Ellsworth AFB Homes

"The quality of the homes is lackluster. I had to retap the holes of some of the doors upstairs. Are all basements unfinished? The blinds that come with the house break so easily, you might as well invest in your own because the final inspection they look for broken/removed blinds. Kitchen drawers tend to break off the slider easily. I have a gripe with the smoke detectors, you really can't cook anything mildly greasy like sausage without the whole house setting off. We have to open all windows, turn on the microwave fan and yet they still manage to trigger. Had maintenance look at them a few times and they still act up. Maintenance can be slow, we had a sewage problem in the upstairs bathroom and we woke up in the morning to a fully drenched floor. They were quick to respond initially, but we ended up waiting for about two weeks for the guy to show up and take his equipment back. There was damage to the carpet and it was permanently stained. It was not replaced. The staff are friendly, and I understand they are busy but it took me 2 months to have this work order closed and they didn't fix any of the damages."

"Ive been homeless for months because of these people. When my spouse pcs’ed from one overseas base to another, our housing retention expired. I ended up having to live with multiple family members in multiple states. My kids have gone to three schools so far this year. Now that i have tried to get a new place for myself and my kids they wouldnt send any records over to the rental company because i was not the active duty member. Although my spouse and i have separate homes he had to add himself onto the lease to get them to send over records. Because of that we are now having to rent a larger more expensive apartment. Not only that my child needed a surgery and because we’ve been moving all over the country we haven’t had enough time to schedule a date for it. I begged them to let us stay in our home for a few more months so that we could finish our medical needs and we had the ability to pay. Now our family is separated because of this."

"This place is amazing! I was hesitant to lease a home from them, but I had no reason to be! One of the housing staff, named Maggie, made the entire experience enjoyable and easy. Combined with timely maintenance, and pristine homes, it was truly an upgrade from my previous living arrangement. This has proven to be one of the best choices I’ve ever made, and I make a lot of good choices!"

"It is a good place to live, I only complained is the constant barking of the dog everybody has dogs here. The only thing I would really like is for the fences between the houses to have more of a cover so the dogs can't see each other. The houses are lovely, it takes a long time to get into base housing but once you do you won't regret it."

"I would have given a 4.5 but could not so decided to round up! Only because I wish all there housing units had basements. We have lived on Base for Over 2 years. We have had nothing but good service from the mantanance group here. They always full fill work orders in a timely manner. They are respectful to all members of my family. Including knowing my dog by first name. We walk the neighborhood daily and always get a friendly smile or wave from any Belford staff. Being “newer” housing there are annoying little problems do to warranty stuff that did have to be fixed the first year but that all was on the manufacture. Sometimes that scheduling was a bother. I hate the grass turf stuff we have. I can never seem to get it to stay green with hours of watering and plenty of money on lawn care. I just don’t think South Dakota clay is meant to grow a nice full yard. The Canadian thistles were over taking our back yard, so our baby could not use it. A quick shout out to the lawn man to please cut behind our fance line when they mow and it has eliminated most of them. The other annoyence is the dogs! Although we have one ourselves she only barks as the deer come to visit. We then bring her in the house and the barking stops. Some of our neighbors have dogs that are ridiculous they bark all hours of the day/ night. A barking dog is a owner at fault, walking the dog, caring for the dog and keeping a well maintained yard for the dog. In My eyes would eliminate that problem. In my eyes housing has no control of how dumb animals / owners can be. I am sure our move out will go as smoothly as our move in. Yes these houses were put up fast and cheap so there is for sure some wear in them. I hate that the white paint catch’s everything and peels so easy. I think there paint policy should cover all that. Again we have really enjoyed our housing experience here. No it is not perfect by any means but unless you are willing to buy a house and make it your kind of perfect there will be problems with everything in life. Depends on how flexible and open minded you are willing to be. We will with out a doubt miss our South Dakota home."