At the time of this typing I am currently about 2 months away from departing Walton River Apartments after holding a lease for 4 years. Because I tend to blabber on I'm going to try to divide the post into smaller topics and keep the explanations fairly short.

Management:
When it was owned by the Palisades, I actually had an incident (when first moving in) of a disgruntled employee trying to make off with my deposit and other "moving-in" related fees. Luckily, I always ask for copies of anything I sign or pay for so it wasn't an issue.
The current staff (Walton River staff) is perfectly fine by my standards. Bare in mind that I'm not much of a people person, and so long as respect is tendered - it is returned in kind. I don't ask for anymore than that. By that simple standard the staff has been excellent. Whenever I had a concern or issue, I sought them out, and it was resolved in a manner that was satisfactory to me. Satisfactory meaning, hearing something back within 1-3 days.

Safety:
I'll preface this by saying that in terms of stereotypes, I'd be the one people would look out for. Black, 6'4, fairly built, with a scowl on my face. I don't say that to evoke any sensitive race relations discussion but I feel it is somewhat important to the topic. That aside, I have had zero issues with crime or any other safety related issue, but I don't exactly consider myself a choice target for someone bold enough to take up that path in life. During the day time, there seems to be enough of the maintenance staff floating about that no real security is needed. The night time is a completely different beast. Due to my random work schedule, I'd often end up walking to the fitness around 9-10pm. Never had any issue with the walk other than during weekends. It's amazing what people will do in the parking lot! It's not a walk I'd allow my teenage sister to make alone but it kinda boils down to common sense

Noise:
I have had a family of, let's call them ethnically displaced south of the border residents living above me for quite some time. They often would blast their music here and there, but I picked up on their preferred times and began to kind of expect it more of less. I too am a audiophile and sometimes blasted my in kind. I think we kinda just had an unspoken understanding. In addition to that they have a teenage boy who is what I believe to be a special needs kid. That combined with them also having a pre-teen sister made for quite the bit of running around here and there, but that doesn't much bother me. I'm just one of those easy going people where most things just kinda roll off, and this never became so much of an issue that I was losing sleep or concentration (during school). That said, this like most apartments, while not paper thin; let's quite the bit of noise through.

Maintenance:
The grounds are kept pretty clean. I like a clean environment and save some missed pet droppings here and there the ground crew did not fail to impress. The garbage tends to overflow A LOT (dumpster full and bags just kinda throw around), but I know a couple of years back they switched from having several dumpster sites to maintaining one centralized dumping location so logistically speaking the back-up makes sense. Bare in mind I have not really ventured through the whole of the complex as I've never really had a desire to, even in my 4 year stay so I don't really know if there is more than one site anymore. As far as apartment maintenance goes, things were done in a reasonable amount of time. It just varied by the project. Something as simple as a specialty light bulb going out was fixed within a day. But something like a leaky roof took much longer to respond to and fix as I believe it was work that had to be contracted out. When they did come, if you weren't home a note was usually left as well as a notice concerning possible future work.

Parking:
Again, I never had my car broken into but I use common sense when parking. I try to park near well lite areas or areas that get high volumes of traffic, such as the P.O. box area for example. If you roll in after say 9-10 pm on a weekday don't expect choice parking but spots are still available.

Bugs:
Here, I've found that bugs are directly related to season (duh!) and housekeeping. Usually when I thought there was an abundance of bugs, there was usually a source either in the apartment or provided by nature. For example, I started seeing a lot of fruit flies about. Turns out there was just a bit of banana peel that had missed the trash and was sitting just out of sight under the fridge. When it gets cold spiders and other such insects tended to accumulate near my window. Well my CPU sits extremely close to the window and kicks out quite the bit of heat. Move the computer and the problem resolved itself. Started seeing an abundance of nats and other flying insect in my bedroom and discovered small tear in the window screen where weather had worn it away. Had it replaced and the problem went away. Those were the easy ones. I have had both ants (again related to house keeping) and roaches maybe 3 times since living here But, again - keep a clean household and you make it very difficult for a bug to need to gain entry into your space.

Fitness area:
If you've passed the 180'ish to 210'ish mark then there isn't really much there for you. The free weights go up to 50 or 60 I believe and the cardio machines function but are by no means in the best possible shape. I had a total gym in the apartment and really only tried to make it to the center 1 to 2 times a week for a quick workout and then some focused cardio.

Recent Upgrades:
-Parking Lot reglazed (they essentially took concrete that use to be gray, layed down what appears to be a bit of black top then made it look nice. Freshing pained speed bumps and the like. It does look good but...it's parking. Maybe there was some pipe work that had to be done as there was a construction crew there for a couple of weeks but I never got a memo and never bothered to ask. I do no there were periods where the water was off from X time to Y time.
-The exterior hallways and doors (that take you into the apartments) were recently repainted.
-Roofing was done on some building that isn't the one I live in some time last year
-Fresh Hay laid down for landscaping accent.

And that's about all that readily comes to mind. Nothing that really makes you say wow that's worth a rent increase! Well maybe the roofing on someone else's building but... that's someone else's building!

So why am I moving out'

Well firstly, there is the issue of rent. When I moved in some four years ago rent was something like 680. Come August 2008 rent will be at 800. Granted the increase in rent of the time period I've been here really isn't that bad. What makes the increase so unbearable is that nothing has really been done to justify the steady increase. Rent just keeps going up and save for some ground changes and construction work, nothing that directly impacts my standard of living in any significant way has changed. After speaking with agents at a few apartment servicing agencies, I was told that this is a common thing with "Walton" owned properties. Apparently the figure that the increase in rent vs the high cost of moving etc. will make tenants more inclined to just grit and bare it. But, Walton is in this to make and/or exceed a bottom line so I can understand. It's just from looking around - I know I can get more bang for my buck.

Secondly, It's just time for a change. The complex is nice but bland. There is nothing wrong with that, it's just time for a change. Again, it's a question of really squeezing out the value of every dollar. Like a previous review said the rent increase just doesn't make sense. No special allowances are made for tenants with excellent payment history etc.

I'll stop for now and maybe give this thing an update after moving out.

User Responses
From: reducerent	Date: 06/05/2008
Hello Sagaboy I've read your review and agree with why you are moving. It seems that we have been in this so called place of a nice environment for the same amount of time. I moved into Palisades June of 03 and my lease ends Aug of 08. No I will not be renewing my lease. I think I've made everything clear in my last posting to why I will not be renewing my lease. Not that I care, but I have yet to receive a letter that states what my new rate will be. Yet they ask for a sixty day notice (what a joke). Good luck on your future journey!!!!!!!!!!!

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