The Woods of Centerville

The Woods is certainly the cheapest option in the area for clear reasons; the place is the definition of the "landlord special." My frustrations with the Woods are both with 1) the physical quality of the unit I had rented and 2) with the rude management, which clearly does not take pride in the product they provide to renters.
In terms of physical quality, everything inside of units was clearly cheaply made and of poor quality. Paint is caked throughout the place on walls, switches plates,... bathroom countertops, and bathtub (which I understand isn't out of the ordinary, but still undesirable).This is especially an issue in the bathroom, where simply taking a shower or scrubbing the tub can result in sheets of paint flaking off or sticking to your feet. Interior doors and closet doors are low quality/not hung right, catching on carpet and falling out of the tracks. Window insulation is insufficient and the windows themselves are practically unusable; they have likely needed replaced for decades. Pests were another issue I had experienced, with dead bugs everywhere in the unit from the day I moved in. Finally, the attic above my unit hosted rodents for months throughout the winter and spring. While I understand that the Woods would contract this issue out to an exterminator, it still reflects the quality of the housing and worth mentioning, as I listened to animals up in the ceiling for weeks and weeks.
Additionally, management is hard to work with. It seemed nearly impossible to contact the office, as they simply didn't pick up the phone during business hours. As with most people working a typical job, I only had the flexibility to communicate with the office in the later afternoon, and I struggled to get a hold of the office when I called before 5pm. Move-out communication was especially frustrating, as property manager Kayde simply cannot find any polite words at all.
Ultimately, any money you save from cheap rent you will lose to energy bills due to energy efficiency problems and it is just not worth the abysmal quality of this place. My recommendation for anyone looking for affordable housing is to spend an extra hundred dollars or so on a different place; you will regret signing a lease with the Woods. Read More

I don't understand the bad reviews honestly. I have lived here for 7 years and have never had any issues. Maintenance is quick and the office ladies are nice. I get spiders in my apartment sometimes because it's literally on the tree line but the office offers free pest control and that takes care of it for a while. The place is updated all the time it doesn't even look the same as when I moved in forever ago they do so much it looks great.

When I moved in I was told to make maintenance requests online, unless it’s an emergency. Well, I tried that but the site is invalid. I notified them of that, via phone, in May when my water heater broke.

Fast forward to June/July/August, my electric bill started to increase significantly, eventually doubling what I’ve ever paid anywhere I have ever rented. I realized my AC wasn’t keeping up with the heat outside. I checked my windows & there is little to no sealing whatsoever. Literally, they... can be moved side to side.

I called the office about this on 8/8 & was told they were down a maintenance guy, but they’d give me a call with a day they could come out the following week. I never heard back so I followed up 8/13, which I was told someone would be out the next week. I called again, on 8/23 & was told that I’m on the list - no time frame or idea of when someone would be out.

Finally, on 8/28 I came home to my air set at 68° (which is what I’m having to set it at to keep it at a reasonable temp with the heat coming through the windows) but the actual temp in my apartment reaching 77° at one point.

I finally, after 3 weeks, was able to get someone from maintenance out here to take a look at my windows on 8/29. He confirmed my windows were leaking air from outside, stating that they are the original windows from when this place was built (60 years old is what he told me). So I asked if maintenance could weather strip the windows & was flat out told “no - but feel free to spend time downstairs, it’s cooler.” He also told me I’d be considered lucky if my air reached 80°.

I then went back to speaking with the office, where the lady continued to argue with me on the issue. I had told her for 3 weeks it’s a window issue, her response has been “your ac seems to work fine.” They’ve told me they have no plans to fix the issue at hand & that the windows will be replaced at some point, but conveniently can’t give a time frame. She also advised to keep my ac set at a higher temp so I don’t bust my ac. She also advised I purchase a window unit.

Not only has the heat been an issue, but bugs. The amount of bugs inside my apartment is INSANE because they are able to get in through the windows so easily. I guess I should’ve known when the office manager killed TWO bugs in the model apartment on my tour. Read More

The staff despises the tenants. The longer you live here the more they feel inconvenienced by you. The only place cleaned is the office. They only vacuum the halls when showing units. You will have to clean your own washers and dryers in the laundry room, they're usually full of hair ect. Nobody here cares, the staff actually complains to tenants about tenants. I've lived here almost 7yrs and will not be resigning in a couple months. Here's just a few of the other reasons why. Bathtubs are... repainted but not properly prepped so paint peels off and sticks to your feet. Counters in kitchen and bath spray painted over and over, not unheard of but usually done in the projects. Once again tho not properly done so it sticks to anything that sits on it for a bit then peels and looks awful. In 5 years they've fixed my tub leaking over and over because they do the same band aid fix every time. Lasts about a month and a half each time. Fixed it myself in 10 min and $3 at Home Depot 7 months ago since we do have to pay big for water here. It's not even metered by apartment, billed by a company in Florida, and more than I was paying at my house married with a kid. But the final straw was with everything falling apart the replaced the lights outside the doors with these oversized fixtures that stick way out. I already had to take mine off just to move my new bed in. Now they're taking off the solid wood front doors that had two solid locks on them and replacing them with, like everything else, some very cheap lightweight doors with a super cheap single lock. The door is hung crooked so there's a gap up top and the deadbolt barely reaches the door frame. Pretty sure a hard shove would open it. I could go on, too bad really. An owner who cared could make real money here but most I know are leaving. Read More

Safety- good

The reason I say not to live here is there are LOADS of issues that have not and will not address. They have rodents and roaches, ants and squirrels... You name the pest and there is a preexisting issue. Some apartments have them before you even move in.
Not to mention the state of the apartments. Cabinets can come clearly warped from water, windows can come broken/installed incorrectly, bugs come and go from gaps in doors and windows. The electricity is shotty with many... switches and outlets not working. The apartment staff just shrug.
Air quality is bad in all apartments. Toilets run and drip.
The state of the apartments' cleanliness is a whole other thing. They don't clean very well and leave actual piles of dirt and debris in the apartment.


You have to scrape to have maintenance come out and when they do, they only fix one thing at a time and some hate their jobs (they said so) and they're rude to you. It's like pulling teeth to schedule maintenance and for them to even show up on time.
The office staff are nice... On the surface but they don't want to deal with fixes and problems or properly maintain apartments.
Parking is a nightmare and the staff do nothing to ensure families aren't taking up more spaces than their 2.

On the surface level, it's cheaper than some (marginally), much older, and under new management.
There are perks like the gym (which is $10 extra) and pool.
Neighbors are generally nice but some are loud. Windows are thin so you hear everything outside. Read More