After living in the Berks for 1 year, I am happy to say that I will be moving out. Although, my experience wasn't nearly as bad as described in some of the postings.

Yes, it is little a dorm. Which is okay if you're younger, although I wouldn't live here if I had a family. Yes, the alarms have gone off at 4 or 5 in the morning. Which of course is inconvenient, but not life shattering. Yes, some of the management can be quite rude. But we're in DC, and they have to deal with college students.. what do you expect. Besides there are enough friendly staff that make up for the unpleasant ones. All they need is a little love.

Okay, the walls are paper thin. As a 25 year old grad student, I was not pleased dealing with Fri/Sat night parties that flowed into the hallways. But this only happened a couple times. I guess I lived in a quiet corner of the Berks.

Parking was/is horrible!!!!!!!! If you leave the apartment after 4 in the afternoon, plan on parking on the street for the night. Which wouldn't be all that bad if you didn't have to wake up before 7 am to move your car to the other side of the road. Honestly, I drove as little as possible. Parking was a huge stress while living here.

Studios are very small and over-priced. Be sure that they will charge you the price ceiling and raise your rent as soon as the 1 year lease is up. But when they need the tenants, they'll knock 100 bucks or so off the price.

Poor natural lighting since most apartments face the brick outside walls of other apartments. I often called my apartment my cell.

Oh and, don't ever lock yourself out of your apartment after the leasing office closes. Why' ... because you will be charged $25.00 to have one of the onsight maintenance (yes, onsight) take 2 minutes out of their lives to open a door. And guess where the money goes... right into their pocket... Sarcastically, I asked the man how much he makes off us a month.. He replied around $600 or $700 a month. That's just wrong!!! Under-the-table income.. hmmm...

As far as maintenance problems, they were always resolved quickly. I never had any problems with bugs. The toilet only backed up a few times.

The halls and premises are kept quite clean.
The convenient store is very convenient but quite overpriced. The fitness center serves it's purpose. The laundry rooms are quite sufficient. And you can't forget to mention the hair salon and denist's office, which I never used, but I'm sure is a convenience for those who do.

Overall, I am very happy to be moving out of this place. BUT... if I had to stay here for another year, it wouldn't be the end of the world, my sanity or my happiness.

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