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When you move in, the paint will look fresh and the carpet will be clean, but soon things will start falling apart: the baseboards will be crumbling, the mold will turn the whole bath tube into a mess (instead of eradicating the mold they just paint over it), and so on.\r
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The service person is actually good - all those 2 times a year he is available. The guy drives around in a ruined black van and services the whole community alone. You can talk to the office people, you can talk to him in person, you can submit online applications - do all you want, it makes no difference. You will be ignored, and for a valid reason - there is always something more important than you (a major leak somewhere, a roof about to fall down, etc.).\r
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Oh, the roofs. They have been fixing them, the workers have been bashing something up above all day long with some loud music for entertainment - a perfect opportunity to explore the world of gangsta rap in the morning, free of charge.\r
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Often they would stick a note to your door telling you that they are going to enter your apartment ""for maintenance"" - and they sure will, you have no say there, so keep your dogs on a leash.\r
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Hopefully you have dogs, since if you don't, you will be a minority. There are plenty of dogs everywhere - most apartment complexes ban big ones, so here is where they all end up. Some dog owners do not like to pick up after them, so stepping outside concrete is not recommended unless you are a professional sapper. Often you will lift the blinds and see a dog peeing into a bush right next to your window, so loving animals and embracing nature will really help you stay a happy resident.\r
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It also helps if you bike to work. There is 1 assigned car parking space for each apartment, but whenever they want to refresh their ever-cracking alphalt, they give a short notice, close the entire area so the whole community starts to play the ""who gets home first"" game. If you forget about it, your car will be towed away, and guess who will be paying for that.\r
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Some of the office people are pretty friendly and charming, until you move out. There the management will slap you with all their expenses - you will pay for cleaning, painting, replacements of bogus ""damages"" - hundreds and hundreds. On the flip side, you will learn the hard way how that fresh paint and clean carpet you saw when moving in had been paid for.\r
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If you decide to live there and move out, clean up the place yourself to avoid their ridiculous charges, take YOUR OWN pictures, preferably with a fresh newspaper on background, do not skip the move-out inspection, get a signed document that they have no further claims or pending charges against you. Otherwise they will rip you off. It's what they do.\r
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On the positive side, the apartments are cheap - cheaper than most their surrounding competitors (just ask the residents of the mobile home park right next to it). Obviously, there is a reason for them to be cheap and filled with poor people - there are no wonders, you get what you pay for.
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