TK has good and bad. I love my apartment, for the most part. The place is HUGE. And I like the layout. So many places have a crappy layout, but here you really get all the square feet without wasted spaces. The size is the number one quality here. Generally, closets are large and our apartment even has a lovely pantry. The kitchen has a decent amount of counter space and is very usable. Walls are a decent thickness, and you won't hear your neighbors too much unless their TV is on full blast, they are having a huge party, or do tons of home improvement projects. Our 2-bedroom has great natural lighting, but the amount of artificial lighting is not enough. I like that the carpet doesn't show dirt, but it does stain easily and seems to fall apart with our new vacuum. Outlets seem to be in kind of weird places, especially for the phone and internet. But otherwise, the apartment seems pretty good. Having the heat included was key for me, though now there is that new "utility" fee, whatever that is - the fee is included in your rent check, so really just a way to disguise the rent increase.

I enjoy the location - pretty quiet, lots of trees and the creek, close to the bus stop. One con is living so close to the train - it is very loud and comes by very often in the middle of the night. Landscaping is well done and scrupulously maintained. Some people have also planted some very nice flowers, which is nice and gives a nice community feel. The pool seems to open late in the season and because it is shaded, can be quite cold, especially during an abnormally cool summer. There are no other amenities and are next to no "events". The only social thing, really, is the monthly newsletter, which is basically a joke.

The cons to the apartment - mildew and mold is a BIG problem. It is really a pain, especially around the windows. The windowsills are COMPLETELY falling apart and pretty scary. I am somewhat concerned about all the paint that chips off and hope that my kid doesn't eat it. Also, repairs to bathroom have NOT been adequate and the upstairs apartment bathroom constantly leaks down to our apartment and causes mold because they never adequately fix it. The bathroom is not as well maintained as I would like and I find it a tad scary. The porch is also a BIG problem, and while would be nice is essentially unusable because of the number of wasps. We constantly ask them, but extermination is never fixed. The ceiling of porch is falling apart but is never fixed because "they need permission from the city" - whatever the heck that means. Porches seem to be better on second floor apartments. Appliances are okay, but old and sometimes have issues. Another issue I have is with water temperature. IN the winter, they jack it up really really hot, which is a problem if you are home during the day because it is scalding. Even though I expressed concerns about burns for my kid, they basically didn't care and said that "not many kids live here anyways". A lawsuit waiting to happen, in my book. The basements are also a problem - lots of bugs, occasionally flooding and theft from the storage rooms, and just kind of falling apart and scary.

Another big con for the Modern apartments is the heating / AC. Heat is turned on and off by the management. Normally it is fine, but the transition time is brutal! In the fall, there are many VERY cold days before the heater finally kicks on. Bring lots of sweaters and blankets. But more of a problem is in the spring. The temp has to stay above like 50F or something for them to switch off the heat. While you can control the amount of heat blowing, some heat is always coming off from the radiators and so even with your personal radiators turned off, it can get VERY toasty. As in above 80F for as much as 2 weeks before management finally turns off the heat. This can be VERY unbearable. In addition, most years they don't actually tell you when they make this switch, so you have to guess. And if you accidentally turn on the thermostat, thinking that the AC is on, you will be sweating up a storm in the middle of the night. SUCH a pain.

Ok, so the HUGE con - the management. They seem to switch like every year, but they keep getting worse and worse. I've alluded to some problems above - regarding wasps and water temperature. Overall, their basic attitude is pretty condescending. They seem to have 0 customer service. They are pretty good at getting routine maintenance done, but dealing with more systematic problems like wasps or the porch ceiling or the windows or when the heat turns on or mold. They give almost no notice about major repairs - less than 24 hr often - even when it involves things like moving your car or the water being turned off. They blame things on the city when they can. Or make up ridiculous excuses. When I complained about such short notice on moving your car (like posted at 4 pm for the next day) and mentioned that some people might be on vacation, they told me I should tell the Office whenever I would be out of town. Right. The newest management loves to enact new policies - huge long documents, like pool rules or what is allowed on a porch or whether shoes are allowed in the hallway. These are effective immediately and can come with hefty fines (like $50/DAY!!! if you have a bike on your porch). The policies are very rarely enforced but are announced pompously.

The biggest problem with the management is leasing. They have 0 flexibility. None. And they are a pain. When we moved from a 1 bdrm to a 2 bedroom, we had to put in a new application, including the fee!!! For current residents! We had to put down a new deposit and wait for the previous one to get refunded (they don't deduct lots of things from it and pretty lenient about wear-and-tear and repairs, which is nice). I found this ridiculous. The worst, was their complete inflexibility about leases this year. They only allow you to the move in the summer or sign up for the 3 slots they leave open for some months the rest of the year. We were not allowed to move the month we wanted and were "lucky" to get a slot the next month. We could not do month-to-month and had to pay an additional fee because we now had a short-term lease. They basically pick the month your lease will end each summer (ours has changed EACH time we renewed our lease, because of some new policy). I find this absurd considering that we have lived here 4 years. Basically, they do nothing to retain current residents. They try to hide rent increases, with new fees (though the rent increases really have been minimal the last few years). This has completely turned me off from TK.

So, overall - big apartment, nice layout, and included heat and water - big plus. There are some consistent maintenance problems that are not resolved, but anything "serious" is resolved quickly. Management is generally inflexible on all policies and does little to retain (or endear) current residents. If you are planning on only moving out in the summer and don't mind arrogant management with little customer service and no notice, then the big apartments can be quite nice. Of course, no place is perfect, but a little customer service could go a LONG way.

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