We just moved into a 1 bedroom apartment here about a month ago, and so far things have been alright. Not great, but not bad either.
The Apartment
The place is about 10 years old now, and is in pretty good shape. The flooring seems new and the place was probably re-painted right before we moved in.
The floor plan is pretty good, and there's a lot of storage. We have a large walk-in closet with tones of shelves in the bedroom, a good sized linen closet in the bathroom, and a semi-small hall closet. Also, the laundry room has shelves above the washer and dryer. We also have a pretty good sized storage closet out on the balcony which locks.
We love the kitchen! It has plenty of counter space and shelves, and we really like the semi-circle shape with a window/bar that opens into the living room - it lets in natural light and prevents the cook from feeling isolated. There's also a built in microwave over the stove, which is always nice (esp. since we currently don't have a microwave).
The dishwasher, stove/oven, and fridge all seem to be relatively new and in good order. The washer and dryer are full sized and work well. The hot water tank is in the bedroom closet -- I don't love this set-up, but it does put it right next to the bathroom, so it takes no time at all to heat up in the shower.
We live in building A, so we get a lot of noise from the street. This is probably our biggest complaint though. Our balcony is good sized, and minus the traffic noise I would love it! These wouldn't be an issue for units further in though.
Staff and Maintenance
One of the main reasons we came to check Ivory Wood out was that the lady I spoke with on the phone was a lot nicer, a lot more professional, and not nearly as pushy as most of the places I called. This combined with our love of the kitchen were probably the two biggest reasons we chose the place.
For now I can't say much either way about maintenance except that they've said there's a 2 day guaranteed response time. When we did our walk through the lady warned us that the staff can be a bit forgetful about work orders though, and suggested we submit maintenance requests online. This seems to be true since there was a very minor issue (the paper on one of the shelves was coming up and needed re-gluing) which she said she'd have maintenance take care of, but has never been addressed. We're assuming she simply forgot to put in the order.
Otherwise, our only problems have been that the doors are somewhat difficult close (especially the bedroom and bedroom closet doors), and the carpet nails stick up in some places (which hurt to step on). But we intend to have maintenance over here to correct these things now that we have our internet set-up and can put in a work order online.
The Complex and Location
The grounds are well kept. It looks like they come every Wednesday to clear the leaves and mow, and though I've seen dogs around fairly often I have yet to run across any of the dog doo problems I've seen mentioned in other reviews.
I've really been enjoying the hot tub. Sadly the pool is seasonal and was already closed by the time we moved in, but we like the gym though, it has a little of everything (a stationary bike, stair stepper, treadmill, weights, and an elliptical) as well as large mirrors and windows to keep the space feeling fairly open and roomy. I like that the gym and hot tub are available 24/7 (via key) too, as this was a bit of an annoyance at our last place.
We're right across the street is the Burke Gilman Trail which is surrounded by trees, so our view is nice, and we love walking along the trail. We're also within walking distance of quit a few grocery stores and restaurants, and we can literally see the bus stop from our balcony, so we don't have to drive much (which we prefer). On the way home there's a little walk back - part of which involves walking along the shoulder as the sidewalk cuts out for a time - but otherwise this is a pretty good location for busing.
Parking
Our parking situation is pretty good. The garage is locked at all times and well covered. There's a ton of parking for guests, which is really nice, though it seems like a lot of our neighbors prefer to avoid paying for a second parking garage spot by using the guest parking -- that's a little annoying.
Tidbits
I like that we can pay rent and put in maintenance requests online. And while we have to pay water, sewer, and trash there's also recycling available here and so far our first electric bill was lower than we were expecting. The place seems pretty well insulated and I don't anticipate needing the heat much this winter. We'll see how things go in the summer, but with a southern exposure we should be pretty well set. Also, fiber internet is also available in this area which is really nice!
It's not my dream home, but it's also quit a bit better than the last two places I've lived. read more