Pros (which is most of it):
• Super affordable and worth the price. Rent hasn't moved up at all which is impressive.
• Great location for TWU and UNT students. Very walkable and relatively safe area. Lawn is well kept. There is a recycling bin. Lots of parking available. They are quick to tow if someone makes the mistake of parking without a sticker so make sure to tell guests to park on the roads.
• Apartment maintenance is super fast to respond to inquiries (sometimes within the hour, most I've had to wait is a day). Maintenence is always quick and professional.
• The people who run the office really care about their tenants. You receive emails whenever someone is going to enter your apartment, they don't show up without warning. If someone has to enter your unit while you're not home, they leave a note with the time and why.
• They are very understanding about rent and you have a grace period to pay it.
• Pest control is frequent and effective. I've never had a cockroach in my apartment in the two years I've lived there and any bug I've seen either came up from the drains (gnats) or are very small but even that is rare.
Cons:
• When it rains, the sidewalks near the back of the building (next to 620 Texas St) are unsafe and unusable. I have slipped and fell many times walking on the sidewalks when they are wet. I'm strong and young but the elderly or physically disabled should be careful if mobility is a concern. The back area in general is just kind of constantly nasty and muddy.
• Walls are pretty thin. Sometimes you can hear your neighbor laughing, talking... other activites you would rather not hear. If you have a loud dog, I wouldn't advise you live here. People with loud dogs move out pretty quickly because the walls are so thin it can be incessant and people will call animal control on you. I once had a noise complaint called on me for laughing too loud with my two friends with absolutely no music playing, no TV going, nothing. Just laughing.
• No surrounding gate so it can be unsafe at times. I've had my car broken into twice, all the belongings in my trunk stolen, and ransacked once when I forget to lock it. Luckily, I never leave anything super valuable in my car but still unsettling.
• Large branches from trees in fellow properties fall into the parking lot which makes parking in half of the lot a gamble. No covered parking.
• If you live upstairs, for some reason, the fire alarm is quite literally two yards away from your oven and will sound everytime you are baking or open your oven.
• This is the big one: The laundry room is an absolute NIGHTMARE. I have wasted HOURS of my life in there because the laundry equipment does not work. It's always something; the machine eats your quarters, the washer doesn't drain so you have to wring out your clothes like you're Laura Ingalls Wilder, pioneer style for 45 minutes, the washer didn't actually wash your clothes thoroughly, the dryer didn't dry your clothes all the way... the list goes on and on and on. The machines only take quarters and the laundry room doesn't even provide a quarter machine so you have to drive to a local liquor store to get a roll of quarters (which, a lot of establishments don't even do anymore). But then sometimes the quarters are eaten by the machines anyway which makes the process all the more frustrating. The door to the laundry rooms have a door code that doesn't actually work and so shady people hang around (again, no fence). It feels very insecure as a female.
I don't care if rent has to increase by like 10 bucks if it means residents could have a functional, safe laundry area. It's better than having to waste an entire day's worth of time wrestling with broken laundry equipment and soggy clothes. I end up breaking down and finally just driving to the laundry mat but I shouldn't have to. I definitely advise doing your laundry off-site until this is fixed.
All that being said, I loved living here and reccomend anyone to live under Struga managed properties. It's a really great value for what you get and the staff are awesome.
