I really enjoyed my apartment when I lived there. Every complex has its pros and cons, but overall I was pretty happy with my experience with Polos East. If it weren't for the crime I'd consider resigning my lease. With a few security changes I'm sure the complex could better themselves in this regard easily!

The Good:

Floor plan and living space:
I lived in Polo's East for a year. I was very happy with the layout of my apartment, it was huge for a one bedroom and even had a bonus sun room/dining room space that many one bedrooms do not offer. The bathroom was very spacious and the bedroom also had a huge walk in closet with a lot of shelving. The apartments have beautiful huge windows that let in plenty of light. We had a nice view of the lake and some really nice trees.

Location:
Right next to Waterford Lakes, the 408 (without being TOO close to where you can hear and see it), and ten minutes from UCF, Polos East has a GREAT location for the price. It is three hundred dollars less than apartments only two miles away for the same amount of living space.

Community Respect:
I kept patio furniture, a bicycle and potted plants outside on the porch all year and no one bothered them at all. Many residents have things on their porches and their belongings are all respected for the most part as well.

Neighbor noise:
The apartments are laid out so that you don't have neighbors directly to the side of your unit, instead there are walkways that separate them. This makes them quieter. I never heard my next door neighbors once.

Staff:
The office staff are kind and courteous and are quick to fix any maintenance issues.

Amenities:

Basketball court/Enclosed Raquetball court/TWO pools/hot tub/gym/tennis court/barbeques/volley ball

Lots of things to do. The front pool is absolutely beautiful and is really nice. The back pool is nice too but it does tend to get kind of warm in the summer because it is not very deep.



The Bad:

Appliances:
My water heater was extremely loud. I've had maintenance out over it but they couldn't find a problem. It kicks on once every two hours and rattles and rumbles so loud that I can barely hear the television over it. It is extremely annoying.

The dryer is old and it gets EXTREMELY hot on the normal cycle and shrinks everything but takes two runs on the gentle cycle to dry things. (Although it is nice that they were included at all, I loved having them.)

The fridge:
The refrigerator was older and although it kept our food fresh and worked well for us I did have one incident where my husband and I removed the bottom lining in the freezer (after smelling something horrible for a week we HAD to find it)and found BLACK MOLD all in the freezer. I don't know how long it had been there or how it even got there (we barely used the freezer and had never spilled anything)but we bleached it out and haven't had a problem since. It must have been there when we moved in though because it was extensive.

Storage:
There are no shelves built into the storage unit that come with the apartment so unless you build your own it is difficult to actually store anything in it. The kitchen does not have a pantry and the cabinets are kind of small and don't hold much (ours bowed under the pressure of a set of glass mixing bowls). The silverware drawer doesn't fit a traditional silverware holder (its too small) so we had trouble with that as well.
Someone else pointed out in a review that you can't open the cabinet drawer under the sink when the dishwasher is open...this is true! It is a little annoying but you really do get used to it.

Amenities:
The fitness center door is a pain to open and I couldn't access the gym about 1 out of every 3 times I tried to use it.
The key to the pool NEVER worked so I always had to pick the lock with a credit card. (terrible, I know)

The Gate:
Almost never works. No one who lives here wants to pay for the access cards and there are always lines of people crowded around the gate waiting for you to let them in. Sometimes there are so many people waiting that traffic gets backed up into the street. If the gate isn't backed up it means someone got tired of waiting and rammed it...again. It has been off of the hinges for about half of the time I've lived here. I can assume that this contributes to the crime here..but who knows. The staff tries to keep up with it, bless them, but certain residents and guests don't have any respect for the gate and keep tearing it apart.

The Ugly:
Lots and lots of crime. I live facing the lake and I've seen three search helicopters on different occasions, a man get jumped by the police after he sprung from the bushes (not on our property but just outside the fence), and our next door neighbors got their door kicked in at four in the afternoon and were robbed.
I've come home to swarms of cop cars outside of our building twice (rumors are drug related).

My electric bill has consistently been over $200 for my ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT. The office said there is nothing wrong with this, however, I know this is higher than most people's three bedroom HOMES. Our electric deposit was over $300 to get it started.

Overall, I cannot wait to get the heck out of here because of the CRIME. And the electric bill. These are my biggest complaints. The floor plans are nice and the staff is great, but I don't feel safe here. I personally never had a problem with break-ins or anything of that nature, but it was constantly around me.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates