Part 1:
Where do I begin... A little about my stay there. I had done a lot of research prior to moving to this complex and one of the first thing I read was that the walls of these apartments were paperthin (which I can attest to) and that you shouldn't expect to get your deposit back after you move out. In both cases, this was accurate. My first year here I stayed on the fifth floor (highest floor) because I didn't want anyone on top of me and I definitely noticed that the walls were thin. My second year, I moved to a corner apartment on the same floor so that I would have less neighbors/less noise. While this was an improvement, I could still hear a lot of noise from my 2 neighbors. If you're a light sleeper, I would NOT recommend this place. One thing to note is that I'm a very patient person and it takes a lot for someone/something to annoy me. I can confidently say that you have to be very patient/carefree to want to move here.
When I first moved here (primarily for the location), it was right before the dog park opened. I had recently just got a puppy with my girlfriend and the fact that this complex had a new dog park was a big selling point. I moved in around March and I was told that it was going to open a little after I moved in. Months went by yet they kept delaying the opening. Not only that, everything looked set but they just kept it closed. One day, with no announcement, the park was open. The other dog owners and I just started going there and it was great, but once again, it would have been good to have some sort of communication that it had opened. Over my two years there, I noticed that while the concept of having a dog park was great, the reality was that it wasn't that great. Management barely spent any money on upkeeping the dog park. They spent no money on the landscaping and there ended up being big mud pits and uneven parts throughout the park. In addition, the park wasn't even built on a flat surface so when it rained, there were puddles of water which would soak our dogs and get them very dirty. It was clear that they only opened it so they can market to potential residents that they have a dog park.
Aside from the poor maintenance of the dog park, I didn't really have any issues my first year there. As such, I renewed my lease. This is when I started having more issues. When I renewed my lease, they were trying to charge me for a SECOND dog deposit ($300) when I had already paid it for the first time. I get that they want to have $ to cover any damage, but then again, that's where I got charged from main deposit. I told them there was no way I was going to renew if I got charged again. Luckily, they waived this fee for me. In addition, to move from one apartment to another, there is a $500 transfer fee for the 'administrative work' that has to be done to do this. This fee was absurd as it doesn't seem to make sense for you to charge me more when you're already getting me to stay for another year and get plenty of revenue there. Maybe a $75 fee or something for an application fee again, but guess what? They also had another application fee for each resident even when renewing. Another fee that boggled my mind was the fact that they were charging me to have someone come to my first apartment and inspect the damages. You're literally charging me to be able to charge me more money? Are you serious? I've been renting for the past 15 years and I have NEVER been charged for that. As I mentioned earlier, they took my deposit & charged me another $200+ for having to replace the carpet in my old apartment due to a few stains. Note - their carpet is super cheap.
At my second apartment, I had a huge cockroach problem. My wife and I are very clean people yet they kept having to send someone every week (Thursday's to be exact) to come spray the apartment as well as set traps for these cockroaches. For the amount of money that I was paying a month, it's absurd that this was even an issue. read more
