After five years, my kids and I are moving out of Eland Downe (we're relocating away from the area). Our time here has been extremely happy, virtually headache-free, and we're all somewhat sad to leave our cozy home.
A lot of people ask me about living here, so I sort of feel like the unofficial ambassador for the place. Here's what we have loved:
1. The layout of our house was excellent. We had a three bedroom, 2.5 bath model with an unfinished basement. The rooms were surprisingly spacious -- honestly, that may be the biggest kitchen I'll ever have. The townhomes are much bigger than they look.
2. The maintenance staff kicks butt. Seriously. I rarely had to wait more than a day for them to handle a repair. They're all extremely nice guys -- many of whom have worked at Eland Downe for years -- and I never had a problem with them being in my home when I wasn't there. I believe the entire staff lives on-site as well -- so I guess that's an extra incentive to take pride in their work. The maintenance manager knows EVERYONE and has always been great to answer questions for me, even if he's just out walking his dog in the evening.
3. The office staff is "human." My rent was a day late after a mondo snow storm and they were so nice about it and didn't hit me with a late fee.
4. The indoor pool is a really great feature. It's heated. We swam all winter. (There's also a fitness center in the same building.)
5. The landscaping always looks nice. You can tell they really invest in this. I always felt good about having people over because the community was so well-kept. They even weed your front flower beds and put down mulch.
6. On a similar note, I'm a single mom. Between the maintenance and ground crew, it's been really nice not having to worry about taking care of repairs and yard work. There was a lot of peace of mind with that.
7. I always felt very safe. I've left bikes out front by accident and they were still there in the morning. I've left my car windows open all night and nothing was disturbed. (Not recommending you do this, just saying you don't have to feel like people are targeting your stuff.)
8. We've always had great neighbors! Once we got to know them a little bit, I felt perfectly comfortable asking them to pick up packages off our porch if we were away. (Tip: Be friendly. Introduce yourself. Make an effort.)
9. It's a kid-friendly neighborhood. Kids ride their bikes, use the playground, play in the open areas and the parking lots. It was a nice play to raise kids.
At this point, they're upgrading a bunch of units. I peeked in the one next door to me and WOW. It looks like a completely different place -- granite countertops, stainless appliances, wood floors. They look amazing.
However, some of the units are not getting upgraded so they can continue to offer townhomes at a variety of price points. You can get anything from a 2 BR with an unfinished basement to a 3 BR with a finished basement. There's more variation in unit size than I originally thought.
I should also mention that the place was spotless when we moved in. Spot. Less. I felt really comfortable just putting my dishes right into the cabinets.
Obviously, I highly recommend this place. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. read more