The building is fairly sound and a good place to live. The floor plans and pictures of the complex are here: http://www.clovermanagement.com/RentalInfo.asp'rental_id=10

The photos on the web site are fairly representative of the real thing. The inside pictures must be of a basement apartment, though, because mine doesn't have support beams or posts anywhere to be seen. As for the exterior pictures, that's how the complex looks around June or July and that's building 1345 in the picture.

Pros:
-Management is responsive and good to deal with, I don't dread calling them
-Cindy, the building manager, is very accommodating and personable
-Lease is short, and easy to read, no surprises
-Pet friendly, even to multiple pets
-The apartment itself is quite large
-Rent includes heat and hot water - a definite plus in Western NY
-Central air conditioning and forced-air heat
-Bedrooms 1&3 are _very_ large, bedroom 2 is adequate
-Balcony or deck, with large window and patio door
-Useful dining room
-All bedrooms have a tremendous amount of closet space
-Maintenance workmanship is good
-No water entry, no mold or rot anywhere (this is a problem in this area)
-Complex is relatively quiet - students appear to all be older and professional
-Regular trash pickup, it never accumulates
-The building is kept clean, as are the grounds and common areas
-Drywall in common areas is repainted often - within one to two days of any damage or scrapes to walls (e.g. from moving appliances or furniture up and down stairs)

Cons:
-I can hear my neighbors above me, moving around, having sex, etc. However, I cannot hear my next door neighbors or those below me at all
-No ceiling lights in bedrooms and living room, your outlets are controlled by switches, somewhat inconveniently
-A bit of a drive to most shops or grocery stores, not really walking distance
-Layout kind of impedes air circulation and heat from the furnace
-Bedroom 1 can get cold with two exterior walls and at the end of the heat duct
-Heat only goes up to 72, capped by the thermostat
-Due to the age of the building, the floors are not quite level. Settling causes cracks and furniture may need shims, you may hear noises during the winter
-While maintenance workmanship is good, half the time they require multiple visits
-When something is scheduled on a particular day (e.g. maintenance), it may not actually happen that day, sometimes later that week
-External noise from the road
-Washers and dryers are coin-operated
-Circuit breakers are Federal Pacific.

With that last item, it is very important to have renters insurance and keep the batteries in your smoke detectors fresh. Make sure you have a fire extinguisher at each end of the apartment, and a means of escape. That said, it's not something to worry about every day - don't dwell on it. These are also just common-sense things for any apartment.

You should also know this complex is at the corner of a busy intersection, down the road from a hospital. While that may save your life some day, you will sometimes hear ambulances going past with sirens on. This may be less audible in buildings further from the corner, I don't know. Due to the traffic, it's also really only possible to enter or exit the complex from the one entrance.

I think the place was purchased recently by this management company. They seem to be doing a lot of work on the place, such as a new roof, repairs to the balconies, new windows, retarring the parking lot, etc. To me, this shows they care about their investment and aren't afraid to do large-scale maintenance.

The place is actually very pet friendly. Most of the people in my building have dogs of various sizes or cats, it's not an issue. I rarely, if ever, hear any noise and nobody leaves a mess behind. The pet issue was dealt with very professionally by staff, I was impressed by the service.

Washers and dryers are two each per building, in the basement (this means you share two pair per twelve apartments). They're coin-op and no change machine, so prepare to be buying rolls of coin from your bank on a regular basis. Both washers and dryers are $1.25 per cycle.

In the winter, they're pretty good about plowing away the snow. In the morning, you'll find yourself plowed in, and it's haphazard around the parked cars, but they do the best they can. Walkways are snowblown and salted regularly, and the place is kept up.

It's about a two mile drive to the nearest things like shopping malls and grocery stores, but it's not prohibitive to go there. Such stores include both Tops and Wegmans supermarkets, Lowes, Target, Wal-Mart, BJ's, two malls, and a whole host of smaller stores and restaurants. Across the road from here, there's a gas station, a pizza place, a Japanese restaurant, a Blockbuster, a gym, and a bank. A few hundred feet behind the complex are another restaurant, a 7-11, a Tim Hortons, and a hardware store.

The area is pretty good. Most of what's around is residences, with quite a number of parklands and woodlands, if that's your thing. Right across the road are woods and a park, with what appear to be bike trails or footpaths. Nearby, of course, is the university, but there's hardly any university traffic in this direction.

The complex is almost or entirely full. If there's a unit to rent, that's the one you'll be shown - there is no model.


It's not perfect, but it's home.

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