Alright folks, I'm going to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly here.

THE GOOD - I've lived in Goodnow Hill Apartments managed by the Regional Management Company for eight years. When I moved with my sister to Baltimore, we really need someplace that was relatively inexpensive, yet decent and safe enough to call home. We found that here. We lived in our first apartment for 3 years from July 1997-October 2000. It was a 2 bedroom with a balcony locating in the back of the building. Cost- about $428 the first year. I liked barbecuing on the balcony in the summertime. People did it, and I never read anything in the lease that it was prohibited. For the most part it was a quiet apartment because I had quiet neighbors even though the neighbors changed frequently. There's quite a few students who attend the different colleges in the vicinity, Morgan State University for the most part. I think the student population had a lot to do with the neighbors changing often because students tend to move around during their college years. The parking was great - offstreet parking and there was just that one building in my section so our one building had the whole lot to ourselves. That didn't matter much to me though since I wasn't driving and neither was my sister. The #5, #44, #33, and #50 buses stop in the area so that was convenient. There's a lot of trees and nice hedges near the apartments and along Goodnow Road as well as large open lawn areas so it tends to have a park-like feel. Parkside Shopping Center is just a 10-minute walk down Goodnow Road and does have some conveniences. There's a Giant supermarket, K-mart, Value Plus store, barber/hairdresser, liquor store, Downtown Lockerroom, Fashion Cents store, hair and beauty supply store, Wachovia Bank, U-haul, Radio Shack, Firestone repair, laundry, optician center, Subway, Popeye's, Kimmy's Buffet, KFC, Pizza Boli's, and Chinese food take-out. They do not accept Section 8 here. Our apartment had central air and individually controlled heat so we could make the apartment as toasty as we wanted to whenever we wanted. We did have ample closet space. I had 2 closets in the master bedroom and my sister had one closet. There were also a linen closet, a small kitchen pantry, and a closet in the hallway. Kitchens come with frost-free refrigerators, stoves, and garbage disposals. The rent did not go up the second year, however, it did go up by about $20-25 the third year. The company decided to install security systems in all the apartments and if you wanted basic cable that was extra by another $20-$25. I saw maybe a 2 or 3 mice in my apartment which I caught with glue traps, so mice were not a big problem. Maintenance fixed things right away.

THE BAD - Very little light came into the apartment because there were few windows, for example, the sliding glass door off the living room, a window in the kitchen, a window in my room, and a window in my sister's room. There was also little light because as I mentioned previously the apartment faced the back and there were huge trees near all the windows blocking the light. Some people wouldn't be bothered by this, but I really like a lot of light coming into a room. For the most part the apartment was small...a small kitchen, a small dining area, small bathroom, small living room. The kitchen cabinets do not hold a lot.

THE UGYLY - The kitchen cabinets are an ugly dark brown fake wood-looking things, and the carpet isn't nice...it's not the worst, but it looks cheap. The apartments come with 2 light fixtures - one in the kitchen and one in the dining area, and they are look like old fixtures from the 70's. As a matter of fact, I think these buildings were built in the early 70's.

After 3 years I felt that I wanted to live in a larger 2-bedroom apartment. Since the community has so many apartment designs, the rental office was able to locate one for us and we moved to another building about 3 buildings down Goodnow Road. This arrangement is considered a transfer. Yet, one has to complete a whole new application and be approved. The good thing is that all the 2-bedroom apartments with the same ammenities cost the same. For example, a 2- bedroom with a balcony costs the same as another 2-bedroom with a balcony even though one of them might be larger. However, because we were moving, our rent would be the same as anyone moving into the community for the first time. In the old apartment we had a choice regarding the cable. Because we didn't add it there, that extra $25 wasn't added to our rent there. But in the new apartment, we didn't have a choice about the cable; it came with the apartment so that cost was added to the rent.

Here are the improvements from the old place: The new place is indeed larger, but not a whole lot larger. There's a cabinet under the bathroom sink. I have a larger bedroom window and a walk-in closet. My sister's bedroom is larger. The living room is also larger. The apartment faces the front of the building, but we don't have a balcony although we do have a sliding door. Let me explain, at one time years ago there was a balcony out there. However, there was a termite scare, and the company went around removing some of the balconies then realized that the termites were just affecting maybe one building. I do miss barbecuing outside during the summertime, but we gave that up for a larger space. More light comes into this apartment because it does face the front and there aren't as many trees blocking the windows.

Here are the drawbacks: I bought a car last year, and if you come home around 9:30p.m. it can be hard to find a space close to the building. Our building faces another building, we share the lot and everyone seems to have a car. Our next door neighbor changed since we've been living here and the new neighbor and her company can be quite noisy when they argue which happens about a few times a month. So, yes, the walls are thin. Her kids look sweet enough but they can be bad by kicking the walls and making that pounding noise. The rental office will not hold packages for residents since Septemer 11, 2001. However, my neighbor is nice enough to hold any packages for us as we also hold them for her. The rent has been going up by about $30 every year since we transferred. This building has a severe mouse problem. Exterminators have been to the building about 2 or 3 times a year since we've been here. This is the main reason why I feel we need to move again. The space is also getting too small for us once again. So, our next move will be to a townhouse. We've been undecided about where we want to go that's why we've lived here this long. However, moving is very imminent now. It's time.

User Responses
From: UmmuThalaatha	Date: 03/27/2006
Excellent Review thank you!! you get 5 stars
From: ashley_a_bivins	Date: 04/19/2006
your review was so insightful

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