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I could use a hand with narrowing down an apartment complex search. I will be visiting Nash in November for a relocation scouting trip (I will be relocating to either Dallas or Nashville in May or June). The problem is that there are so many apartment complexes available I'm having a hard time to decide which ones to visit. I won't have time to see them all and I'd like to cut the list down to 4 or 5, so I'd love to hear any feedback.
Here are the apartment complexes that look nice on first glance (from what I can see on their websites):
The Preserve at Brentwood
The Players Club at Brentwood
Mission Brentwood
Alara River Oaks
Vierra Cool Springs
Carrington Hills
Wyndchase Aspen Grove
Royal Oaks of Franklin
Which would you say would be the top 5 in terms of apartment quality, safety and location (shopping/amenities/airport commute)?
If there are other apartment complexes that are really nice that I've missed, I'd love to hear about them, too.
My better half travels for work, so we wouldn't want to be more than a 30 minute drive from the airport- I'm guessing that means we don't want to be any further south than Franklin?
I've also got a miscellaneous rental application question. I won't be able to provide a landlord reference or receipts for rent payments, how big of a problem would this cause to secure a lease? My building is owned by a commercial real estate holding company which issues rental invoices and collects checks by snail mail, but doesn't give receipts. Also, the company is a bit corrupt and doesn't think it needs to follow building code regulations or tenant law. They attempted an illegal eviction on me, so I lawered up. The company backed off, but needless to say they were pissed and continually retaliate by refusing to perform repairs (so I report them to the city authorities for building code violations). While I've never missed rent and pay on time, I don't think the management company would honor my request for a reference (or worse, provide a bad one). On the bright side, my credit is beyond stellar and my debt/income ratio is well in the green.
I could use a hand with narrowing down an apartment complex search. I will be visiting Nash in November for a relocation scouting trip (I will be relocating to either Dallas or Nashville in May or June). The problem is that there are so many apartment complexes available I'm having a hard time to decide which ones to visit. I won't have time to see them all and I'd like to cut the list down to 4 or 5, so I'd love to hear any feedback.
Here are the apartment complexes that look nice on first glance (from what I can see on their websites):
The Preserve at Brentwood
The Players Club at Brentwood
Mission Brentwood
Alara River Oaks
Vierra Cool Springs
Carrington Hills
Wyndchase Aspen Grove
Royal Oaks of Franklin
Which would you say would be the top 5 in terms of apartment quality, safety and location (shopping/amenities/airport commute)?
If there are other apartment complexes that are really nice that I've missed, I'd love to hear about them, too.
My better half travels for work, so we wouldn't want to be more than a 30 minute drive from the airport- I'm guessing that means we don't want to be any further south than Franklin?
I've also got a miscellaneous rental application question. I won't be able to provide a landlord reference or receipts for rent payments, how big of a problem would this cause to secure a lease? My building is owned by a commercial real estate holding company which issues rental invoices and collects checks by snail mail, but doesn't give receipts. Also, the company is a bit corrupt and doesn't think it needs to follow building code regulations or tenant law. They attempted an illegal eviction on me, so I lawered up. The company backed off, but needless to say they were pissed and continually retaliate by refusing to perform repairs (so I report them to the city authorities for building code violations). While I've never missed rent and pay on time, I don't think the management company would honor my request for a reference (or worse, provide a bad one). On the bright side, my credit is beyond stellar and my debt/income ratio is well in the green.
As far as receipts, I should think that copies of the cleared checks should be sufficient. Regarding rental history, that's tough. You might have better luck with a private landlord than a big complex, I'm not sure, but I am guessing that might be a deal breaker for some.
As far as receipts, I should think that copies of the cleared checks should be sufficient. Regarding rental history, that's tough. You might have better luck with a private landlord than a big complex, I'm not sure, but I am guessing that might be a deal breaker for some.
Hmmm, we would prefer a big complex, we really don't want to rent a house or deal with maintenance issues a small property owner can't handle- I'm talking major repairs like a broken sewer line or a busted furnace. A small landlord wouldn't have maintenance workers on hand or emergency repair workers on call 24/7. Our current apartment building was built in the 1920s so we've experienced our share of maintenance problems.
Getting copies of the cashed checks isn't a problem, I can print those out from my online bank account going back a couple years. However, getting a reference letter just isn't possible with the landlord unless I hire an attorney to force it out of them. This is also the only address I've had since college so I don't have other landlords who can vouch for me.
But if you're credit is green, criminal record clean, have income well in excess of the requirement, and no debt, to they really care about a landlord reference if I can prove the rent was paid? Paying a larger deposit isn't a problem either, in fact we could pay several months rent up front and in advance. I'm not sure how rentals are handled in Nash, but I hope my crappy landlord situation doesn't wind up preventing me from finding an apartment.
Will you have a job when you get here? When I rented, that seemed to be the stumbling block, a steady income (even though I had enough money in the bank to cover a year's worth of rent). You can always apply from where you are now and see . . . if you get approved at one place, you should probably get approved at most of them.
Will you have a job when you get here? When I rented, that seemed to be the stumbling block, a steady income (even though I had enough money in the bank to cover a year's worth of rent). You can always apply from where you are now and see . . . if you get approved at one place, you should probably get approved at most of them.
Yep, significant other will have a job when we relocate. It's just the landlord reference we won't be able to get.
Anyone have any feeback on the apartment complexes I've listed?
The Preserve at Brentwood
The Players Club at Brentwood
Mission Brentwood
Alara River Oaks
Vierra Cool Springs
Carrington Hills
Wyndchase Aspen Grove
Royal Oaks of Franklin
We're going to be visiting in a couple of weeks, so I'd like to narrow the list down to the 4 best ones.
Admittedly I'll admit that I've never lived in any of these. But I've lived in the area 20 years and can offer you perspective on location, if that's any help. Maybe someone else who's lived there will chime in soon.
None of the complexes listed as Brentwood are in Brentwood, not that it matters. But I'm partial to Williamson County, so I will start there. My top choice, based purely on location, would be Wyndchase Aspen Grove, based on surrounding neighborhood safety and amenities and access to interstate.
There are many more rental options coming to the market. There's also a new complex under construction in Cool Springs that may be done by the time you move:
Here are some basic thoughts - it's not as detailed as it could be regarding amenities, so I'm not sure if this will be of much help.
The Player's Club isn't in Brentwood - I guess you could consider it Brentioch, but I'd consider it to be straight up Nashville. You'll have a Nashville mailing address. It's not close to many of the other complexes you've mentioned, so you might want to figure out where you exactly want to live.
The Preserve at Brentwood and Mission Brentwood are not located in Brentwood either, but also in the mythical Brentioch (Nashville mailing address). They are also much closer to The Player's Club than any of the other complexes.
You're much closer to the airport at these three aforementioned complexes, and would be able to get to the airport via Harding/Donelson Pike without having to get on the interstate. However, depending on where you're coming from and if you'll be traveling during rush hour, this area can get pretty congested.
If you want to stay in Davidson County, there are a lot of complexes in this area you have left off of your list, so you should probably plug all of the complexes you are considering in to google maps and figure out what part of the area you are most interested in. This area is going to be less safe than Franklin or legit Brentwood, so seeing as you mentioned safety as a concern, it might be of consideration (I just want to make clear that I'm not suggesting you will be murdered or anything like that).
The Landings at Brentwood is actually in Brentwood/Cool Springs, but I didn't see this one mentioned on your list. I almost rented a unit out there about five years ago and found them to be nice - but obviously things can change in that period of time. I would check these out if I were you.
For Franklin apts, is there a reason you've eliminated Dwell, Alara Cool Springs, or The Farms at Cool Springs (formerly Alara Farms)? I would consider those (along with Wyndchase Aspen Grove) complexes to be the nicest complexes in Franklin. There's also another new complex that's being built across from Nissan HQ on Carothers that looks to be pretty high class, but I don't know they name or if it's even open yet - they've done a horrible job at advertising it, especially as you can't see the complex from Carothers to know it's under construction.
I know someone who lives in Dwell, and I've personally lived in Alara Cool Springs and The Farms at Cool Springs (when it was Alara Farms) and would 100% recommend all three of these. However, from personal experience I would NOT recommend Alara Brook (for the sake of clarity, this complex is located on the same street as the other two).
Alara River Oaks is also nice and worth a look, it's just a bit further out than the others (not a bad thing). Depending on where you exactly want to be, I'd give these a look.
I viewed an apartment at Viera Cool Springs back when it was known as Franklin Oaks, and they seemed to be fine, but just a little small. I believe the new management company has done some interior upgrades, and I know they have painted the exteriors. They are the only apartments to my knowledge to have screened in balconies. This complex seems to tend to have a lot of college/young students.
I've also been into Carrington Hills (again, years ago), but I don't remember much about them other than thinking they were nice. However, they are situated on a large/steep hill, so I assume it's problematic on icy days. Not that this area is the frozen tundra, but if you are timid in the snow it might be something to take into consideration.
Royal Oaks of Franklin is an older complex, but I've never been inside. From the street, they look to be fairly spacious but maybe a little more ‘no-frills’ than the others.
All complexes are going to be close to restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, etc. Some are further away than others, but it's not going to take you 20 minutes to get to Publix or Kroger.
One thing I didn't see you mention - for most (all?) of these complexes you will be required to provide proof of renter's insurance, so you'll want to take that into consideration and will need to have that lined up before they give you the keys.
There's also another new complex that's being built across from Nissan HQ on Carothers that looks to be pretty high class, but I don't know they name or if it's even open yet - they've done a horrible job at advertising it, especially as you can't see the complex from Carothers to know it's under construction.
It's the Venue at Cool Springs complex I mentioned above.
Admittedly I'll admit that I've never lived in any of these. But I've lived in the area 20 years and can offer you perspective on location, if that's any help. Maybe someone else who's lived there will chime in soon.
None of the complexes listed as Brentwood are in Brentwood, not that it matters. But I'm partial to Williamson County, so I will start there. My top choice, based purely on location, would be Wyndchase Aspen Grove, based on surrounding neighborhood safety and amenities and access to interstate.
There are many more rental options coming to the market. There's also a new complex under construction in Cool Springs that may be done by the time you move:
Thanks very much for the feedback on Wyndchase and the link.
I had known about the Brentwood locations not actually being in Brentwood proper but more towards the outskirts. They were close enough to the airport, but I don't know very much about the neighborhoods that Brentwood borders on other than Franklin and Cool Springs.
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