Pensacola Apartments

Is anyone familiar with any of the following apartment complexes:

CountryWood at Blue Angel
Landing at Pensacola Condimuniums
Fairfield Lakes
Avalon Apartments
AustinWood

I have OCS classmates at the last two but haven't been able to talk to them to see if they have put eyes on them yet. Anybody familiar with these or know someone?

I lived in AustinHood in the VT's ('01-'02) and again my first year back as an instructor ('07). Maint is suffering, they don't seem to be spending the money to keep it up. I'd look elsewhere.

Get a roomie or two, and there's a shitpot of houses and condos for rent in P'cola. No reason to go the apartment route.

I live in CountryWood right now.

Pluses:
-Close to NASP
-Well maintained
-Laundry in unit
-Cable + Internet included in rent
-Rent is $1050/mo for a 2 BR. Split it with a roomie and pocket the rest of your BAH. Or blow it on a new car if you need one.

Minuses:
-The walls are a bit thin and we have cranky neighbors that like to complain a lot to the managers. Maybe we were just being asshats but it was 830 on a Friday night.
-20 minutes from anything fun. Unless you count Wal-Mart as fun.

Seriously, there's some friggin awesome condos out towards perdido. Houses aren't a bad option either, as a lot of them are furnished already. Great option if you're SNA and only going to be around NASP for a few months.

This time of year you can get a furnished condo on the beach in Perdido Key for a reasonable price. I lived in one that had a balcony overlooking the ocean, 15 minutes from the back gate.

I lived out in Avalon. It's way the hell away from both Milton, Pcola, NASP, and Brodido. Apartments are nice, but you'll bleed money in cab fare and gas. Go live by the back gate and enjoy the beach.

I was looking into Country Wood myself..that's considered back gate right?

On the phone they of course sold it as the best place for a flight student to live. Is the back gate really far from the bars/fun?

Back gate to downtown is a good 20mins.

I lived in Landings at Pensacola for my wonderful time in A-Pool, IFS and API.

The management is friendly and individual units have nice appliances/counters/etc. You also really can't beat the commute unless you live at the BOQ. Even during high volume times at the gate it was no more than 7 minutes door to door. Even after adding cable and power, rent is still a little below BAH. I think they also had a separate building a little up the road that was even a little cheaper.

They don't have many two-bedroom units though, so you may have to cover the whole rent yourself.

Appreciate the replies. I considered going the house/condo route but when I contacted my OCS classmates they had already went apartment plus I like the idea of having a place sorta all to myself (if you don't count thin walls). The Landings and CountryWood sound like best bets if I can't team up with someone to rent a house or condo. Thank you all for assistance and if anyone has anything additional to add I'm open to it

@Th3HumbleMuffin what is an estimate of utilities cost per month outside the rent e.g. electric, water etc. for CountryWood

likewise @Ezekiel

You don't need to go downtown if you live out the back gate. All you need is the world famous Flora-bama

This. Don't judge the bama based on how it is now... it gets awesome in a couple months.

Plus right now I would kill to be able to hit downtown with only a 20 minute drive.

I lived out the back gate for 10 months. I'd trade my left nut to have lived downtown. Drive to base is IDENTICAL, but the lifestyle downtown is infinitely better. Pay more, live with a roommate if you must, but live within walking distance of Palafox.

Water: $50-70 due to laundry/dishwasher

Electric: $100-120 with two tvs/xboxes/desktop computers + dryer. Also heat is electric, although we barely use it. Oh, and that's A/C too. Bear in mind its like ~60 degrees Nov/Dec/Jan, so low utility use.

20 minutes from fun either way isn't bad, really. Cabs are dirt cheap here if you grab a few buddies, and since when are you sober enough to care how long a cab ride is?

The Bama is an acquired taste, no doubt. I'm not a fan. On my second round of PCola, I haven't been nor would I want to. I've found much cooler places for my tastes. To each their own.

Water, sewer, trash was included in the rent, so the only other utility was power which ran from $60 in cool months to about $80 in warm months when you need AC.

I lived downtown in a 3 bed, 1 bath apartment with a backyard, 5 blocks from Palafox and 7 from Seville Quarter. I paid $600/month + utilities. I didnt have a dishwasher or garbage disposal and had to buy my own microwave and the living room was small, but hey, I lived downtown and loved it. I had awesome landlords as well too. There are quite a few gems out there like this, just have to look around...

Exactly, the bama is awesome... plus without fail there will always be a bachelorette party there, usually consisting of southern sorostitutes.

Would you happen to know any good resources for finding furnished housing down that way? My husband is at OCS right now and we'll be heading to Pensacola afterwards. I have no clue where to start looking... I tried googling without many results.

I lived at Countrywood for just over a year and would highly recommend it. The drive to base is unbeatable, management folks are great to deal with, apartments are nice, and Perdido Key isn't far off. I'd live there again in a heartbeat.

FIFY. If you're a single anchor type, commuting from Countrywood to Whiting would be near impossible and really stupid.

Avalon has two gotchas:

1. You are actually pretty far from NASP (~30 minute commute)
2. You are even farther from Whiting, and their Military clause will not let you get out of the lease unless you explicitly move to base housing because Whiting is still within 30 miles.

Take it from me. I had to evoke the SCRA to convince them to let me go.

This could be a stupid question but I would appreciate the help - I'm a newly minted Ensign reporting to Pensacola in the next week. The welcome packet for API says bachelors with follow on orders to Whiting have to live in the BOQ and won't have the option of living off base, while those reporting to Pensacola with follow-on orders to other commands are free to live off base after speaking with the housing office. As an SNFO I will be staying at NASP for most of my training, so I should be able to acquire off-base housing, is that correct? I'd appreciate a confirmation or correction from someone whose been there/done that since I've been looking forward to living off base after escaping OCS.

While technically correct, unless something has changed recently, you'll get a "Govt Quarters Not Available" stamp at the BOQ when you report. That will allow you to live out in town.

Thanks Synix, I appreciate the help.