Just about 2 miles from the complex lie train tracks. This produces MUCH noise, at all times. It takes a while, but you get used to it. It stops waking you up after a few months. Really.

The complex is fairly old (built in the 60's), and it shows. Our neighbors above us create such a loud noise, and that's just from walking. It's really unbelievable. Pair that with the fact that it is a young adult living off his father's savings who has lots of rowdy friends over on weekends, at all hours, and you often find yourself awakened in the middle of the night, staring at the thumps and bangs coming from above. It takes awhile, but you get used to it. By the way, the building does notthing about your constant complaints, not even respond to you.

The engineering is poor. During the sweltering DC summer, our AC rarely got the job done. Worse yet, it seemed that some air vents worked and some did not. We had the maintenance man in several times, and all he could say was that he "didn't engineer the place, so don't blame [him]." Many days, and I am not exaggerating, with the AC cranked to full blast, it only got down to 80 degrees in the coolest part of the apartment! This made for several miserable months. It took awhile, but we got used to it. Also: expect PLENTY of hot and cold water shut-offs, sometimes as many as a few a week. It seems that if something happens fairly regularly, it ceases to be an "emergency" and becomes just another recurring problem. Expect lots.

The location is not a walker's dream. Located in what is essentially an industrial park, saddled by a cemetery and a major thouroughfare, this is about as unfriendly an environment for a nice stroll as you could ask for. Not to mention Rockville Pike, which is a driver's nightmare. Always jam packed, it takes you essentially five times as long as it realy should, just to get to the next town (Bethesda or Gaithersburg). It takes a while, but you get used to it. And yes, the Metro is about a 15 minute walk from the complex.

Expect management bureacracy. When we decided on our apartment, we thought we were getting the top floor of an end unit, which we prized for the lack of celing noise we wouldn't get from upstairs neighbors, and the end unit luxury of windows in the kitchen and bathroom. We also loved the trees that created lots of summer shade and privacy outside of our patio, which is connected to our living room. "Oh, I'm sorry," the leasing agent said dryly, the day we came to sign the lease. "It actually isn't a top floor unit. It's the third floor. Is that still ok'" Well, um, I guess it's going to have to be, chump! since we are pretty much set to move in. But thanks for lying to us. Worse yet, we come home from work one day this past summer to find the trees outside our patio CUT DOWN, COMPLETELY, without warning. "Management beautification," we're told, dryly. last time I checked, CUTTING THE TREES DOWN, PINE TREES NO LESS, SO THAT GRASS COULD GROW BETTER does not constitute "beautification."

Be prepared to share. For our sixteen unit subcomplex, we share two washers and two dryers. You do the math.

I felt the rent increase was a slap in the face. 8.5%, when the county average is 5%. And no reason is given. And I asked.

I feel safe, you get a lot of room, but I would not recommend this complex. We're moving out as soon as we can find something else.

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