Expect $100/month winter electric bill!!! This was my main question before moving into a 1br/1ba. Electric heat is very costly.
This management company has been FINE. Not good, not bad, just fine. The apartment itself is less than 2 years old, and the walls and tile are cracking from nothing more than a settling foundation. Literally, the walls in the bedroom have a thick crack running across all the corners, and the bathroom and hallway tile are cracking (new this year).
They'll email you "no party" reminders several days before each big UMN event, but you will never receive 24 hour notice before maintenance or management enters your apartment for a tour or maintenance. I've never received notice within business hours, and sometimes they will just knock on your door and ask to do a tour without ANY prior notice. They also ONLY email me; never my roommate. I'm a pretty clean person, but I don't always have a 100% spotless apartment. I don't feel comfortable having strangers in my home without time to wash last night's dishes or put away my valuables. I also don't like kennel my pet for an entire work day, and they never arrive at a convenient time.
I have come out of the shower to find a stranger in my apartment, which is especially unacceptable to me as a college age woman. I've come home from the grocery store to find my fridge unplugged and moved away from the wall with no indication of how long it had been without power. Parts were sawed out of my car while parked on the street directly outside my building. My father parked on the street for less than 15 minutes to come see my apartment and someone keyed his vehicle. They advertise cameras, but the "live feed" only captures the parking lot and doesn't work most of the time (I've never gotten it to work). The train is SUPER LOUD. It WILL wake you up.
Besides the extremely poor communication with management, low quality building, and unsafe location, it's a fine apartment. Far better than my previous landlord. They do respond to your emails and phone calls, and our one maintenance request was addressed within 2 weeks. But at $1,300 a month for a small 1br1ba, things haven't been as incredible as I had hoped. They also do not accept online rent payment. The shower gets clogged by soap and conditioner alone, and there is no garbage disposal in the sink.
The apartments have a lot of windows and good sunlight. The in-unit laundry works well and does not rip clothing. The showers have good water pressure.
If you don't mind having little-to-none privacy and don't have a car, this is a fine company to rent from. They give you a "prior damages" form, and they do complete maintenance requests. They just have cracking buildings and lack communication or respect for residents. read more