We had (2) leases with YA. The first lease was during 2024-2025 term at The Lodge Normal, a 4…read morebedroom suite. We had an overall good experience here except the apartment needed a good cleaning upon move-in, the TV usb port being damaged and difficult to use, and being billed for utilities before we moved in and after we moved out. The second lease was 2025-2026 term at 906 Market St Normal, 1 bedroom unit. The apartment was filthy at move in and oddly they came to inspect the unit for move in conditions after we cleaned it and moved in. We had several months of charges for water problems they were fixing in the building at the direction of the Town of Normal (per YA billing dept). I'm not sure why these repairs were charged back to tenants. There were also random charges for things which we never understood, but made sense to them. It wasn't worth my time and energy to dispute. I value both too much. They bank on that. Literally. Maintenance showed up A LOT and gained unauthorized access into the apartment without the required notice. We know this because she was home when it happened several times. The last straw was when she was in the shower and heard someone inside her apartment in her bedroom. She asked 3 times for the guy to leave, finally yelling at him to get the *&%$ out before he would comply. He cussed at her. We called several times to report the issue on different breaches before this happened and each time we were told they would make sure it didn't happen again. After this instance, we purchased security bars for the two outside doors and changed a lock on the outside door into her bedroom. The lock change was against the lease terms but drastic situations call for drastic measures. We also reported it to the Town of Normal which was our saving grace. They never bothered her again. We also found it annoying that students were still made to move out for 3 weeks in-between leases on the same apartment. My advice: With any Landlord, take video of EVERYTHING AND write down all imperfections ceiling to floor (including dust because they'll charge you for a dirty ceiling fan, blind, or vent regardless how it looked when you moved in). Know your rights as a tenant before you lease and report violations to The Town of Normal immediately. They were kind, responsive and effective.

If at all possible, try your hardest to stay away from YA unless you have money you're looking to…read moreburn for some reason. This is no disrespect to the student workers or maintenance workers at all, because in my experience, they were all just kids doing their job. My complaints lie completely with the sneaky ways they manage to upcharge their residents. My roommates and I cleaned our apartment top to bottom before moving out, and they charged us 1500$ to "clean" and repaint themselves, and that is just one example of many. They will find ANY way to charge you for the most random things, and they get away with it, because their residents are mostly young kids who don't know how to put up a fight. It's unfortunately very scammy, and I wouldn't even rent from them as a last resort.

I currently live at Sugar Creek and I can tell you some stories. My roommates and I live in the…read moreolder building so some problems are to be expected, and well there have definitely been problems. For one the apartment's doors are poorly cut and some doors won't stay closed, some make a loud scraping sound and you have to yank them shut. We have also experienced issues with poor upkeep prior to living in the building. When we moved in our dryer was broken (there was a bird living in it!!) the connecting air duct was not attached, there were significant amounts of black mold in our faucets, air vents, under cabinets and under most of the baseboards. When we submitted a request to fix the problem we received a response stating we had to test it ourselves before they would do anything. So we did and sure enough HIGH traces of mold were found throughout the entire unit. First Site sent one guy with a can of what looked like (and smelled like) paint over to clean it. To be honest with you it looked like he just painted over it and called it a day. We ended up doing most of the cleaning ourselves. They sent someone out to check our smoke detectors and when I brought up the mold issue he tried to convince me that it was just mildew. Another issue is the presence of SO MANY BUGS. Like I said it's an old building so that's to be expected, but living on the first level is cockroach hell. They come in under the doors, through the pipes, wherever they can and once again First Site wouldn't do anything unless we sent pictures proving we had them in the first place. The same was true of the ant problem we had. In BOTH situations we ended up reaching out to our friend who works at Orkin to help us. On top of that they pitch their properties under the guise of no additional utility payments and that's also not true. You basically have a monthly allowance that you don't know about and if you surpass it you will be hit with an extra charge without notice. They only give you notice when you almost surpass the yearly allowance. I also doubt that they truly do thorough cleaning because we never had our yearly inspection ... In the winter tough luck if you're walking because they don't care to maintain or de ice their sidewalks as well. The parking lot is a JOKE especially near the building. There are two entrances and neither are lit up which can be dangerous at night. The spaces closest to the building are extremely tight and small and it's really easy to get parked in or to have your car scraped. The hallway closet is also basically a 2 inch wide tall cubby. Some positives though: It is a well designed unit. For one you get a full set up including full couches, a giant living room tv, internet that is unique to your unit, an in unit washer/dryer, a full kitchen with a built in microwave, hardwood and carpeted floors, bedrooms that come with closet space (and a built in organizer), full sized beds, a dresser, and a desk, a back yard with a fence and patio space, and air conditioning and fans in every room. They're also quick to respond and quick to assist over the phone. It's also typically cheaper than renting from another leaser because like I said utilities aren't necessarily included. You also get two parking spots!!

If I could rate them ZERO stars I would. This company is corrupt and full of scams/fraud. When my…read moreson (and 3 other roommates) moved into their apartment in June 2025, numerous things were broken, spotted, patched over, etc. One would assume they NEVER inspected the apartment when the previous tenants moved out. Then when my son moved out, they're trying to charge him and roommates all these exorbitant charges for these "broken, scratched, damaged, etc.," items that were DAMAGED FROM THE PREVIOUS TENANTS! When you call there, NOBODY ever returns phone calls. Steer clear of First Site!!! The corrupt, fraudulent company needs to be investigated!

This is the most amazing apartment living at Illinois State. We couldn't have been more happy. The…read moreleasing staff goes above and beyond for their tenants. This is a very secure building. Teagan is so knowledgeable and helpful.

Our daughter is a transfer student coming to ISU in the Fall. We chose College Place Uptown for its…read moreclose proximity to the campus as well as the lovely apartment. We are coming from out of state so we have made several trips back and forth. The staff at College Place Uptown could not be any nicer! They have been so helpful and answered any and all questions that we have had during the move in. Everyone from the front desk to the maintenance staff are wonderful! We look forward to getting our daughter settled in and can't wait for her to meet her neighbors at College Place Uptown!

Lacari Burrows helped me empty out my fridge and I dropped a jar of jelly and he went out of his…read moreway to help me clean it up and then he helped put everything back in my fridge and also he fixed my cabinet.

Does not refund application fees - stating it's for a background check. Also, if you use a credit…read morecard to pay upfront fee(s), they will charge you $10.50 to do so. Therefore, if you do not proceed in renting with them, you are out of pocket that money, plus your application fee. Outrageous!!

Had to spend a weekend with no AC in 90 degree weather with indoors fluctuating between 86-90 but…read morewhen I'd call they'd say they can't do anything or most recent that the temperature needs to be above 80 outside but it was 86 when called first and 77the most recent but they can't do anything now that they can say it's below 80. Need to pet sit as well for the weekend and even they haven't been able to manage well in the heat we had to get a hotel for the night so if you like a cold house with ac look elsewhere.

I rented an "updated" studio at Ironwood Gardens Apartments for 5 months and I can summarize my…read moreexperience as: a motel experience for luxury prices. The cons: There were several issues made on the part of the staff regarding pet rent. They admitted their mistakes and tried to remediate, but in this fast paced rental market, it was not kind on us the renters. On the first day, there were several broken aspects of this "updated" studio. There was visible shrapnel from a corroded water heater that took over a month to replace. The refrigerator couldn't seal and was leaking water all over the floorboards. This took over a month to fix and in the end they ordered the wrong size, so we were given a replacement junker from their model rooms that was horribly inefficient. There was a hole in the drywall in the closet that had fresh chunks and dust sitting on the carpet. I seriously doubt whether this was was cleaned between tenants. The kitchen sink faucet was leaking on the base panel, which was causing water to leak into the bottom cabinet. They did not permanently fix it, simply tightened some bolts. When I called the leasing office on multiple occasions to make them aware of all of these issues, they were short, dismissive, and unsympathetic. As someone who worked customer service, I always give benefit of the doubt that it's the system's fault, not the workers. I only point out customer service when it's obvious. It was very obvious they had no sympathy and little visibility of the remediation process. The pros: Really the only positives were that there is a power washer for cars and a tiny gym that you can rent for personal usage. If you have a pet, there is a new fenced off yard for dog park usage. I could at least salvage some money I would have spent on carwashes and gym memberships with these amenities. The ponds are somewhat nice for walks, but there's lots of geese and therefor poop, so it smells bad.

I want to start my review off by stating I have never rented from Apartment Mart. My review is more…read moreof cautionary tale to those who do rent from them. I went into Apartment Mart to look at their property on 1514 Northbrook Dr in Normal. The lady gave me the keys after I signed in and I was allowed to go check out the apartment by myself. This is a secure building so I needed a key for the outside door and the apartment door. When I walked up to the apartment door, I thought it was strange there was a welcome mat in front. I figured maybe the last tenant had left if behind. I knocked on the door to be safe. No answer. When I open the door, it is apparent that someone lives in the apartment. I could tell by some of the things near the door that he's in the military. I felt like I was violating someone's property so I left. When I arrive back to the office, I ask the lady if it's normal for them to show off apartments that are occupied. She says that it shouldn't have been occupied. Come to find out they have a very similar looking apartment complex at 905 W Wood in West Bloomington. She thought that's the key she was giving me. She just laughed it off. I did not find it very humorous. Since I was officially logged as looking at a completely different complex, I could have easily stolen things from the other apartment and there would not be documentation that I was there. No one was around when I went in the building. I decided it was best that I take my business elsewhere.

Awful experience. My parents applied for an apartment and the company required proof of four times…read morethe rent in salary. Since they are retired, they showed documentation of savings that would have easily covered rent for many years, not just a one year lease, but the management still refused their application. We then asked if my sister or I could co-sign and they would not allow it. This is not common practice for landlords and makes no sense. On top of that, they refused to refund the application fee even though they had told us before applying that supplemental proof of funds would be acceptable. The process was unprofessional, inconsistent, and handled in a rude manner. I do not recommend this company to anyone.

Love Redbird, the main office is very helpful. If you have any problems I would ask for anyone,…read moreeveryone is very helpful and had the answer to every question. Very easy to communicate with and the properties are ideal for college students, not too nice/expensive, but not too gross and cheap

It's horrible that I'm hearing about roaches and more. It's really bad that people or those who…read morework there ...cannot bother to take things like issues seriously! It should be taken seriously no matter rodents, roaches, maintenance, etc! I can't believe how many people have mentioned 1/5! Those people seem truthful. I don't think I'd ever be a part of this aka students or..

I would not recommend Pinecrest Apartments for anyone with PTSD as they allow their maintenance…read morepersonnel to come into your apartment with no notice to you if you are not home. I have twice had maintenance show up in my apartment without notifying me they were in my apartment. I rudely found out they had been in my apartment from furniture and my personal belongings being moved around in my apartment.

I genuinely would never recommend living here to people I know unless I hated them. You can hear…read moreeverything your upstairs neighbors are doing or people in the hall at all times of day and night. I would have guest come over and comment on how you really can hear everything. The upstairs neighbors installed their own shower head and flooded our bathroom at 1am. If you're on a first floor apartment you're guaranteed to be blinded by people sitting in their car with their headlights on at all times of night. We dreaded coming "home" to this apartment. When it came time to use our ac the company came to replace it and removed our closet door. Once they finished their work they didn't put the door back on. I had to call Maintence to come do it and it remained off for about 3 days. They tour your apartment to people while you're in the process of moving out, which makes moving out more of a hassle.

my mother is upper respiratory issues and has made the landlord aware of the ceiling falling in…read morefrom up above in her bathroom. I've got pictures to prove it. She will not be paying rent on February 1 as she has paid rent on time every month since she's her for over three years, this is and I cannot believe the condition of this apartment and what she is living and she's a hard-working person and she deserves better than this and I will make sure that the city is aware of this situation .

My husband and I rent from Miller and they've been nothing but awesome. We live in one of their old…read morehouses turned apartments and we love living here - in fact, we're not looking forward to moving away from Bloomington because we won't be able to rent from them any more. It's a beautiful house, and all of the properties that they've shown us are in good condition. Clean carpets, well kept hardwood floors, newer appliances, etc. Sue, the secretary/apartment shower/etc is very nice and very friendly. Between each new tenant for an apartment the carpet is steam cleaned and other various cleaning procedures are completed (not sure what those are, but it keeps the apartments in good condition). If there is a problem, all you have to do is ask, and they will do what they can to fix it. I cannot recommend them highly enough, they've been very good to us.

Good company. I have been with sami for 2 and half years. I have lived at vernon stables twice…read moreand once at heartland village. My experience has been positive mostly. Sami would always come out to help me within a week or two when i put in a request. Once my Heat went out in the freezing cold this winter and i called the emergency line. That day a maintenance guy came out from a hour away to give me a few heaters until they could get a replacement. Also the manager i think his name was mark was very friendly. I actually signed a lease with another apartment at Vernon Stables but wanted to move to different location there. He was very understanding and although the staff said they cant do that, he was more than willing to change my location before movein. If you need something done and the staff dont help, try talking to the manager it sometimes helps.

The maintenance service is poor and my newly leased apartment upon arrival was not cleaned nor…read morecleared out of everything. Window was cracked the blinds were dusty as well as everything in the whole property. Loads and loads of leftover belongings from the previous tenant were left in the apartment for us to clean out.