I have been living here as CS for quite a while now.... only because it's hard to find an apartment complex

that allows large dogs. I must say, that's the only good thing I can say about living here --- allowing large dogs.

The complex has changed ownership several times, and the current property owner is the worst yet. They are responsible for many building code and fire code violations in many of their apartments (see the following examples)

Roofs leak, doors do not open properly from the inside (trapping you in the lobby), the emergency lights work for exactly 5 minutes in the hallways when the power goes out (keep a flashlight on you at all times).

They removed all the streetside lights that used to line up on Sterling avenue --- making for a nice ambient light at night. Now it's very dark -- and some areas are very dark at night... so if walking your dog down a dark road at night makes you nervous --- just don't go out at night. Their response for removing the lights --- it was too much work to keep replacing the bulbs. Nice... talk about being lazy.

Want to know what kind of lights used to line the walkway... just go north on sterling towards 68 by the condos... they maintain their lights and they seem to work just fine for them.

The do not understand the concept of snow removal in the winter. Apparently driving a four wheeler down the sidewalks is an acceptable method of clearing snow (to them). Nevermind the fact they have no concept of what to do with ice -- just throw 10 pounds of salt in one spot and hope for the best.

Oh, and be careful if you want a garage... they allow the snow removal trucks to plow the lots and they do not clear out the area in front of the garages. I know 6 people who were plowed into their garages because the snow was just "pushed" up against the garage door.

The hours really suck with this management team... they close at 6pm Monday-Friday... so for those of you who work forget about stopping at the office on the way home --- and they are not open on Sundays.

The afterhours emergency maintenance service is very hit or miss... half the time the phone system doesn't even work "press 2 for emergency service".... 34 times and you might get through. And forget about calling the municipality for a person in the event of a real emergency --- this management does not list any numbers of contacts with the village of Palatine.

More than half of all the garages have cracked foundations that flood up badly when it rains. Their solution -- don't put anything in the garage but your car. Good solution to the problem don't you think.

The fact is that the current management of Countryside is completely incompetent, uncaring and extremely lazy. It's quite obvious they only care about money and nothing else. have a problem inside your apartment' Expect to make several calls before someone finally shows up (sometimes days late) -- and don't expect a good job. Things are fixed in a half ass manner just to get them going again. Again, the laziness of this management team is just stammering.

So, if you want a place to live --- that's all it is, don't expect much more. If you want a caring management team, people who care about their residents and take care of things in a timely manner ---

this is NOT the place for you.

--- A current (unfortunately) resident.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/17/2007
Ok this is interesting. You claim to do your "home work" but check a little further. The previous management Alliance yes I said previous, were responsible for removing lamp posts. They removed them before the new owners moved in to avoid paying for the costly replacement that they would have had to do to get all of the lamps back to functioning order. As far as safety goes Renaissance is installing sprinkler systems for fire safety into every apartment and common area in the building. Snow removal on the sidewalk areas cannot ba accomplishes with the fourwheelers when the snow is feet deep,wet and heavy they are light weight vehicles when the snow is two heavy the tires just spin. With over 5 miles of side walks it would take countless hours to shovel by hand. The previous owners, Alliance left the property in a shambles. All roofs need to be completely redone, they took out the lighting, they did small patchwork around the complex leaving the bigger issues to the new company. Current residents should recognize what the previous company did wrong versus what the new company is trying desprately to correct. Last spring when alliance was still here they, for whatever reason did not want to get a landscaping company out here and allowed the grass to grow knee deep in areas and even when they finally got landscaping here the bushes did not get trimmed down until the new owners took over in the fall. The bushes outside my apartment grew nearly to the second level and looked terrible. Alliance always gave me a very hard time when i called with problems. Like for instance last summer when a woman let her dog off a leash and it attacked and killed my neighbors dog. another neighbor had her dog brutally attacked by a leash free beast and alliance did nothing. I personally would call them many many times to report dogs off leash as well as the broken lights in the courtyards. They always responded ok we'll take care of it and then nothing would happen. Snow removal was much worse last winter. I remember several people from my building had to get together and dig out eachothers cars during a snow storm. There was no sign of any plows or anything we were literally pushing ach others cars in and out of the parking spots it was crazy. The new owners leave big buckets of salt at the entries now which i think is very nice. As for packages being brought to the office its probably better that they dont take on that responsibility a year and a half ago a package was brought into the office and when i went to retrieve it they didnt have it. They did not keep records of what apckages they were signing for, and even though ups had there record that it was brought there Alliance didnt care. So i lost out on the package and had to re-order the items and send them to my aunts house in joliet to insure i could get them. Why should the office be responsible for your packages. If you live in a condo, town home, or single family home and you aren't home to recieve your package it is left at your door or brought back to the delivery office. So really whats the big deal? I think people here have come to expect things that are just petty. If you don't like it buy house and do wha you want. Living in an apartment gives you the luxury of not being responsible for many things. Home owners insurance, cutting your own lawn, shoveling your own snow, maintaining your ammenities (furnace, ac, appliances ect.) are all taken care of for you. If you had a house its all on you. You have the right to choose where you live. Personally this is a much better community than the surrounding ones in the area. Look at that dumpy place at quentin and dundee. Those places are scary. I love the pretty flowering trees here, the buildings are all spread out, the units are spacious. These are old buildings so ofcourse there will be wear and tear and issues associated with age. Of course there would be a high turnover of ownership when the property was so badly neglected through the past years. If i wanted perfection i would have bought a new house or something. I made my aprtment into a nice home and have enjoyed here plenty.
From: wmikrut	Date: 03/18/2007
As for the lamp post removal -- perhaps I am mistaken in blaming the current management (Renaissance) for that. If I remember correctly, as you pointed out, they have been gone for a while... and I admit I do not remember exactly when they were removed. Perhaps blasting the current management is a little out of line. I did a little more work and found that Renaissance took over appx. 7 months ago. Unfortunately, most people I know (including myself until tonight) just remember that Alliance was responsible.. and the line between ownership change becomes ambiguous. As for the plows, you are correct and reminded me that there was hardly any snow removal from the previous year. I too helped dig and push people into and out of the lots. I understand that there is a large walkway along Sterling ave and it would take hours to shovel by hand... I don't expect them to. However, us residents with dogs (small and big) rely on clear walkways so we can take care of our animals. The package delivery is just a pain... I would think that part of the service should be that a system is devised to allow for the proper handling of packages. That being said, I had never lost a package at the office so I understand your frustration. It's just as frustrating to have to worry about where to have something delivered... perhaps something Renaissance will work on? I agree with you on anything east of Quentin on Dundee --- there is some serious low cost living over there... especially around route 12. The only reason I moved here when I did what that Bourbon Square was too close to that area... and I wanted to be far away from it. All in all I am still here, so I don't hate everything. I admit I did see people working on some of the roofs to some of the buildings in the past week... so at least there is that. It would be nice if Renaissance posted a memo in all the buildings on the things they are working on... and start to make a clearer distinction between what they are trying to do and what they were left with. Many things we find wrong we attribute to Renaissance not doing they job... when that may not be the case at all. I know they probably don't want to play the blame game and fix everything ---- but sometimes that can backfire on you... especially when a large community of people are involved. It would certainly help us residents learn that there are improvements ongoing or in the works... and to know that maybe we should not blame Renaissance for everything. I am not changing the original post --- because as you have proven, the residents here are a caring bunch... and correct us others when we are wrong or are inaccurate... a large reason I like living here.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/20/2007
Greed? How about a sound business decision. They do not owe it to you to maintain Countryside as a rental property. They bought it, they can do what they want with it! It's too bad you couldn't have purchased it so you could keep them as apartments for yourself and then take care of the 700 apartments there. Turning Countryside condos is the best thing for the condition of that community - that is where the funds to restore a property of that age come from. Don't think the rent you pay can cover all that expense.
From: gilessnyder	Date: 04/29/2007
Well, it looks like "anonymous" is getting a bit flustered. Perhaps "anonyous", or whatever the person's name really is, is missing the point. I still suspect that "anonymous" is tied to the deplorable managegement currently at CS . At any rate, I'm done. Take a look at Vince Maglardi's BMW convertible to see who is really making money on the CS deal. To prospective investors - - back out or abandon all hope of success.
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/02/2007
I assure you I do not represent Countryside or the company that currently owns it. I am just sick of reading all the crap about how horrible it is that they are going condo. Please tell me "gilessnyder" why it's bad and why it can only be greed as far as you are concered?
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/21/2007
Whoever is defending Countryside, you obviously have loyalties to someone or else work here yourself. We are treated like garbage and noone wants to listen or fix anything. NOBODY should move here. Management has taken this place down over the last 6 months and most neighbors I know want out of here also.

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