Pros:
Location is very convenient, especially for UNC medical school, dental school, public health, social work, pharmacy, nursing.

Grounds are pretty. Pool is nice.

Apartments are spacious. Nice closet space, good sized bathroom, etc.

Parking is pretty available. Depending on where your apartment is, you might have to park a little further away, but there's always a spot. There have been a few car break ins, but it is one of the safer complexes.

Free gym membership!

Cons
Noise insulation between apartments is awful. Really really awful. I thought I was living below a sumo wrestler--not so...just a petite woman. Unless you live on the top floor (where apartments are more expensive), you will hear normal volume music, television, showering, phone conversations, your neighbor walking, etc. Don't plan on studying at night if you need peace and quiet.

Office staff--nice but not very capable.

Lack of notice about repairs that will require someone to enter your apartment. They always apologize for 'the short notice', but after the 5th 'short notice' you stop being sympathetic.

I had all of the belongings on my balcony soaked because they pressure washed the balconies with no notice *at all*. I woke up to strange men climbing on my balcony spraying the wood and soaking my belongings.
They put a sign up later that day about the balcony washings. Helpful.

We were told that we would have to have our balconies empty for 8 weeks while painting was done. They refused to give a ballpark estimate for when the painters might get to a specific building (There are 6).

I think they are on their third repair staff in a year. Maybe this one will be able to fix my sink. I had to call 3 times in one day because the 'repair' kept breaking. Then I gave up and have been using a sink with no stopper for a few months. I have neighbors who have leaks in their ceilings that have been there for months.

They don't change the locks between residents, no matter what they say. My neighbor found a spare key to her apartment hanging on a nail around the corner from her apartment. It still worked in her lock.

They started having us pay our water bills with the rent because some residents weren't paying their water bills on time. They also added a $2 'convenience charge' to the bills. They said that the water company required it. The water company says that it was Sterling Bluff's choice to add the charge. So you're charged a convenience fee to do something you have no choice about and may not want to do in the first place.

I don't necessarily think that Sterling Bluff is doing that much worse than other apartment complexes in the area. But for the amount of money you pay to live here, they should be doing a lot better. Shop around--there are way too many complexes in the area to live here. You get things like free movie rentals and there are a few gym pieces on the grounds that you can use, but consider whether the extra costs are worth the perks that you might or might not use.

User Responses
From: bebopper	Date: 04/30/2006
wow...a useful review. Thanks

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