Hi everybody,
I survived my apartment shopping expedition yesterday 😀 I went to Briarcliffe, Dover's Crossing, and Nemoke Trails. After visiting all 3, I decided to sign on w/ Briarcliffe. I paid the $200 to join the "future residents club" and I'll be moving in July 1st. Briarcliffe is ~1mi off US 127 and about 5-10min from Fee (not sure exactly how far, because I took a roundabout way to get to Fee yesterday). It's very easy to find your way around Briarcliffe and the area (btw, Meridian Mall is just a couple miles away).
I went to Briarcliffe first, and Amanda gave me the tour. The rates have been lowered (temporarily) to $479/mo for the 1 bedroom apartments (790ft sq). This rate lasts for the term of your lease (1yr in my case). That was by far the cheapest of the 3 apartments and also the largest of the apartments I saw. The kitchen comes w/ a dishwasher, stove, fridge, garbage disposal, lots of cabinets and counter space. The apts use gas heat I believe and utilities are extra. One of the selling points for me was that there is a LOT of storage space -- a big linen closet, 2 closets in the bedroom [1 is walk-in], and each apartment has a fenced in part of the basement for storing bikes/grills/whatever. The living room/dining room was pretty big, and there's a ceiling fan in the dining room side.
Also, Briarcliffe's first floor apartments are not partly underground like the others were -- that was a plus. The pool was kind of interesting -- half indoors, half outdoors. It wasn't anything special, but it is a pool and the indoor part is open year round. The weight room has about half a dozen machines, just the basics. It is clean, though and doesn't smell.
I was not impressed at all w/ Dover's Crossing. The apartment was smaller, smelled bad, and the hallways were really dark. The room that the washer/dryer was in was like 100 degrees. The salesperson also took us to a dirty apartment! Needless to say, I didn't even take an application.
Nemoke Trails was nice, but more expensive and the apartment I could have afforded was almost 100ft sq less than the one at Briarcliffe. Nemoke was also a bit farther from MSU. If Nemoke had been cheaper, I might have picked it, but it was just a little too pricey for me.
So that's my report -- another A+ for Briarcliffe. Hope some more of you decide to join us there!
btw, medic I PM'ed you about Briarcliffe and the referral program
later,
raDiOnut/Therese