I'm in the midst of moving out of state, and finding a good, honest apartment review seems tough. They are either written by immature residents who say everything about the place is horrible or they are seemingly written by office staff who say everything about the place is wonderful. Here's my honest opinion of waterford at deerwood:

First off, the southside area (esp the deerwood area) is a more "affluent" neighborhood then some of the other scary parts of town. I've lived in Jacksonville for 6 years and have always lived in this area of town. I have lived in the Waterford apartments for 2 years.

My experience here has been fair. I never considered moving out, and when my re-lease came around, I found that staying was the best option because prices are on par for this area of town and it wasn't worth moving.

I live in their large two bedroom floor plan. It was fine for having a roommate, the apartment is layed out in a way that you don't really hear each other if you're reasonably quiet. The kitchen has older appliances and cabinets. Everything worked fine, with the exception of the ancient dishwasher--which I choose not to use...although my roommate uses it and thinks it's just fine.

The bedrooms are a nice size and the closets are plenty big enough. The master even has two VERY nice sized walk-ins. The living room sports a fireplace (which we put our entertainment center in front of, b/c it was an eyesore, we never used the fireplace at all) and a dry bar (which is cool for extra storage, or for liquor/wine).

The parking was ok. If I didn't get home until late then I sometimes had to park in front of a different building. But not too far, it wasn't annoying unless I had stuff to carry in.

I always felt safe in the parking lots and inside my building. There hasn't been any major crime issues that I know of. One time the office staff notified us of an attempted break-in on the property. Jacksonville's a big city...some crime is to be expected.

I've not had much trouble with noise. Sometimes the lawn care people get a bit ambitious and start mowing around 8-9 on the weekdays, which for my student lifestyle was a little too early. I never had trouble with music from neighbors or the parking lot.

My conclusion: As far as apartment living, I wouldn't call this place "luxury". The buildings and appliances are older. The rent (as far as I see from hunting around town) is pretty similar to what you would pay at other places on this side of town, it's not cheap...but apartment rent is general is not cheap lately! It's pretty safe, as far as big-city living goes. And you could probably live with the ambitious lawn care guys or the occasional badass showing off his new car stereo system. Check it out, see if you like the floorplan...and go with your gut feeling on if it's for you or not.

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