I thought I had gotten a very good deal at Lake Sweetwater when I moved in and I mostly enjoyed my experience there. My apartment was very nice (better than advertised) and the staff seemed friendly. However, since I had an end unit, I was probably a lot better off than most people there.

One might complain about the noise level, the neighbors (lots of domestic disputes), the crime (there were some car break-ins; my neighbor had his windshield busted over something relatively minor), but I almost expected that stuff so it didn't bother me too much.

If you have concerns about theft and vandalism, however, you might think twice. The parking lot itself can be a dangerous area, but I'm a male in my 20s and always felt I was capable of handling any problems that could arise if I just took certain safety precautions and kept an eye out of fishy situations. It's worth noting that there a lot of dimly lit and isolated areas that are just ripe from crime, but I didn't have any issues personally. One of things that irritated me was the fact that I didn't have a porch light at all, which potentially could've allowed someone to hide at my doorway and mug me fairly easily given the fact that most of the side-entrance apartments are not very visible to anyone.

I definitely do not recommend the management at LS. They screwed me over when I moved out, deciding to charge me for ludicrous stuff (for instance, it supposedly cost them $40 or so to clean the oven, which I barely used and had cleaned rather thoroughly before leaving). They sent me a letter saying I needed to pay some amount in damages. I decided to pay it even though I thought it was a bit exaggerated and absurd. Somehow, my check was cashed but they claimed they never got it and turned me over to a collection agency (without even calling me first despite the fact that my phone number never changed).

There were also instances where I complained about obvious safety issues in the parking lot and they never really took any actions. For instance, one of my idiot neighbors decided to take up about a half-dozen of the closer, well-lit parking spaces with some old truck that didn't even have tags. The truck was never used at all and at first, I thought it might even be a stolen vehicle dumped off at our building. Instead of requiring the tenant to move the truck back further in the lot (where no one parked anyway - which shouldn't matter since he never drove it), they just allowed him to stay in the prime, safer areas. So not only did tenants have to park in more distant and less safe areas because of the truck, the truck also created a nice little shield for lurkers and criminals to hide behind (or under) before catching victims by surprise. There were actually instances of people getting mugged in that area before (both before the truck was parked and afterwards), so it strikes me as negligence and sheer incompetence not to remedy an obvious issue like this. Even if it weren't a safety issue, they should've made him park somewhere else anyway since it's not exactly fair that an unused truck that is not even legally registered takes up 6-8 prime parking spaces. In any case, this issue was never remedied and went on for at least 5 months before I moved away.

Even with all the issues I've gone over, my time at LS wasn't that bad because the apartment was very nice, but now, I do have a collector after me for something I don't even owe them and shouldn't have had to pay to begin with, so as I have suggested, be very wary of management.

Overall, despite most of the problems associated with the community, it was a good value for me at the time (only $525/month!). However, considering the fact that it appears they have jacked up the rental rates by quite a bit, hence negating the one reason one might actually consider moving there (low rent), I'd not recommend LS. You can find a better deal in the Pleasant Hill/Duluth/Norcross area than this. It's almost appalling that they've raised the rents despite the fact that the apartments were getting significantly worse in terms of crime, quality, and several other factors while I lived there.

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