Apartment Review for Royal Village Apartments - Gainesville, FL

I've lived in Royal Village for one year and the proximity to campus is very convenient. The proximity to the homeless persons park, the industrial plant, and the hooker corner sucks. There are at least three homeless people that raid the dumpsters every day, along with the family of raccoons that live in it, and when I report it to the office staff, they say there's nothing they can do. The parking lot is terrible. There is about ten visitor parking spots that are constantly full. Be prepared to wait for 15 minutes for a visitor parking pass from the inept office staff. The spots are not standard size, they are much smaller and everyone who lives here must've never learned how to park a car straight. My jeep has been broken into twice here, I believe the homeless men from the park sleep in it. I have "W.A." keyed into my hood and the manager told me there's nothing he can do about it. My hitch was stolen, and my glove box handle broken off because it was locked. Getting a decal was a nightmare because I needed a sticker instead of a hang tag and the office doesn't charge scooters for parking, they park in the bike racks. Anyone can take your mail because the mailboxes are so flimsy the whole row shakes when you open one box. The pool has been closed for over a week for no reason, which I like because it stopped the parties for awhile. There is a party every day at the pool and it is always trashed with red cups. The pool only gets cleaned once a week so you get really used to the trash. Make sure you bring your own propane for the grill too, it's not included, and I really have an extra cylinder in my back pocket ready to use. I hope you like daily emails too. The office floods your inbox with emails about crap all the time. Every time I have gone into the office, I end up having to ask the manager my question because his staff is so incompetent. The maintenence is friendly, but you have to make multiple calls to get anything fixed. They come out within a day, but try cheap, quick fixes first and don't fix the problem until the third time they're called out. It happened three times, first with our a/c, then the dryer, and then the garbage disposal. It is pretty quiet, I've rarely heard my neighbors, but I'm also on the third floor. Whoever built the complex though didn't plan ahead. The stair up to the third floor are not covered, and everytime it rains the water pools on the walkways for days before finally evaporating. The apartments have cheap finishes, vinyl floor in the kitchen and bathrooms, fiberglass tubs, and are dingy. It wasn't so bad when I moved in to complain about, but the apts are clearly old and not well maintained. The only time the complex was landscaped is in the spring during prime leasing time. I moved here because my roommates chose the apartment and I wanted to live with them. They chose it because of the all inclusive rent. Well the internet is ridiculously slow and will go out for days at a time, but the office still has internet so you have to go down there to watch your lectures. The apartments are badly insulated so utilities almost always go over the $30 stipend amount. I paid an extra $30 a month over the summer. I live in a four bedroom and my rent is $500 a month. I've moving in the fall and have found so many more apartments that have cheaper rent, with more amenities within the same proximiy to campus. My advise: there are quieter, cleaner places to live that have knowledgeable staff and isn't filled with Sorority house rejects.