Now before I begin, i want to make something clear:

I am NOT an employee of the complex, nor do I have any friends who are employees, nor am I getting paid to write this.

Now to explain the flashy title. I have never lived in high end community, so this doesn't mean that The Highlands is the best there is, it just means what it says; Best complex I have lived in.

The Highlands has 2 phases. One is the older phase, with older appliances, no landscaping, and carports. The second phase has the newer appliances, awesome landscaping (grass, a picnic area, a gazebo, the works) and a garage (instead of a carport) They have 4 swimming pools and a gym.

I saw an ad in Craigslist in May of this year. They were running a really good deal. $675 for select 1 bedroom, and $775 for select two bedroom. So of course, i jumped at the opportunity. The only catch was that you had to print the ad, and bring it in with you only that weekend, and they were only offering a 9 month lease at this price.

I was able to nab one of the 2 bedrooms in the old phase. The security deposit I had to pay was $100 (for Tier 1 credit customers). I got an upstairs. The apartment came with a washer and dryer, but no refrigerator. The cabinets were older, but satisfactory. (everything is holding up, no damage), the plumbing worked, all the lights worked, everything was great. Even has central AC that is super quiet.

A few days into my move in, I noticed the toilet wasn't flushing. (you pulled the handle, and nothing happened.) so I removed the cover to the tank and found the problem. The chain was attached to the lever, but there wasn't enough tension. I tried to fix it, but couldn't. It seemed like pulling the lever did not generate enough tension to lift the chain. So i called the office. They IMMEDIATELY sent someone, and they replaced the whole toilet. Awesome.

The only other maintenance request I had was a minor job. The lights in the kitchen are fluorescent (like the ones in offices)and there is a very flimsy cover. Well that flimsy cover fell off and broke. (its just a flimsy plastic cover that slides into the fixture to cover the lights.) I called the office, and they put in a non urgent request. 2 days later, the came in and replaced it.

They are constantly looking for ways to renovate. This week, they are going into every apartment and changing all the light fixtures to more energy efficient ones.

I can honestly say that the staff are very friendly, and they DO care about you. Now here are the negatives:

- The gates don't work. It is a gated community, they give you a remote to open the gate, but the gates are always open! day and night! (I assume because they don't work) This is a little bit disappointing. I mean, what is the point of advertising your community as Gated if the gates are always open'

- The carports are not very well lit (until recently). I work an early shift (I leave at 3AM to go to work) and the lights in the carports were always broken, so it was very dark. Overall it is a safe community, but lighting always makes you feel better. However, i am happy to report that they fixed all the lights about a week ago.

- You pay ALL the bills (electric, gas, water, sewage, and trash)

- The water bill is NOT metered. In other words, the community gets a bill for all the water being used, and then equally divides it among the residents, based on how many people are in your household. This is a HUGE problem because we are paying for the water in the pool (which is drained and refilled often), we are paying for the sprinklers (which turn on like 8 times a day. So wasteful) and we are paying for all the residents who waste water. My share is HUGE! i pay about 45 dollars for water, I have never paid more than 25 in any other community.

Aside from the negatives mentioned above, I am very happy with this place. I just renewed my lease for an additional 12 months. Got a free carpet cleaning, and probably one of the best parts' they will now allow me to pay my rent in two payments (If i need to)

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/22/2009
Greetings ! I'm glad i read a really good positive comments. I just signed my leased, have not moved in yet, move in date is November. Then I found this site and started reading all the negative comments, and I was getting a bit unsure. But then I thought there has to be at least 2000 residence or so, and all can't possibly be so negative. How long have you lived there now ?
From: pda_tech_guy	Date: 10/23/2009
I moved in May 1st, so 6 months.

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