine.
We had actually signed a lease to stay another year here, but realized over the summer that it would require an extremely burdensome commute that would be too hard to keep up for a year or more. We reached out to Jessica and asked to be let out of the new lease (which hadn't started yet). She totally understood, thanked us, and agreed to put our unit on notice for rent at the end of our current lease. I imagine our change of heart just created more work for her, but she was completely supportive and made this whole process painless for us.
I'll update this review once we've moved out, but I don't anticipate any problems. The Grove has always treated us well and fairly. We're sad to leave and would stay longer if we could.
If you're looking for housing in Davis, give this place a look. We've had a great stay and highly recommend it. read more