This apartment was wonderful. If we had not been able to purchase our own home, we would have been happy to live here for a very long time. When we moved in, the apartment was extremely clean except for two or three minor things. When we pointed them out to the staff, the problems were resolved immediately. The noise on the bottom floor is no more than you would have in any other apartment or two story building. We never had an issue with it, and our neighbors were all incredibly polite. The grounds (and the pools) are beautiful and very well maintained. Better than any I've seen in Bakersfield. We were a bit concerned that the neighborhood might be a little rough since the apartment is in Oildale, but we never had a problem. Some people have mentioned dumpster divers, but that happens at any apartment, and the management at Whispering Meadows gated and keyed the trash area recently to help discourage dumpster diving.
I cannot say enough good things about the management at Whispering Meadows. They were always more than accommodating. Almost every issue we had was resolved within a few days. Anything urgent, even on the weekends, was taken care of immediately. We had bathroom drawers break and a leak in the master bedroom window, and maintenance came in and repaired it with no accusations toward us. At Whispering Meadows they have specific maintenance days for anything non-urgent, and we never had a problem with them lagging on fixing anything. Everything is very organized and the management does everything they can to make living there a good experience. They had free pumpkins for the kids at Halloween, Sees candy for the residents at Christmas, and organized a complex-wide yard sale that everyone could participate in. As for the negatives I have read about the manager...I really feel they are being said by people who were poor tenants. She is absolutely accessible and really cares when there is a problem. But she is a no-nonsense kind of person and I think she wouldn't put up with any shenanigans from tenants.
There were no negatives for us. We loved this place.