I should preface my review by saying that I lived in a midtown apartment for 4 years before moving to Hilands. The apartment was cheap, but had a distant laundry room (no in-apartment laundry), and A/C and heat controlled by the complex (always turning off the A/C too early and turning it on too late, so the apartment was swealtering for 2 months a year). Worst of all, it had mold infestation. It was in a poor neighborhood, and we had multiple car break-ins.

So, out in search I went for an apartment with washer/dryer, A/C and heat that I could decide upon, and a nicely maintained apartment in a nicer part of town. Hilands seemed like the way to go.

My first bad experience was with the staff. For the most part, the staff is incredibly undertrained and unfriendly. One or two of the staff seem helpful, but for the most part, I've been largely unsatisfied. The first major hitch was the guy helping me told me my apartment was a second floor apartment when it REALLY was a third floor apartment. Of course, the apartment wasn't ready to show when I had to pick a number, and I took things from him based on faith. Luckily, I didn't care too much, but it was a shock when I found that I had to move my heavy couch up an extra flight of stairs.

Not that I needed to. When I entered the apartment, it was furnished. I told them specifically that I did not want a furnished apartment. They were prompt in removing the furniture, but that's not much of a good first impression.

The maintenance staff is slow and unhelpful. I discovered a leak in my apartment after the first monsoon of the year. I called it in, and they apparently fixed the roof, but they never fixed the inside paint job, despite repeated calls. So I wasn't surprised the next time it rained to find the leak was even larger. I've called again (3 times now) and have not yet received a fix. The maintenance staff claimed to not be able to find the hole, despite the fact that there is a bubble in my roof about a foot in diameter. Hmph.

The washer and dryer are old. The paint job is INCREDIBLY bad (there is paint all over the windows and mirrors, thankfully I don't own these). Some of the apartment you can see that they just painted on top of old wall papering, without bothering to take it down first. Some of this paper is starting to peel, and it looks horrible. The carpet is frayed. The insulation on the windows and doors is shot, and despite asking them to fix this when I turned in my apartment evaluation, they have not.

So, basically, if you come to Hilands, expect the staff to do nothing for you. If they don't make your experience WORSE, they certainly won't make it better.

So...lots of negatives...there are SOME positives. For example, there is always plenty of parking (at least in my part of the complex). I chose an apartment way in the back, and I rarely hear my neighbors. The landscaping is, well, decent. The grass is green in most of the apartment, but they rarely sweep/blow off the sidewalks, and the sidewalk by my apartment is always covered in bird droppings. I always find lots of mud all over the sidewalks after rains too, so be sure to buy a welcome mat. The apartments on the outside are very plain, and usually very dirty.

I feel quite safe here, I never see broken windows, its in a nicer part of town.

Knowing what I know now, I don't think I would have moved in here. I may move out at the end of my long lease, which I got at a fairly good rate.

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