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Do's and Don'ts of Sabal Palm at Metrowest. (I and II)
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
5/4/2007
Years at this apartment:
2007
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2007
9 responses
I decided to write a guide line for survival at Sabal Palm. These are my own original do's and don'ts. Please take them into consideration, whether you're thinking of staying here, you're already here, you can't wait to leave here, or you've moved on. Good luck to all of you!
1) Do use common sense. There's a reason they are offering your first month free, and the second month half off. It's because no one wants to live there!
2) Do inspect the apartment, not just for the size of the rooms and the "pretty" bathroom, but also for carbon monoxide alarms, smoke alarms, etc. There were a few times that these things weren't installed properly or at all in apartments!
3) Do realize that it may take you forever to finalize your lease. The way they run you around is ridiculous. Expect to wait about a week until you're handed the keys.
4) Don't become friendly with the neighbors. Yes, it sounds horrible, but you'll regret it later on if you do, since most of the neighbors like to use other neighbors frequently.
5) Don't become friendly with the leasing staff or any of the other employees. Within 10 months, six out of the ten original employees left.
6) Don't be surprised if employees change. They're nice when you're handing over the new lease, but about three months down the road their true colors come out.
7) Don't feel bad if you have to call the police or the office on a neighbor. There's a 95% chance that at some point you will have to.
8) Do buy earplugs. You'll need them if you don't want to call the police and you want a decent amount of sleep, but your neighbor insists on partying until 5 in the morning (trust me, it WILL happen to you).
9) Don't feel special because you have a garage. If you're lucky enough to rent a town home, don't think that just because you have a garage and one or two dedicated parking spaces, that they are indeed your parking spaces. Your "friendly" neighbor will eventually end up in your parking space or allow their friends to (which goes back to why you shouldn't become friendly with neighbors; they'll just run all over you).
10) Do buy a can of roach spray. One can (depending on how much of a "sprayer" you are) should last you the entire year. I don't care how clean you think you are: you will get roaches and spiders. Spray the doors and the windows at least once a week, and allow your apartment to be sprayed by Orkin at least once a month. You should be ok after a month or so, but never stop spraying!
11) Don't expect to have your apartment sprayed by Orkin. Even if you call the office and ask them to put you on the Orkin list, someone is bound to either a) forget you called and therefore not put you on the list or b) the Orkin man won't show up at all because he quit (which happened twice in one year) or c) the apartment didn't pay Orkin and they refuse to spray anything.
12) Do buy pepper spray. Three people were mugged within nine months at Sabal Palm I.
13) Do expect for your rent to rise before you leave. They are always adding little fees here and there. You will be paying at least $20 more than you were when you signed the lease.
14) Do respect the maintenance department. They're the only ones that actually have any common sense, and if they like you they'll finish your problem as soon as they can.
15) Don't be ashamed to admit that Sabal Palm is ghetto. It really is and there's nothing wrong with saying that. Ghetto is not limited to any color. There are White, Black, Hispanic and Asian ghetto people here.
16) Do watch your children. Sabal Palm II has allowed a sex offender to live in their residence.
17) Do expect to be treated like a second class citizen when the apartment has to renovate. The people that work on the apartment have no respect for the residents, and the leasing office just wants the job done. If you have any complaints about trucks and other objects disrupting your daily life, forget it. You signed the lease and the leasing office no longer has to be nice to you, remember'
18) Don't paint your walls. You won't be there long and having to paint them white again will just be a headache. Trust me. You will NOT be there long.
19)Do avoid anyone that has been a resident for more than a year. Those people are crazy. Avoid them like the plague.
20) Do make the trip down to the leasing office. If you call right now I can almost guarantee that no one will answer the phone. Just save yourself the time and head down to the office. Besides, it's harder for them to feed you bull face to face.
21) Do try to be patient. As of right now, there are two great people in the leasing office. Be nice to the ones that have consistently been nice to you, or shown any type of patience. You may need them one day.
22) Do speak up if you have an issue with something. Once they realize that they can't bully you, you'll notice that they'll start treating you with more respect.
23) Don't expect top notch security. There is only one security officer and he's there four days out of the week. Maybe. When he is there don't bother calling him. He won't return your phone call. In fact, he'll probably be at another resident's apartment, having a burger.
24) Do learn that your only security is your alarm system and any karate lessons you learned as a kid.
25) Don't expect anyone to know the name of your alarm system. It's old and dated and the company is nowhere near as good as Brinks or ADT, but it works.
26) Do expect to learn the maintenance guys' names. They'll be in your apartment a LOT.
27) Do have your car brakes checked. You will more than likely have to slam on your brakes because of the silly kids that play in the road, run in the road, or actually lie on the concrete in the road.
28) Do expect to shake your head at the parenting skills in Sabal Palm. There are no parenting skills.
29) Do work your dog's bathroom schedule around your own. Walking your dog at 12am is the quickest way to end up in the Orlando Sentinel. It's not safe enough to do that. As soon as you move in, walk your dog in the mornings before work, maybe during your lunch break if you have time, and one more time before 9pm. Any time after 10pm is open season. Be careful!
30) Don't use Bright House digital phone. You will have horrible service in Sabal Palm. You will not be able to do a lot of things with your crummy alarm system because the company is so out of date that they aren't compatible with Bright House. Just pay the $78 for the long distance with Bellsouth. You'll be thankful in the end.
31) Don't allow a private contractor to install or activate your cable or phone. Always call the company directly and make sure that the contractor actually works for the company and isn't independent.
32) Do buy the Ziplock anti-freezer burn bags. Everything in your freezer (whether it's on 3 or 9) will be frozen like a block. Using the bags helps.
33) Do buy a Bissell or carpet shampooer. There will be a lot of traffic in and out of your apartment (the maintenance guys, remember') and your carpet doesn't stand a chance without it.
34) Don't move here if you have a sensitive stomach. The whole complex smells like one big fart because of the dog waste.
35) Don't be surprised if you actually step in dog waste.
36) Don't be surprised if you actually step in dog waste because it's sitting three feet away from your front door.
37) Don't be surprised if you see pitbulls, rottweilers and every type of dog that is specifically not supposed to be in the complex. These people are ghetto remember' They don't follow rules.
38) Don't move into a town home if you don't know how to park. The one car garages are ridiculously small and all of the garages have a big concrete barrier between them. One wrong move and your car is scratched or dented.
39) Do buy a couple of flashlights. Once every six months an idiot will end up hitting the pole outside of the complex and you will go at least three hours without power. Be prepared.
40) Do have everything in writing and always get receipts for your rent payments.
41) Don't use the drop box for rent payments. Even if you work 9-6pm, find some time in your day to come to the office and pay in person, even if you have to pay a few days early just to get in there. Remember: Get everything in writing and always get a receipt!
42) Don't be fooled by the gates. They just control traffic, not criminals.
43) Do use the garbage removal service. It's definitely worth the money.
44) Don't go to any of the cheesy leasing office parties. If you do, you're required to be friendly, and that's something you don't want to do, remember'
45) Do splurge on curtains. The blinds are awful and bent and anyone can see in. You'll need curtains as soon as you move in.
46) Do expect to live next to an abusive couple. It happened to me three times (as they all moved in and out).
47) Don't be afraid to call the police if you hear an abusive couple hitting each other.
48) Do realize that you will have absolutely no privacy. The walls are as thin as a sheet of paper. You can hear your neighbor walking around next door. You can hear everything and so can they. If you can't handle that, then don't move here.
49) Do realize that you live next to everything and that's the only reason why you should move here.
50) Don't be shocked if you hear cars racing outside. Street racing is very popular over here.
51) Don't be afraid to call the police if you hear street racing. You could save a life.
52) Do speak up if you want to break your lease. The sooner, the better.
53) Don't walk out on your lease. You'll never be able to lease a decent apartment again and you'll have to see the manager of the leasing office again IN COURT (just ask my old neighbors).
54) Do hire movers when you decide to leave Sabal Palm.
55) Don't tell anyone other than the leasing office that you're moving.
56) Do have everything in your truck or van before 8:30am. The earlier you leave, the better. You want to be out of there before the nosy neighbors ask questions.
57) Do take pictures of every room from at least two angles. Have the pictures developed that day.
58) Do come back the next day and clean and scrub the whole apartment. If you need to, paint the apartment.
59) Do take pictures again of every room from at least two angles. Have the pictures developed that day.
60) Do say good-bye to the leasing office and wish them luck.
61) Don't burn the Sabal Palm bridge. If you ever need to rent another apartment, you may need them as references.
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User Responses
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
05/18/2007
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Well, I live at Sabal and have for the past 2 years. I actually started out at Sabal Palm II and moved to Sabal Phase I to get an attached garage. Alothough the above list is funny, not entirely accurate. Seems like they have a beef with everyone. Since I have been here there have been a few minor issues that I have had with maintenance (my a/c leaked and dryer vent to the outside was clogged and my clothes wouldn't dry. The office was fairly fast to get them corrected. I do agree that it took a while for me to get my keys at move-in. It was a saturday and the office was really busy. In hindsite I would pay the extra day to get them of Friday. But as far as walking your dog at night and needing to learn karate, I have walked the dog every night usually before I go to bed (midnight or so) and have never taken karate classes and have had no problems.
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From:
Sabalhell
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Date:
06/26/2007
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Actually, this was entertaining, articulate and 100% accurate. I found out two months after I moved in, that SP was a ****hole. I then spent 10 months apologizing to my wife for signing the lease. We now rent a nice home for about the same money. Renter beware!
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
07/27/2007
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I congratulate Sabalhell on lasting the year at Sabal Palms. I do not think I am going to make it.
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
09/04/2007
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I will have to say I just moved in and I have experienced the below:
1) There are lots of spiders and roaches! I'm nervous to get anything and use the bathroom in my apartment. There was a spider about the size of my palm in my baby's closet that hopped out and took me 1/2 hr to kill and a quarter of hot shot. The roaches are huge and I've had 8 so far since I've been here. We are in the verge of looking elsewhere.
2) The main pool (which is beautifully designed) is always dirty and every chair is broken which makes you have to walk to the other pool. Kids use them as jumping boards! Kids roam wild with no adult at times and parents there have no parenting skillz whatsoever!
3) The maintenance guy was suppose to fix our screen in our balcony and still hasn't come yet!
4) The gate up front was busted thru in bright daylight as well as the cameras that are on a pole for everyone to see..wouldn't you think they would have them hidden. Cars are still being stolen and broke in.
5) It is a bit ghetto. I would say it's Luxury ghetto! LOL.
6) There was a drug bust not too long ago.
So far this is what I have experienced and its a shame because I love the apartments. They are nice inside and out. I guess they just don't know how to pick their tenants.
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
01/25/2008
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To Anonymous 9/4/2007
1) If you live in the townhouses, then the roaches are coming from the garage and the spiders are coming from the front door. What I do is buy a can of Raid (I like the lemon scent) and spray around the doors at night, about an hour before I go to bed. They'll still squeeze through, but they'll be dead by the time you see them. I also spray the kitchen at least once a week. Orkin is also an option and they come out once a week. The Orkin man is very lazy though, so you're still going to have to spray certain areas (corners and such).
2) I would stay away from the pools. I heard that there are a lot of rats around there!
3) Maintenance is horrible. If you don't get a job done within a week, call the manager. If it's not done within 48 hours after that, then contact the corporate office.
4) The gate will never work, the cameras will always be visible. Sabal Palm is run by dummies.
5) Yes, it's pretty ghetto. Look at the people that work there though.
6) I didn't hear about the drug bust, but it's not surprising. A lot of college kids live here.
The apartment IS decent and if you live in a townhouse, having that garage is GREAT. I just wish we could get rid of all of the staff.
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
01/27/2008
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Everyone needs to get together and we can do something i hate living here and i wont deal with that b!!tch manager no more they dont do ---- for no one
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
04/04/2008
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I have lived in Sabal Palms for about 6 months now. Although it is not living on the Ritz, it is far rom what many have described. I am a teacher and I live here with my 7 year old daughter and I have ye to experience any of the things that were described. The office staff is always helpful and friendly, I have never witnessed crime and the place is very peaceful. I feel very safe at Sabal Palms.
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
04/14/2008
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Wow, this is the funniest, and probably one of the most truthful review that I have ever read about a property. I am in the process of aparment hunting in the metrowest area and I saw this property, and at least 1/3 of these do's and don'ts seem to be true, and that was me just taking the tour and viewing the unit! I can't imagine actually living there! By the way, if anyone can recomment a metrowest neighborhood, please advise.
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
05/19/2008
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Definetely do NOT rent at the The Hamptons off of Arnold Palmer/Robert Trent Jones.. they have a lot of mold over there.. and it actually rains down like a waterfall from the top of the windows.. I guess they are in the process of sueing and one of the maintence workers said there was something like 187 units that had the same/similar problem as us. I don't have allergies and got very sick during the summer because of the mold.. They also TOW alllllll the time.. it doesn't matter if you have a permit.. if you have expired tags.. flat tire.. anything.. they will tow you and your visitors. It's not an exaggeration
F.Y.I I heard that Park Avenue is exactly the same since they were built by the same contractor... not 100% sure though
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Disclaimer: No attempt has been made to verify or assure the accuracy of the claims made by the author of this opinion or responses. You must judge the truthfulness of any review and accept responsibility for your use of this information.
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