Varsity House Gainesville, gainesville-fl

I’ve had a really good experience living at Varsity House. The building is well kept and any issues that come up are handled quickly without much hassle. The staff has been solid overall, and Avery in particular has been helpful, responsive, and reliable whenever something needs attention. Overall, it’s been a smooth, comfortable place to live with good management and consistent support.

The maintenance of the property is very poor. The stairs and hallways stink a lot with very dirty carpets due to lack of regular cleaning. Many people with pets or animals don't take responsibility and leave animal droppings around the property while management doesn't seem to do much about it. These animals also occasionally leave messes in the stairwells and carpets (i.e. pee). Even some of the building exterior isn't well maintained. For instance, a below photo shows part of the building exterior wall tearing off. Another shows a door with so many caterpillar cocoons. One of my roommates have also been dealing with mold issues in his unit, as shown by the mold colonies on the window sill in the photo below. As others mentioned in their reviews, the apartment has issues actually maintaining some amenities, such as keeping the pool open. I also find it strange how the apartment has tanning rooms that are always locked and never open. To add on to the safety issues of the property already mentioned by others (theft, strangers, etc.), YOUR PACKAGES AREN'T SAFE IF DELIVERED AFTER HOURS! In the lobby entrance, after hours, package and mail deliveries sometimes arrive and are simply left within the entrance area behind no lock. As far as I can tell, there isn't any video surveillance in that area, so anyone could steal those packages. Only packages and mail received during office hours are promptly kept in the staff mail storage room locked. If you don't meticulously track your package or require signature upon delivery, you may become a victim of theft with not much recourse. It is absolutely insulting how management has substantially risen the rent costs and reduced the value of offers for renewal/new leases for next year when they haven't made any substantial improvements to the property at all. They don't appear to have respect for the students living here. Their bottom line is money, not resident experience, as evidenced by their constant pestering and pressuring to residents to sign for renewal ASAP by continuously emphasizing over many months that bed spaces are limited, your bed space will be released to public market soon, etc. They use tiered pricing where they continuously raise the rent as they get more renewals (ex. 5 people sign, so prices $645 --> $655 per month), so decision-making around renewal and finances become even more stressful, especially when you aren't sure about needing housing for next year (internships, graduation, grad school, employment, exploring alternative living arrangements, etc.). If you are still considering this apartment, I implore you to actually talk to residents living there after your tour. There are cheaper and/or better apartments elsewhere that have decent new resident offers available. At the time of this review, Varsity House lacks such offers.

Pretty nice place, honestly. It’s really chill and quiet most of the time, which I like a lot. The building feels clean and modern, and the amenities are solid. The coffee machine downstairs is a big W — super convenient and actually makes good coffee. Staff has been helpful whenever I’ve needed anything. Overall, a great place to live in Gainesville.

This apartment complex is the epitome of what it means to truly care for your clientele. The staff and management at VHG truly dedicate themselves to meeting the needs of each of their occupants. Though, there may challenges as they usually come Varsity House dedicates themselves to finding a solution and upholding Fair Housing. The property does truly feel like home, with comforting style rooms and furniture. The outdoor pool area is simply breathtaking, on a warm sunny day expect the perfect views and feels outside. Not only that, but the resident engagement here is amazing. Each month the staff carefully curate events that promote community and togetherness, which can be so essential for students and other residents trying to navigate making new territory feel like comforting space. Overall, I am so pleased with what Varsity House Gainesville has to offer, certainly anyone wanting to live here would absolutely love it!

A long negative experience that started so-so to begin with. The roaches are insane. Legitimately sometimes my friends in other apartments in the complex as well my own experience have told me it’s like ur living outside. Middle of the night don’t go out in the otherwise sanitized kitchen because you’ll see 5 just scurrying across the countertops. Actually disgusting. The pest control? Literally 1 tiny spray in the washer dryer closet of all places and that’s it. They even threaten you with fees in the lease if you talk out about it like this. The walls are so thin you hear your roommates breathing not to mention if they decide to do anything else… sleep can be hard to come by as the cars going by feel like they r right by your ears at all hours of the night. Their lawn service even starts at 6am on a random weekday so best of luck getting rest. The furniture is so cheap that the sofa has so many cuts in it when we moved in and nothing was done about it. The room chairs break and are so uncomfortable. The A.C. Can be very finicky so make sure to keep a close eye on it otherwise you’ll have to wait until they decide to fix it. The pressure tactics to sign (only have 48hrs after touring to sign) don’t stop once you move in. They continuously harass you sometimes multiple times in a single week to resign on both email and texts to your personal phone starting just a month or two into your lease before it’s even possible to know your experience. The hallways smell disgusting and every time I bring anyone over there is always a comment about it. Every. Single. Time. Additionally they never clean the stair wells (pictured but not even the worst it is) so there’s literal dog pee stains across the levels not to mention the filth that accumulates which makes it hard to breathe. Considering there’s no elevator in the other 2 buildings? Good luck. It smells horrific. The trash system is very unpredictable to the point that one week they pick up at 4pm (when they say trash out at 5 minimum) and then the next week it’s 11:55pm at night. The best part about it is when you wake up with a note on your door saying they’re going to charge you for leaving your trash out when there’s no congruency to begin with. What a place lol. Parking is atrocious to the point that you either pay to walk a football field length and up 5levels of stairs from the parking garage or if you’re lucky you pay close to a 100 dollars a month for the adjacent ones just to get a 150 dollar boot. There is literally no visitors parking that’s within reason (non ada compliant for older parents). They advertise these ‘wonderful’ amenities like it’s such a nice place and then imagine that! the tanning room is legit never open, can’t even get in there and the pool? The main thing they advertise? It’s been locked for almost entirety of the lease term with no explanation whatsoever to residents only that “it’ll be open soon” which is never has. The coffee station? Only accessible during office hours and when it is, out of order sporadically and the various options are depleted never to be restocked. There’s no 24/7 package service offered only during business hours so if you work a normal day? Again good luck picking it up. If you order anything and it gets delivered after they close without you knowing - it’s getting stolen out of the lobby. The maintenance people are wonderful but so understaffed and constantly rotating in and out of the job that the 24/7 maintenance line is an actual lie. Like flat out out lie. They’ll come eventually but it isn’t 24/7 like is said on tours. Employees are hit and miss, initially they’re so nice and the eventually as time goes that facade goes with it. I’m 90 percent sure the positive reviews on here are employees with made up emails. Do not give in to the fake niceness. There’s GOT to be better places now that they raised the prices a 100 a month for this next year with not a damn thing changing for the better.