Archer woods used to be great - the management was great, the maintenance was great, the people were nice, etc etc. Now is STINKS. This is because of the new management, which if you have been unfortunate enough to meet, you will instantly understand. The management switched in the middle of while I was living there, and it's the main reason I decided to move away.

Here are the basics. The apartments are old but were well maintained. It's quiet and you can't hear your neighbors. But since they are old apartments, things break. And the new maintenance they hired are 1) worthless and 2) scary. The old maintenance crew used to KNOCK and leave a note if they came in your house. Now, nothing. All apartments have an alarm system, and I always had mine on when I left the house, usually to keep those pesky robbers and such away. The management has the codes for each apartment so they can put it in and hence not call the police. Three times maintenance came in, set off my alarm, and the police had to come because they "didn't have the code" because the manager had "better things to do than accompany maintenance to the apartments and shut off the alarms". I was charged over $50 by the police department for these false alarms, which only after 3 months did I finally force the management to pay for. Oh did I mention' I never even knew these things occurred until I got inside my house, played my answering machine and heard the message from the alarm service... maintenance never left a note even after the freaking police were called!

The managment has been paying for a lot of maintenance work, basically giving the exterior of the apartments a newer look so they can charge more. Do not be fooled. These "new improvements" are worthless to you as a resident, and annoying as hell when they tell you you can't get back into your second floor apartment because they decided to tear down your staircase and build a new one for a few days.

As to what other people said, the dumpsters and the laundry room are a bit scary. It's not well lit at night. This would be fine if creepy people weren't hanging around but since the new management came in more and more scary people are moving in and hanging out. If you want an idea of what the crime at Archer Woods will likely be in a few years check out the crime report for the nearby development they own - Regency Oaks Apartments, they're owned by the same people now. It's very high. There really wasn't much crime in Archer Woods. Now with the new management... well let's just say a detective came to my door asking for information about one of my neighbors but wouldn't tell me why, and the guy who lived right under me had his expensive motor cycle stolen one night. He asked the management to investigate the multitude of scary maitenance workers they had swarming our building the previous day and they flat out refused and accused him of being confrontational. If I had a 5 grand bike go missing, I'd be confrontational too.

Management sucks almost everywhere and crime is high in most of Gainesville, so what' I'd say, fine, but don't make me pay over $700 a month for a stinking 2 bedroom. There are much better places for the same price, so go there and save yourself the hassel.

Oh, just so you know, now Archer Woods has a policy that their security deposit is not refundable. However, when I signed up, it was. I cleaned that apartment spotless. They lied and said it was dirty in places I KNOW were spotless and also charged because of a "dog smell" when I never even owned a pet. They stole my entire security deposit (surprise, surprise).

Come live where I live - Summit House Apartments. It's really nice and much cheaper, plus its closer to UF. =)

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