I lived here from 2005 until 2006 in a 3 bedroom unit. It was (at the time) basically the only apartment complex in Sanford that was in my daughter's school district (Northwest Cluster) that had 3 bedroom units I could afford and also allowed dogs.

Pros :

1. Apartment was rather spacious, at 1200
sq. ft.
2. It's about a mile east of Seminole Town Center mall, Wal-Mart, Target, 417, and I-4.
3. Apartment was rather energy efficient (my highest electric bill was $144).
4. Maintenance (namely Cedric and Frank) was prompt and courteous. Most problems generally resolved the first time.
5. Free furniture from the furniture dump when it's not locked. I got my dinette set, a recliner, a chair, and several kids' toys this way.

Cons :

1. MOLD. Painting a wall that has MOLD on it does NOT make it go away.

2. Wood rot. About 3 months before I moved out, the living room windowsill developed a silver dollar-sized hole (not caused by anyone). The pest control company (Falcon) came out and stated it wasn't termites, therefore not their problem. Maintenance's "fix" was to spackle the hole.

3. ROACHES, lots of them. I very quickly learned how useless and pointless the property's "once a week by request" pest control service (by Falcon Pest Control) really was. In fact, the spray techs were rude to my girlfriend and I on more than one occasion. This con alone was the reason for my not renewing the lease.

4. THIS PROPERTY IS NOT SAFE. Another reviewer previously posted a crime log from the local newspaper. The security company (Curtis) was basically a non-factor in their lack of presence, and their contract was not renewed. There are several areas (my building thankfully was not one of them) that are poorly lit at night. I quit walking my dog in the rear of the complex and stayed generally closer to the front because of the poor lighting. My car was never broken into either, but my neighbor's was. The "security gates" used in billing this property as a "gated" community were open 24/7 during my 11 month lease.

5. One garbage compactor per 300-some apartments'! Of course it overflows on a daily basis and gets worse on the weekends. Several residents who were too lazy to get out of their cars left their trash at the curb or the furniture dump area. At least Frank from maintenance tried his damnedest to keep the area clean. I never left my garbage at the curb because I didn't want to get fined or have my identity stolen.

6. DOG S**T EVERYWHERE. I mean, come on people, is it really that hard to pick up after your dog' Use baggies, napkins, paper towel, whatever.

7. OFFICE STAFF/MANAGEMENT IN GENERAL. There was frequent turnover in the office. Several leasing agents (not all) and the fill-in manager (Maria) were generally rude and uncooperative. I found my favorites and utilized their assistance. Generally, I got the most satisfaction when I dealt with the manager (Erica) directly, and in person. Don't even bother telephoning in your requests - it's a waste of time. Erica also tends to be in meetings. A lot.
BE SURE TO KEEP AND READ YOUR LEASE PAPERWORK. You WILL need it.

8. RESIDENTS IN GENERAL. Several of them tend to be part of the problem. When you factor in people with criminal histories (No, that "antenna" on top of one of the apartment buildings is *not* a radio antenna) with kids not supervised by their parents (especially at night) and other people who think their rent payment entitles them to do whatever the heck they want to the property inside and out, you get trouble. On more than one occasion, I have had to ask people congregating around my apartment and/or my car at night to leave or have the police called. The smell of marijuana permeated my hallway on several occasions. The walls of the apartments are thin. People who are in such a damn hurry in their vehicles nearly ran over kids, pets, me, etc several times. Someone spray-painted "B**CH" on my door after my girlfriend kindly asked some rowdy kids to take their racket elsewhere.

9. LACK OF ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES. You say you want cable' Your only choice is Stellar Communications (owned by Picerne, the property's management company). Your basic analog service costs $47.50. "Digital cable'" Can't have it here. (To their credit, they at least have some popular digital channels like Noggin and National Geographic). Stellar had less than stellar customer service, frequent outages, and is basically resold DirecTV.
"High-speed internet'" When I lived here, Direcway (satellite internet) was the only option. I understand Bellsouth allows DSL in the complex now. Satellite is, however, allowed, but my apartment didn't have a south-facing window so there was no point in having it installed.

10. AMENITIES. The pool was frequently closed, the hot tub icky at best. There is a very tiny playground next to the pool. There are very few areas in which my daughter and I could safely ride our bikes. I didn't use the "car wash" area. The vacuum really sucked, though.

11. GROUNDS/LANDSCAPING. Aside from bushes and a few trees and the clubhouse landscaping, the grounds were minimalist at best, and not well maintained. Several sprinkler heads around my unit were damaged; they mostly "geysered" instead of "sprinkled". Minor flooding obviously resulted.
There are also "No Swimming" signs around the ponds in the complex for a reason. You couldn't pay me to swim in that goodness-knows-what's-in-there soup. People actually FISHED out of them'! *barf*

Valuable advice: RENT A CARPET CLEANER AND PERFORM FINAL WALK-THROUGH WITH A MANAGEMENT MEMBER WHEN MOVING OUT. I cleaned the heck out of my apartment and got my full security deposit back. I didn't receive my pet deposit back at first. The leasing agent's response was "It's fully non-refundable", but my lease stated otherwise. Erica had the pet deposit check issued after I pointed it out.

Given all the pros, if Picerne (at a minimum) got rid of the roaches, did better screening of their applicants, held more frequent resident inspections, and got some more dumpsters into the property, I might recommend Stratford Point. However, they won't, so I won't.

User Responses
From: longing2buy	Date: 08/16/2006
So true, only I never had a problem with roaches. And in the 4 years that I lived there I was only in the pool 3 times.
From: iREALLYhatemyapt	Date: 08/31/2006
This place totally SUCKS!!! I've lived here 3 yrs. and have had problems since the day I moved in. They make it so hard to move b'c I've already been told that I'll basically have no deposit left. How do they know that when I haven't even moved, b'c they basically cheat you oout of everything they can, including quality of life!It's so bad, that no one will deliver pizza here and even the police officers have moved out!

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