First, the positives: the complex is backed by the Burke-Gilman trail, and is at the end of a road, so noise from traffic is virtually non-existant, and the surroundings are pretty nice. The SDSL access is nice - relatively inexpensive for 1 megabit up and down. The kitchen is huge and fairly well-appointed, with stove, microwave, frig, and center island - while the appliances are nothing special, they are quite serviceable. There are three full baths in this unit - one off the master bedroom with shower, one upstairs "main" bathroom with bathtub (both of these on the third floor), and one (with shower) on the first floor, next to the "guest room"/third bedroom. There is a single car garage with this unit, and sufficient space to park a small car in the driveway. There's a small deck that looks out over a fountain area near the main access to the trail, with sufficient room for a small barbeque and/or some plants and a couple of chairs. There are lots of large windows, and high ceilings, which contribute to an overall spacious and light atmosphere. There is a fireplace, which works quite well for a small fire on a chilly winter evening. The complex offers a recreation area with a small, 24/7 exercise room with decent equipment, a pool (available May - October 1, depending on when it gets cold) and an outdoor hot tub, as well as lounge chairs and gas barbeque grills. The pool and hot tub are available from 8 am - 10 pm, daily.

Now, the less pleasant aspects. When we moved into this unit, it was very new (one previous occupant). Within a short time we had carpeting come unglued from the stairs, linoleum coming up in the kitchen, a stair that we noticed was broken (not immediately apparent unless you step where the break is) and discovered that the handrails on all the stair areas are installed without any support beyond the drywall, instead of being screwed into studs. Note that the adults in this house are not party types, and indeed, we're pretty quiet and certainly not destructive sorts. The walls, when examined, have odd bulges in the drywall, and I would be hard-put to find a straight wall in the place.

The wiring, which we were informed when we moved in was Cat 5 networking, was actually standard bell-telephone wire, and only supports the incoming DSL in one single location in the house (though they've pre-staged jacks in most rooms so that the choice of that single location is yours). This necessitated running cable to support computers in multiple locations in the townhouse, which is very odd for new construction in an area that is bound to attract renters from high tech software companies!

The walls are quite thin - while we, luckily, live in an end unit with only one neighbor, and as a rule they aren't particularly noisy people, but we can't miss it when they leave or come home, as the sound of the door closing behind them or the garage door opening echoes on every floor of the place.

Guest parking in the complex is almost never available, because many of the units have a single car garage and no additional parking, and many of the units are occupied by multiple adults sharing rent. Heaven forbid that in a 3 or 4 bedroom townhome in these price ranges, you might actually expect to have 3 or 4 adults who all have cars! The unit has 1.5 parking spaces per unit, INCLUDING garage space.

The so-called "gated community" this complex offers is virtually not present. In the entire time that we've lived here (2 years), the gates have perhaps functioned a total of 4 months, in 1-3 week spurts. As I type this, the gates have once again stood open for the last month. Even when they are supposedly working, they are flaky. If I had moved here because this was a "secure" complex, I would have been sorely disappointed.

Office hours are dismal, although they at least offer some weekend hours. Currently, they are 10-6 weekdays, 11-5 weekends. When we moved in, hours were 9-7 weekdays, 9-6 Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday. It is next to impossible to get into the office on a weekday, and often if you DO get to the office, you end up waiting for the one person on duty to return from showing a townhome. However, even with office hours that most people with regular business hours have difficulty making, they complain if a package is delivered and can't be picked up by the next day from their so-called "concierge service".

While most of the staff are friendly, they are overall ineffective in taking care of the place - service requests are misplaced or just plain not taken care of (although by golly, the leaf blowers are at work most mornings, and they must paint the curbs at least once a month!), and other concerns require bypassing the local staff entirely and finding a high-level regional Trammel-Crowe executive to talk to before it is taken care of.

The hot tub has been a problem - the jets work intermittently at best, and the complex management has not had them fixed.

Overall, I have been very disappointed in Avignon, and we will be looking elsewhere in the near future. For the price, I believe you can do far better elsewhere.

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