My husband and I moved into Willow Lake last month, and there are pros and cons.

It's definitely a quiet complex with nice surroundings, and the location is fantastic. But the management is absolutely not good. Maintenance is responsive, but only when the people in the office actually create a work order, and like many others who have commented before me, we have requests that are yet to be filled.

We opted for brand new appliances (which we pay $50/mo. for), and they are great. If you move here, you have to get the new appliances. The microwave is top notch, the stove is digital with a ceramic cooktop, the fridge has room in the door for a gallon of milk and lots of adjustable shelves and drawers.

Of course, like others, when we moved in, there was a lot that wasn't done or was sloppy. One of the worst issues is the tile in the bathrooms, which is badly damaged. In the lease, there's a lot of language about how seriously we are supposed to take issues of water leaks and mold (and reporting them immediately), and I think it's pretty obvious that many of these units have had water leak issues causing the tiles to crack severely. Of course, they don't seem to know how to do a professional grout job, which could be one reason for this. In some areas, they've used regular drywall plaster, which keeps coming loose and sticking to our feet. I'm actually contemplating regrouting the tile myself.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that our tub was jetted (the tub in the model is not, and I understand not all of the units have them), but the countertops in our bathrooms and kitchen are cheap, terribly scratched up, and nothing close to what is shown in the model.

Finally, the problem that seems to be looming now is parking. We live on a circle that has a bunch of garages in the middle and not nearly enough parking for everyone who lives on the circle. People have been parking near the curbs, but then get ticketed, and management recently circulated a flyer reminding us that it is illegal to park on the curbs and we would be fined, and oh by the way you can rent a garage for $125/mo. I don't know about you, but on top of the $900 rent, I can't afford another $125. The result is that if you come home after 7:00 or 8:00pm on any given night, you'll have to park near the entrance to the complex or down another street and walk down the dark and poorly lit streets to get to your apartment. And now I'm just dreading what it will be like when we have a good snow, because you know how many parking spaces are lost in the snow, which almost seems worse once it's plowed.

All in all, we do like the apartment, though we have yet to even try to use our fireplace. It had better work, because that was a selling point for us! I guess my advice is that if you like the area and the amenities enough to risk it, then by all means move in. But it's a craps shoot whether you'll get lucky (like I think we've been based on what I've read), or whether you'll end up like one of the last reviewers -- staying in a hotel waiting for them to get their stuff together. Just remember that I think we've been lucky, and yet, I don't think we're getting our money's worth or what we were promised back when they were still anticipating our money.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/30/2007
You're paying 900.00 a month in rent, 50.00 a month for appliances that will never be yours? I hope you guys are buying a house soon. I hate to see you throwing your money away, but people rent for different reasons.

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