Hayes Student Living

Hayes is absolutely not worth the price. They will deduct money from your deposit and charge you for things that were already broken when you moved in. The heaters barely work in the winter, the AC is useless in the summer, and despite paying $1,300+ a month, you STILL have to pay extra to do laundry. I paid for the “newer” building, but it’s still a mess. The only thing nice about this place is the location. Maintenance is slow, and the office staff is rude. Save yourself the headache and rent somewhere else.

Pros: safe and close to campus, parking is convenient and management was nice and accommodating. Cons: Not cleaned when I moved in, SO small and my living room didn’t even have a window, spiders everywhere and never cleaned in the hallways, dirty and I had to rent a carpet cleaner when I moved in, way too expensive for what you’re getting and terrible wifi.

Pros: -location: walking distance to campus, restaurants, and bus routes. -furnished: even though the furniture is very cheap. -utilities included: nice to know what you’re going to pay each month and the internet is not bad. Cons: -filthy: the apartments are not cleaned in between tenants and the common areas are not well kept. -pest control: there doesn’t seem to be any pest control done by management and there’s an issue with spiders during the spring/fall. -Building is rundown: dealt with several major leaks, leaky faucets, terrible AC, thin walls, broken doors. -lack of proper notice: management/maintenance do not give proper notice when they are going to conduct inspections and will enter your apartment when you are not home and will not tell you that they have been there. -neighbors/noise: some tenants, mostly those who are not students, are very loud and do not respect the 24hr quiet rule making it hard to study/sleep and if you live on the ground or 1st floor people will look through/knock on your windows. -management: property manager is rude and doesn’t really try to fix any of the problems. I lived in Hayes for 2 years. One pro is the location. The complex is within a 10/20 min walking distance to campus, restaurants, and several city and university bus routes. However, that is about the only pro. When I moved in the place was disgusting. It was obvious that there was no attempt to clean after the pervious tenant had left and I spent the entire first day cleaning mold, mildew, and grime off of every surface. One of the most frustrating things I had to deal with was how rundown the building was. In the 2 years I lived there I had to deal with 4 major leaks. In one instance I was gaslit and told a small leak from the ceiling was not enough to come out right away as it was Labor Day weekend. I was told to put a container under the drip and they would check it out on Tuesday. When the leaking became worse later that day I contacted management again and was told that they were aware of the problem and to stop contacting them about it. The next day the dripping became a waterfall, soaking a good portion of the living room and someone finally came out. The leak was finally fixed on Friday, 6 days after it started. Furthermore, when maintenance comes to fix something and you’re not home they will enter your apartment without any heads up or leaving a note that tells you they were there. I only know this because I came home after class to find my front door open and asked the office what happened. It was very violating to know that someone could enter your apartment at any time without your knowledge. Another frustrating problem was the noise. When moving in I was told that the buildings were 24hr quite and that noise was not supposed to heard from outside your apartment. While most people were pretty quiet, others completely disregarded the rule by running and jumping around, yelling, throwing parties. The walls of the buildings are very thin so even a moderate amount of noise could be heard clearly between apartments and hallways. The residents who were not students were often the worst offenders and did not care about the people who were trying to study or write. I often had trouble working on school work and sleeping. The amount of noise is likely because there is no accountability for people who break the 24hr. My apartment was also located by the front door of the building and sometimes people would bang on my window trying to get in to the building. Things became worse when the new property manager started. With the insane rent increases with no improvements I don’t recommend anyone live here. The photos are just some of the issues I had to deal with such as leaks and mold/mildew.

I lived at Hayes for 3 years, from Aug 2019 to July 2022, in Building 3 (Third Floor), and I had a great experience. Pros: 1- Hayes location is the closest housing to Binghamton University. I used to walk 10 min to the campus. 2- All utilities are included in the rent, so as a student, I focus only on my study. 3- The maintenance staff is so friendly and fast to fix everything. 4- Hayes is a very quiet community. It is so convenient for graduate students. 5- The management staff is very friendly and helpful for all needs. 6- The common area, such as the entrance and stairs, are always clean. 7- The heating system in the winter is fabulous, especially from NOV to March. My apartment was cozy and warm. 8- Hayes is pet friendly if you have all the documentation. My dog (Gucci) loves Hayes much better than anywhere else. He used to play everywhere on the grass. 9- As an international student, I felt like Hayes was like my home. 10- Very safe area: I used to walk my dog at 3 Am, and everything was fine. 11- The best option for one bedroom apartment in the whole town. Cons: 1- The rent price is slightly high, especially for old buildings and a small town like Binghamton. 2- Old system of AC: Binghamton weather fluctuates, so I did not like the way that the main management controls the heating and cooling system. They closed the cooling system in the middle of Sep and restarted it again in late May. Also, The AC (cooling system) needs to work better in summer, especially in July. Overall, I highly recommend living at Hayes.

This is long, so here are the best things about Hayes in several words: Location, value, fully-furnished, ambiance, peacefulness, ability to live alone, nice people live here, attentive management My college experience really began when I started living at Hayes my junior year. I was really frustrated with the tight living quarters campus provided me with for the money. I knew that I wanted to live off campus but I wasn't really interested in living with someone else. And I had just begun my sophomore year of college when I was looking for housing because of the way housing on campus is executed. I didn't know who to trust and my parents certainly felt uneasy since they're almost 3 hours away and had no way of ensuring that this would be a good place for me to live. When I found out that Hayes would give me so much space all to myself for less money than SUNY Binghamton wanted, I was skeptical. Now that this is my third semester at Hayes, I can truly say that living here has exceeded my expectations. Hayes is great because it's not too fancy, but it's not dumpy either. The buildings might not look the most inviting from the outside, but you can make them homey on the inside. P.S. The sofas, or at least mine, is super comfy. Leather I believe. The grounds have a summer-camp feel to them, which is neat. I find the surrounding area nice; it's nice to go take a walk. The management here has been above and beyond--very responsive to issues and questions. In my time here, I've gotten a new fridge, a new toilet, new carpeting and flooring, new lighting, new bathroom and kitchen fans, and a new sink faucet. It's not like any of those things desperately needed replacing, so it's nice that the management gets to things before they're completely worn. The management is also sensitive to student needs. It's advertised as a more studious community, and I can stand behind that. The walls are thin, but there's never any loud conversation or obnoxious music, which is very different from my experience on campus. I love the location. I feel like a part of the Vestal community here because Hayes isn't this sprawling community. It doesn't feel over-saturated or like there's just so many students concentrated in one area. I think it fits in well with the surroundings. It's wonderful living about a 1/2 mile off the Parkway. Even where I live downstate, it takes about 12 minutes just to get to the main commercial strip. Here, Wegmans is 7 minutes away, Walmart in Vestal is 10-15 depending on traffic (the one in Johnson City is actually closer though), and other supermarkets and shopping destinations such as Target and the Oakdale Mall are nearby. And the Binghamton city line is literally a 4-minute drive. University Plaza, which features Chipotle, CoreLife Eatery, and much more, is very close by as well. Walking to the Union takes about 10-15 minutes depending on how fast you walk. I never leave more than 20 minutes before a class in the library. That might sound a little bit long, but it's not always worth it to drive to campus because a parking permit is expensive and getting a spot between 10am and 3pm can be a disaster. (None of the parking lots have ever been particularly close to my classes anyway.) To use a washer or a dryer, it's $1.40 per machine. In buildings with 18 tenants, like the one where I live, there's 1 washer and 1 dryer. This initially didn't sound good to me, but I've never had a problem. Sometimes you have to wait a little bit but it's nothing unmanageable. Hayes has been more than I could have asked for or expected. I will absolutely miss it when I graduate.