Sterling Oaks Apartments

I move in tomorrow, so I’ll be back in a few months with an update. What I can say now is Heather has been professional, efficient and very friendly. She kept me informed of units as they became available, and I was able to get one I really like. The entire process from application to securing a unit has been great.
If Hignell sees this, Heather deserves a pay raise… LOL
Thx

How do I feel about Sterling Oaks???
Pros:
Beautiful neighborhood, awesome neighbors, close to Bidwell Park, quiet. Heather was truly great during the move in process!
Cons:
My deposit was… ridiculous. I paid $ 1300 — including my pet fee. Which would be ok for CA if I got it back… so be ready to pay
Move-​out
I believe in leaving an apartment in nice shape after leaving. I cleaned for 8hrs straight after moving and was told that wasn’t enough. Keeping in mind I only lived there 6 months. You CANNOT SHAMPOO the carpets on your own no matter how good they look when you leave. I did have a pet but he wasn’t even allowed in the carpeted rooms. If you don’t hire a company it’s an automatic charge of at least $ 80. I STRONGLY believe that no matter what after moving out an apartment should pay a cleaning company to prepare for the next move-​in. At Sterling oaks… they make you pay. After hrs of cleaning they found some of the mpst ridiculous things that weren’t clean. .all in all charging me nearly $ 400 after leaving. I’ve never had to pay an apt after moving out .I believe this is just what they do. Period.
Aside from that… if you’re ok with loosing your deposit the overall experience of this place was great. Nice area in Chico, friendly neighbors, decent sized rooms… no complaints except having to pay aooo much for them to clean after I left. I STRONGLY FEEL the apartment should already have someone who cleans after renters leave at their expense period… as a normal courtesy. I get it if the apt is filthy but my charge was for a «light» clean. I’m talking… they took a picture inside of the washing machine and moved the refrigerator and said I didn’t clean behind it.

Updated, this place was poorly built! Constant «inspections «now we have a mandatory plumbing upgrade that’s going to last weeks :-(as the last plumbing upgrade didn’t take long enough. These apartments are cheaply built after living here for over a year. Heating is run via hot water which runs the gas bill through the roof !! Be aware cheap housing at a really expensive rate !!!

Overall, I would rate this apartment complex as okay-​ish. Somethings they are great at — primarily cosmetics and other things they aren’t great at like the religious group they sponsor that they mask as a community group. Part of living at this complex means getting invited to multiple events per month preaching community unity and when you get there, you are walking away with Jesus buttons, bible verses and an invitation to church. I wouldn’t have minded all of that if they were more upfront about it.
I was bothered by the # of times they needed into my home per year as well. They always needed to do inspections and market price evaluations and I really just prefer someone not finding reasons to be unattended in my home. We also had a very bad experience moving out where we were charged over $ 600 just in cleaning costs that should have cost MAYBE $ 120. The issue with this place is they have Hignell do everything for them so they don’t have to disclose things like hourly rates to you because they can claim they hired someone to do it but if you didn’t know any better, you’d think Hignell owned the joint as the Hignell’s give every resident a bible at move-​in and gladly take your deposit check made out to Hignell Co.

Beautiful community, and excellent staff! Everyone is so helpful and nice around here. Maintenance is done in a very timely fashion. The pool is pretty big in comparison to other apartment complexes in Chico.

I’ve been living here for approximately three months and I feel like I should leave a good review because I am so incredibly impressed by not only the grounds, but the looks of the apartment the looks of the outside, and how well-​maintained this place is. It’s a bit expensive, but yet again you get what you pay for and in this case you definitely get what you pay for here. It’s very adult, very quiet, and lots of nice respectful neighbors.
There’s a washer and dryer in each apartment, a beautiful, sparkling pool that is nice and cool even in the summertime. There’s also a putting green, beautiful gym, and a beautiful clubhouse that offers free homemade breakfast every Wednesday.
If you were looking for a nice place to live and you can afford it please please look into this place.
Please take my review to heart as I come from a pretty shitty places before! I know a good place when I see one! :-)

It has been 5−½ years since I lived at Sterling Oaks, so I can’t speak to current living conditions, but I believe I CAN lend some insight into how Hignell operates as a management company because anyone that lives there is going to have to deal with them at least when they move out. I think the best word to describe them is… smarmy. When I moved out, I knew that after 2−½ years living there with a pubescent son and rat terrier that there were going to be some cosmetic issues that were going to need to be addressed. Thus I indicated to Hignell in writing that I was prepared to relinquish all of my security deposit without contest. Long story short… without even attempting to have the carpet in the apartment professionally shampooed and treated for pet odor/​stains, Hignell completely re-​carpeted the entire apartment and attempted to charge me for the carpet and installation. At least at the time, Hignell’s general m.o. (method of operation) it seemed was to utilize a standard low grade carpet and their own employees to install replacement carpet, however in my case they purchased replacement carpet and contracted installation with an outside firm. Not until after the fact was I made aware of this undertaking. In addition, in spite of the relatively modest size of the apartment, I was charged an exorbitant hourly amount for cleaning for something like SIXTEEN hours. The cleaning was done by their own employees which afforded Hignell the lee-​way to charge however much per hour for however many hours they arbitrarily chose to charge me. I challenged these charges with Hignell and they seemingly dropped the issue. That is, until about FIVE YEARS LATER when they only THEN decided to submit what they claimed I owed them to a collection agency. WTF? I ignored the submission… it has hardly affected my credit rating nor prevented me from obtaining credit. This is just a word to the wise… everyone has their own opinion, but mine of Hignell is that it is a shoddy operation that will screw you given half a chance, so «buyer beware».