It's not Fox Ridge, the Village, or any of the other great complexes in Blacksburg, but University Place is a decent place to spend acouple of years. I spent 4 years there and have friends that'll end up being there way longer. We all generally like it. The rent is cheap: Ours was somewhere around 725 a month for a 3 bdrm. New tenants probably won't get that exact rate as our lease was continiously renewed for almost 8 years (roommate switches when someone graduated). A new tenant rate will still probably be cheaper than other complexes.

Here's a run down:

Staff: We rented through Townside, which has an effy reputation (like all realtors it depends on who you talk to), but were very nice so long as you pay on time. Maintainence was handled pretty well, but if your problem isn't urgent you might wait a day or two.

Parking: 3 bedrooms, 2 parking spots - not hard to see where the problem there is. Don't park where theres no spot either. Valley Towing (formerly Tech Tow) has numerous complaints for towing cars with for the slightest reasons.

Noise: Alittle less noisy than your typical college town apartment complex. There are some that like to wonder around in the parking lot at 2ish from time to time.

Grounds: Nothing special. Usually cleaner outside when they show apartments than other times. The mowers miss spots.

Construction: Old buildings with old building problems. We lived on the first floor and never had roaches, or other bugs. We didn't have flood or mold problems either. We did have to call in to have the patio drain unclogged, but the other downstairs apartment had the same problem at the same time.

Safety: Pretty safe. No breakins that I can remember. I've seen a car run into, but the person left a note. We had some plastic patio furniture stolen when we were gone for acouple weeks. Also ended up with a shopping cart in the patio one night. Get a second or third floor apartment and you won't have that problem. It is easily a safe area, but then again just about everywhere is safe in Blacksburg.

Location: Great. Just behind Kroger and University mall. Toms Creek A, Toms Creek B, and Univ Mall bus routes are all nearby.

Telecommunications: NTC is crap and they know it. Now that they've merged with Shentel its worse. Not much you can do though, since half of Blacksburg has to deal with it. The other half has Adelphia, which probably is only marginally better. As far as I know, you don't have a choice at most apartment complexes in Blacksburg. My advice is to buy a good wireless router and only purchase one account from NTC for phone, cable, and internet. I also advise to encrypt your connection so only you and your roomates can connect through it (don't want someone else stealing bandwidth).

Again, its not the greatest place in the world, but everyone there seems to like it. I recommend a 2nd or third story apartment on the back side of the buildings (they end in 4 and 6). That'll give you alittle more room than the front apartments (it won't seem like much, but it ends up being a big difference when you lay out your living room). It also gets you off the ground so you don't have any typical first floor problems.

Hope this helps. GO HOKIES

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