After living at Gila Springs for 3 years, I decided it was time to move. We're still a year or 2 away from buying a house, but I couldn't stay there any longer. We found that many apartment complexes in the Chandler area offered better apartments and more amenities for about the same rent.

We're now in a townhouse with an attached garage that offers a fitness center, business center, private movie theater, concierge service (to run errands for you), online maintenance forms, and a home savings plan (20% of rent goes to home-buying savings) - for only $40 more per month.

After reports of a break-in from our neighbor at Gila Springs, we asked for a second dead-bolt lock or a door alarm, but were denied both. Every apartment we considered moving to (including the one we're at now) has 2 dead-bolts AND an alarm on the front door. The alarm is even connected to every window in the apartment. Gila Springs is not committed to your safety. Several times I had drunk guys come to my door at 2am, mistaking it for another apartment, asking for their girlfriend or accusing me of having their video camera. I had to call the police twice, after the guys wouldn't go away. It became a very scary place to live.

When my latest lease was up, I was offered an over-the-range microwave as an incentive to sign another lease. Again, every apartment we looked at came standard with an over-the-range microwave. Not much of an incentive. Also, at my previous apartments, they would clean your carpet for free each time you renewed your lease. Not at Gila Springs. You had to pay if you wanted your carpet cleaned. Needless to say, after 3 years, that carpet was pretty bad.

Since they're not improving their apartments or services, their rent doesn't increase much. Which means it becomes cheaper and cheaper in comparison year after year. So the clientele that lives there has really gone downhill over the years. It used to be Intel employees who wanted a close place to live. Now, it's low-income families that need a cheap place to live. A few times we had to listen to domestic disputes from across the courtyard, as husbands and wives were yelling at eachother for everyone to hear. Once at 6:30am on a Saturday. That's when we decided we would not be signing another lease.

If you need a cheap place to stay, Gila Springs is for you. But if you can afford another $50, I would look elsewhere. It's worth the difference.

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