Jefferson 2nd Apartment Thoughts

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
1

<p>For those of you who live(d) or know someone who lives in Jefferson, what are your/their thoughts about it? A few friends and I are looking to live there in the fall.</p>

<p>Do you feel comfortable and safe living in that area? Walking to campus and everything?</p>

<p>How does visitor parking work? The lady who gave us a tour said guests can park in the garage if the resident lets them through the gate. That has to be the biggest lie ever because in the lease I believe it states that if you don't park on the correct floor or spot, you'll be towed. I believe this 100% because I was there last night, and there was the truck towing cars which weren't supposed to be parked there I'm sure.</p>

<p>Is the bus generally full? I think it's kind of annoying that only one bus passes by there every 20 minutes.</p>

<p>I assume there's a cable (TV) jack in every room. Also, even though there's wireless throughout the apartment, is there still an Ethernet port in each room?</p>

<p>L-shaped rooms? Weirdest things ever. I hope I don't have to live in one.</p>

<p>Any opinions, comments, or answers to my questions are greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>My D is living at Jefferson now, in fact we are here now staying with her for the weekend. As far as parking goes, I think they are assigned now by floor. As visitors you go to the office and get a pass. Then you have to park on the top floor. Otherwise you’ll get towed because the first five floors are for residents.</p>

<p>She feels very safe here. I just don’t think you would walk alone at night too far from the complex. That is going to be the case anywhere. </p>

<p>There are cable outlets in each room. I see a data outlet in the living room, but not in the bedrooms. The wireless works fine in her apartment.</p>

<p>As far as the bus goes, the number 1 goes to campus every 20 minutes, but it doesn’t come that close to the northeast side of campus where most of D’s classes, so it’s much more convenient to walk the five blocks. Straight down 2nd Ave and you’re there. She works in the Reitz Union, so it does come in handy to take the bus home from work in the afternoons since that’s quite a long walk. She does that walk though sometimes if she just misses the bus. </p>

<p>Like many of the new apartments, they seem to have been slapped together and things definitely get a lot of wear and tear, but any problems with maintenance have been resolved.</p>

<p>If it’s any indication, she did opt to lease here again next year. I think the location being in walking distance to campus, the reasonable prices, the covered parking garage and large kitchen and newness of the complex are what make this more appealing than the many other apartment options in town.</p>

3

<p>I have a few friends who live there and like it; I have a few friends who live there and don’t. I, personally, wouldn’t live there.</p>

<p>It’s fine during the day, but the complex is literally the dividing mark between what’s decent and new and what’s really really sketchy. I’ve never heard about much crime there, but it’s not somewhere you’d want to walk around at in the night.</p>

<p>Visitor parking is a huge pain. If it’s late, it’s much easier for visitors to find street parking a few blocks away and walk to the complex. Visitors get to park on the top floor of the garage, which you have to come down from your room and let them in for.</p>

<p>No idea about the bus - one of the main perks is that is is definitely close enough to walk to campus from. Probably faster to do that than wait for the bus, sometimes.</p>

<p>Be warned - the rooms are small. Not unlivable, and the private bathrooms and walk-in closets are really nice, but you don’t have room for much more than the bed, desk and dresser other than an aisle of walking space.</p>

<p>Also, it’s really loud. That’s going to be a problem in most complexes in Gainesville, but Jefferson’s walls are paper-thin and the biggest complaint I get from friends who live there is that they can hear their neighbor sneeze. If someone’s throwing a party in your near vicinity, expect to stay up unless you’re a heavy sleeper.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the responses. I’ve been to Jefferson a few times, and I know the rooms are small. I also know the area isn’t very good. One thing I can say is that we haven’t heard much noise in the hallways or from other apartments.</p>

<p>Either way, we aren’t sure where we want to live anymore. We may go to The Estates instead. None of these places are going to be amazing, but we have to go with what’s available in Gainesville and have to pick a place we may enjoy living.</p>

<p>Judgment day is Saturday/Sunday… we’ll be signing somewhere then.</p>

5

<p>Seriously stay away. They can entice you with the cleaner and newer look of the place, but it has been 7 months since our lease ended and we still have bills coming after us. They charged each of us $140 for painting when we made sure to paint the walls with the paint they gave us, $60 in vacumming charges/each, $74 late fee, and over $50 in utility charges that I already paid. </p>

<p>When I called them up they told me they had no record, which isn’t a suprise because twice I paid them rent and they applied it to someone else’s account, after I talked to them they figured out I was right, but I still had to pay a late fee because I didn’t come and talk to them quick enough. </p>

<p>The place looked awesome from the outside, but the walls are paper thin, things fall apart in a matter of months - which you pay for - and I could keep on going, but I’ll stop. There are so many better places to put your money. I estimate that they’ve charged me close to $700 in extra charges up to this point, which you can’t haggle out of because then they’ll just reuin your credit</p>

6

<p>This review helped me decide NOT to live there.</p>

<p>"Terrible - Read this review in full before renting.
From: -Anonymous-
Date posted: 12/7/2009
Years at this apartment: 2009 - 2009
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<a href=“http://www”>www</a>. TheShaneReport. com
Lived here since August of '09. The only good things I can say about Jefferson are that it’s furnished and a good location.</p>

<p>Problems:</p>

<p>Move-in: This year, my move in day was August 15th (but they made me pay for the whole month), and my apartment was completely unsatisfactory. Carpet stains from the last tenant everywhere, mildew in the shower, marks all over the walls. Throughout the remainder of August, about 5 different crews came into my apartment, unannounced, at different times (once, when I was getting out of the shower), to fix these problems. All of this should have been taken care of before August 15th. And this wasn’t just our apartment - our neighbors all faced the same situation.</p>

<p>Parking: Everything looks nice when they take you on the tour and show you the big parking garage. What they don’t tell you is that you won’t have a first floor spot. Before signing a lease, drive up the parking garage just to see how high up it is for most people to park. You have to take the parking garage elevator all the way down, walk to your building, take your building elevator back up, and then walk to your room. Before I signed my lease, I failed to realize this ridiculous commute from my car to my room. From the time I park (4th floor parking spot), to the time that I open my door (3rd floor) it takes approximately 13 minutes. </p>

<p>Poor management: Lie about lease terms to to get you to sign lease (see all of my other points). They tell you that utilities, cable, and internet are included, but the way I see it, they aren’t. Being fairly conservative with our electricity usage, every month my roommates and I have managed to go above the maximum cap that Jefferson pays each month, resulting in significant charges. Additionally, if you’d like HD or DVR with your cable, that’s $20 more/month. And the internet is pretty slow. In my case, I opted to get my own internet with a Verizon Broadband card for $40/month. Additionally, management never answers the phone. Some are not pleasant to deal with - Chantel (spelling’), the assistant manager, has been particularly rude on multiple occasions. </p>

<p>Overpriced: If you’re considering this place, look around the area within one square mile - there a lot of comparable places at much better prices.</p>

<p>Noise: Walls are paper-thin - JMG Management (who owns the building) went with cheap materials in the construction phase. You wouldn’t believe the things I can hear not only between my room and my roommates’ rooms, but also between floors and apartments. Enough said.</p>

<p>I wish I had more positive things to say, but I just don’t. I really wonder if this complex can continue to run a sustainable business at their current rates.</p>

<p>If, after reading this, you’re still thinking about signing here, I ll offer you a key tip: Wait until 1 week before school starts to sign your lease - myself and some other friends signed at that time, and the rates we got are far cheaper ($200/month savings) than anyone else is paying…we know this because we’ve asked around. To reiterate, do not sign your lease between September and June - you will pay significantly more and be locked in at that rate. I heard several times a few months before school started that they re near capacity, or that the rates will go up, but it s a bluff.</p>

<p>I would also suspect that any positive reviews (like the last 2) were written by employees…but that’s just my opinion. </p>

<p>Read more: <a href="http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/FL-Gainesville-Jefferson-2nd-Avenue-1010598.html#ixzz0oToSYlyM"&gt;http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/FL-Gainesville-Jefferson-2nd-Avenue-1010598.html#ixzz0oToSYlyM&lt;/a&gt;"&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>DO NOT live there. I’m here now and I absolutely detest living here. My lease is up at the end of July and I can’t be more excited for that day to get here. Everything that has been said so far is true. Not only are the walls paper thin, but also the flooring is as well. I can literally hear every time the guy above me orgasms. The elevators in the parking garage AND the buildings are always broken. They are only nice before you sign the lease. The neighborhood surrounding it is low income and high crime. Just the other day I saw a guy walk up to someone’s bike, pull out a bolt cutter and cut the lock to steal the persons bike. All in BROAD DAYLIGHT! I’m fairly certain they will charge us a ton of money upon move out with the way they’ve responded thus far.</p>

<p>to sum it all up, live somewhere else!</p>

8

<p>I agree with everyone else. The ONLY good thing about Jefferson is how close it is to campus, and maybe the size of the kitchen. Other than that, the noise is ridiculous and management is anything but helpful. I can’t wait until my lease is up…</p>