The Fairways At Piper Glen

Do not live here. My wife and I lived in the Fairways for two years. This place is horrible. I read the other review on this page and she is pretty spot-​on.
For two years we lived in a unit near the leasing office. We enjoyed the view of the maintenance guys smoking marijuana and hiding out in their garage all day long. We even caught one (Roger) in our unit, when we left our place for a short while. He had no work order, and his story changed four times as to why he was there. The leasing agents (Ashley & Kristina) even confirmed he had not been approved to be in the unit. When we spoke with management, their response was, «Well, what do you want us to do about it?»
Looking back on it, I definitely should’ve called the police. However I didn’t, and instead settled for a «written warning» given to Roger, detailing the facts of his «visit.» If you want to see the letter, send me a note. I will gladly show you.
Besides the maintenance guys, we also had a great view of the stray cat reserve behind the garage. People (that don’t live there) even show up with food and water to keep them alive. You better not drive an SUV, since the cats recognize this type of car as their care-​giver and will swarm you in the lot. I overheard our neighbor (Miss Debbie) ask the guys about the people showing up to feed the strays. They said, «We’ll it’s better than a bunch of dead cats laying there.» I guess he’s got a point. If you don’t believe me, check behind the first set of garages, on your right, when you pull in…
So if you like marijuana, diseased-​stray cats, and no parking on the weekends, this place is for you!
The actual units are big. However they are old and have horrible appliances. The recycling truck shows up sometimes at 3am on Saturday morning, and for 30 straight minutes crushes glass… And now that Ashley has left, the leasing agents are worthless. It usually takes 3 requests (minimum), to get a problem fixed. Doesn’t even matter if you speak with Marta, the leasing manager. The staff is terrible.
The pool is decent size, but as the other reviewer said, isn’t too accommodating. People from neighborhoods all over show up every weekend. One time it started raining and everyone left. The exit from the parking lot looked like a Panthers’ game had just ended. Everyone was leaving to drive home… They claim they are trying to fix the problem by handing out pool bracelets to the residents. However, I have never once seen anyone check for them. We didn’t even bother to wear ours anymore after a few trips to the Fairways (public) pool. I noticed a few people complained about the issue on the Fairways Facebook page. Fairways quickly responded by deleting the posts… Great way to solve the problem!
When we moved out, the walk-​thru seemed to go alright. The only issue they mentioned was a broken blind. So we were shocked a month later, when we received a bill for over $ 700 for new carpet!!! They NEVER once mentioned ANY carpet issues in the walk-​thru. They knew we we’re moving out of state, and thought they could get away with over-​charging us. We tried to call and discuss with them, but they wouldn’t budge… or send us pictures of the carpet they «had» to replace… We have since spoken to an attorney, who is confident this charge will be dropped.
Overall, this is a very terrible place to live in Charlotte. With so many other places to live, I can’t see why anyone should live here. I would gladly give up a room or some square feet to NOT have to live at the Fairways.

I lived at The Fairways for over 10 years in 3 different apartments, so I know of what I speak. The turnover, from office staff to maintenance crew, has been on a pretty vicious cycle for years. Some helpful, some (most) useless.
The good: New siding and roofing. Large apartments with lots of storage in the kitchen. Great floor plans. Large patios and balconies. Convenient to a greenway, Trader Joe’s and CVS. Short trip to 485 and Stonecrest. The grounds are kept in pretty good shape. I have read some reviews about the office manager and staff, but I never had a problem with any of them. Jacob was a rockstar maintenance guy, but I heard he moved.
The rest: They started replacing roofing and siding in 2012. Every day starting at 7:00 am, the pounding would begin and it wouldn’t stop until dark. But you say to yourself that they are improving the property, so you deal with it (even though after the 3^rd month of this, your hair is starting to fall out in clumps and your coworkers think you have some sort of drug habit because of your red eyes and glazed stare from no peace). The nails from these projects were left everywhere — I had nails/​screws in my tires THREE TIMES! Twice I had to replace the tire because of where the puncture was.
Parking sucks, in particular at the front of the complex, which will fill with cars in the summer with pool users. If you want a spot, get a garage. There is plenty of parking, but a good portion of it runs through the middle of the complex’s main street where there are no apartments.
The pool: The last summer I lived there, the pool was closed no less than 3 times. One night I went there and someone had shit in the pool. True story. That was my last venture to the pool. Every weekend smoking and drinking early 20’s will take up one entire corner, while you’ll have various renters who bring their 15 family members with them everywhere else.
The metal railings have been painted over and over — there has to be 10 layers of paint. The rust is never scraped off, just painted over so it bleeds through again.
The apartments are now over 16 years old, most of your appliances will also be 16 years old. In my last apartment there, the oven was generally 50+ degrees off, 2 of the 4 burners on the stove only worked sporadically, and the light indicating that burners were on didn’t work at all. Everything stored at the back of the refrigerator froze solid. The motor in the freezer would occasionally make a high pitched squealing noise that gave me goosebumps and made my cat bite her butt.
You will have a huge deck/​patio with a pretty good sized storage closet. The wood trim will be rotting away from the structure and fall off in chunks. The deck boards are warped and curved.
Your water heater, if it hasn’t been replaced recently, will probably start to leak before it blows. Mine leaked for weeks without me noticing it and the water went under the baseboards into my master closet and ruined furniture and shoes. I was blaming my cat for peeing in my closet (which she has never peed anywhere but her litter box, but I couldn’t figure out what the smell was), but it was actually the mold in the padding of the carpet.
The bathroom caulking, which has been shoddily done for years will turn black. That black is mold. I had to use bleach-​based toilet gel to scrub it off, but since it is mold, it just comes back. I had a towel rack come out of the wall from normal use and the hole was patched with a blob of caulk and the same rack was remounted about 3 inches higher on the wall.
The price is right — cheapest in the area. Because they are such a bargain, your neighbors are going to be super fun. They are going to keep their dog on the balcony to bark all day. And if the dog is up there all day and never walked, the dog will also pee on their deck, which will stream through onto your patio furniture. They will stomp around day and night. Slam doors. Laundry at 3:00 am. Park behind your garage, pinning you in. One of my favorites was the person who used about 200 2-​liter bottles as planters, strapped to their balcony railings. When the seasons turned and the plants died, they still kept the flower carcasses strung up in their non-​biodegradable caskets.
The grass is lovely, it looks like a carpet of green — don’t walk in it because hardly anyone cleans up after their dogs. And since almost everyone owns a large breed dog (many pit bulls), there will be poop piles the size of toddlers everywhere you turn.
If you want a good deal with a great location, this is a fine choice. Eventually the good deal and great location wasn’t enough for me anymore and while my rent is higher now, the quality of living is much better.
Update: According to Unilocal HQ, the other 4 reviewers for this property, with only 1 review, no friends and no other reviews are firsthand experiences, so I must be wrong.