Apartment Review for Orchard Pointe Apartments

I lived here for 2 and a half years...
Here are a few of the cons... T
he office staff rarely if ever calls you back, when you go in person to the office and tell them what's going on they claim they never got your message, even if you leave 2-3 in a week. I ended up just always going in person and letting them know what was going on so that I could tell the apartment manager who I spoke with and when, which resulted in things being fixed most of the time.
They allow dogs, so of course some residents don't clean up after their pets. The apartments do have someone go out once a week or so and pick up after them but still, you can't let your kids play in any of the grassy areas without them stepping in poo.
The nickel and dime you on the deposit, but they are very upfront with it when you sign the lease. They give you a list of charges that you will be charged when you move out and there are a lot of expensive ridiculous charges that not many apartments will charge you. It was harder for us because the apartments changed ownership while we lived there so we didn't find out about the fees until we renewed our lease, and at that point we weren't up for moving just to avoid the fees. We got about 1/3 of our original deposit back, even with scrubbing things with a tooth brush and leaving the place spotless.
The office staff can be rude at times or seem very fake, but if you go in there without an attitude and being reasonable they tend to work with.
If you live by one of the pools you can expect people to be out in it at all hours of the night and a lot of the teenagers think it's really funny to shout swear words while swimming. Also moms and dads at the pool regularly curse, which for some may not matter but for me I really didn't appreciate them swearing around my very young children.
The cops come pretty regularly, there was a drunk minor who passed out in front of my building once so we had a firetruck, ambulance and cop there until nearly midnight trying to locate his parents as well as bring him round.
You also regularly find teenagers smoking cigs and pot between the buildings and in the entry ways.
The play area is in shambles, it has concrete underneath it with a small layer of rocks to "break their fall", my kids got splinters from it a few times and really it's just an old and outdated play structure.

Here are some of the pros:

You get your own wood burning fireplace and they have a chimney sweep come out every year to maintain it.
There are two pools and a hot tub so normally in the summer if 1 pool is busy the other is not as overwhelming.
The manager T-low will handle any problem you've got if you're having problems with the other office staff. Just be polite to him and he is willing to work with you on just about anything.
Never had any issues with mold like in some apartments we've lived in.

I know, the cons highly outweigh the pros, but if you need someplace to live then this is not a bad place to make your home for a few years until you can move up and buy your own house or afford something a bit nicer on the east side of town.

I do want to STRESS, if you have elementary school aged children, STAY AWAY. Endeavour Elementary is an absolutely horrible school. My son regularly came home with bruises and in tears from much older children bullying him on the playground and in the lunch room. After 3 months of trying to get the school to do something I finally pulled him out and started home schooling him. The principal told me that "his school life should stay at school" and that " I shouldn't bother myself with worrying about what happens on recess, kids always exaggerate things." I do not think any child should be put in that type of situation and I highly highly recommend looking elsewhere if you have elementary school aged children, for their own safety. - Sadly this is nothing the apartment can control but should be taken into consideration when moving.