This might sound over the top to some, but I moved to Tampa because of this apartment complex. It was the first thing I saw when I went to visit my fiancee for the first time. At the time, he lived in Oak Ramble with a roommate. I thought the place was beautiful. When I finally moved to Tampa to live with him, we had to move to a more economical apartment home for the time being, but within a year we had both moved up enough in our jobs to be able to afford moving back into Oak Ramble.
We were able to get one of the large one-bedrooms with vaulted ceilings. The previous tenant had lived there for 20 years, so the apartment had been gutted and its interior rebuilt. They did a terrific job; everything except for the dishwasher was brand new. The countertops and floors looked beautiful and were easy to maintain, and the bathroom was large with a mirrored vanity closet, which was a nice suprise because it was not pictured in the floorplan. It was a comfortable, spacious home. We never had a problem with anything while we lived there-not with the AC or wiring or anything. The office staff was friendly and helpful, and they were always letting the community know what was going on well in advance-future improvements, apartment inspections, etc.
We were near the Bruce B. Downs entrance, facing a small pond. It was beautiful in the mornings with all the ducks and birds there. The ducks are SO friendly! They think people exist solely to feed them. Even if you never feed them, they will greet you when you arrive, and escort you to your car when you leave. We thought they were adorable.
I loved the grounds, with the old oak trees and the Spanish moss, the ponds, and the walkways with the gazebos. There is a gym, and the machines are well maintained, but it is very, very small. You might be better off at the YMCA, which is only 5 minutes down the street. There are two swimming pools, which we always found clean, and a hot tub (it was located in a gazebo next to the office-we loved the setting!) that was always working.
The parking space is adequate; we could always find a place to park even at night when everyone was home. The lighting is fine; the hedges are kept short, so no one can hide behind them to jump at you. It is a gated community, but it is true that the one gate that is closed at night wasn't always working, and the back gate was never closed at all. Still, we always felt safe there, and didn't have a problem with going out for walks late at night. There are intruder alarms in the apartments, which you can choose to have activated or not. We didn't, and never had a problem.
We never had a problem with noise from the neighbors either. Towards the end, a new tenant moved in next door and she had a dog that you could hear bark if you were in the living room, but it was not really bothersome, especially if you had the television on, and you couldn't hear it at all in the bedroom. The bedroom seemed to be insulated; my fiancee liked to watch his movies loud, and even though the bed was against the wall where the TV was on the other side, I still couldn't hear it in the bedroom.
My one complaint is lack of storage space. We felt there could have been at least one more closet, and we didn't have that much stuff that needed storing to begin with!
But we really loved living there. It was a comfortable, spacious home, and it truly felt ours. The rent was not bad either, on the mid-low end for the size and quality of the apartment we had, in my opinion. Everything was energy-efficient, so even in the summer, our light bill never exceeded $80 if we remembered to turn off the lights.
Our intention was to stay in Oak Ramble until we could get a house, but my fiancee was accepted at school in Southern Florida for a program that was not available at USF, and we had to move to the Fort Lauderdale area. Our apartment down here is nice, larger and with plenty of storage, but I still miss our apartment in Oak Ramble. If you are still going to school or are just starting out living on your own, Oak Ramble is a wonderful place to call home.
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