The first manager, Amber, was not very good. She was slow to fix things. The blinds when I moved in…read morewere broken and took a month to get them repaired. The light on the balcony was broken and the washing machine had dirt and a nail from the prior renter inside.
This is my advice for things to consider before renting here:
When I toured with Amber before moving in she implied that I would be getting a parking spot in the main parking lot, however, after I signed the rental paperwork, my assigned spot was actually in a smaller lot off the alley. It is difficult to get in and out, and people are ALWAYS parking in my spot. Literally, once a week if I come home during the middle of the day, someone is in my spot. USPS guy parks in my spot, random assholes park in my spot. Amber and the current manager are not amenable to calling the towing company that is listed on the fence/wall area. So if you are renting here, be sure to ask where your spot is BEFORE you sign the paperwork, and if it is in the smaller alley lot, that should be a deal breaker.
The dishwasher sucks. I think it is older than me and does not clean dishes well. The water that comes out of the bathtub is often brown/yellow. People have dogs here, which is fine. But they walk them in the courtyard area near the parking lot and do not pick up after them. Do you want to see a month's worth of dog shit from various sized dogs? DISGUSTING and unsanitary. It is very unpleasant to leave in the morning and walk outside to the ripe smell of dog shit and then see a giant shit bigger than my hand. Gross.
Smoking is allowed in the units, which I was not aware of prior to renting. The people who live above us smoke tabacco and, I think, marijuana. They often smoke out on their patio, and the smoke wafts into our apartment if we have our sliding glass door open. They will also just flick their ashes, so we will get ashes on our balcony.
When our neighbors are on their balcony, we can clearly hear them talking. When they play loud music, we hear it.. We can even hear them having sex quite easily. We have often been awoken to our upstairs neighbors having loud parties at 2 a.m. Our bedroom is next to the stairwell so every-time some is coming or going, we can easily hear the footsteps. This has woken us up anywhere from 2-7 a.m. as people are coming or going. We can hear when our neighbors use their garbage disposal.
Kitty corner across the street is some kind of a half-way house for mentally disturbed people. It makes it scary to walk my dog on that side of the street, and it is common to see men wandering around talking to themselves in a delusional way.
Overall, the neighborhood is nice. This apartment building is close to the Parkway Tavern, Subway, 7-Eleven, Thriftway, and Satellite Coffee.
Parking is a bitch when you have guests. Apparently the assholes who live at this building often have their guests illegally park in my spot so maybe for them it isn't that hard. Well, it is hard if you want your guests to find a legit parking spot as the hospital nearby means that employees parallel park throughout the neighborhood (there is no time limit on parking).
Be prepared for them to attempt to increase the price of rent/utilities upon your lease expiring.
Check the electricity bill if they split it between you and the prior renter. The prior renter from my unit was delinquent in paying her electricity bill and the Dobler tried to get me to pay her late fee. I had to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau to remedy the situation. Watch yourself.
