Before I moved in here, I was concerned about all of the poor reviews on this site. I decided to meet up with someone I knew who lived here, and she recommended the complex to me. I am so glad I took her advice.
I have been treated with nothing but respect by the office staff, and they always remember my name and ask me how I am doing when I drop off my rent at the office.
My water bill is never more than $15 and I live right next to a pool, however there is no grass being watered by my building so I don't know if that has anything to do with it.
My electric bill has been very cheap so far, although I have had to use more AC this month, so I should find out the damage in the next couple days. This is not to say I have to use my AC too often though. I came from an apartment in midtown that was large with vaulted ceilings and on the third floor...the AC was on literally all the time!
I have had several things fixed initially when I moved in, but they were minor and only needed to be fixed so I wouldn't be charged when I move out. Also, I had problems with my toilet clogging when I first moved in, but it was always fixed within an hour of my calling the office. The problems have since resolved, and I attribute them to low flow toilets that you get in almost any apt complex.
Parking hasn't been a problem for me, but I live in a relatively secluded area of the complex.
I never hear my neighbors above, below, or beside me. However, I can hear a lot of stuff that happens in the parking lot. And I am so glad I do not face a pool...that would be unbearable. I have heard some yelling in the complex next to mine in the middle of the night once, but I think the cops came soon after. I feel like the complex is usually very quiet, especially compared to the place I lived before (near plaza/westport).
As far as safety goes...I have felt fine here. However, as a single young woman, you must always be careful and watchful. I keep my doors locked always, do not answer for people I don't know, and I have taken a self defense class in the past year (which I recommend for any woman no matter your age or where you live...the Ali Kemp Foundation offers a great 1 time class for very little money).
One thing I don't like--The pet deposits/rent are quite a bit of money. I really want to get a cat, but the deposit is $300 (50 non-refundable), and then pet rent is still $20 a month. Add that to the cost of caring for a pet and a college student can usually not afford it. Oh well :)

So before I moved in, someone on here told me that being satisfied in this complex depended on the unit you were given. He/She said it was all up to luck, and I should ask myself if I was that lucky. I guess I was because I am incredibly happy here.

I will keep updating as the time goes on! Good luck to all searching for apartments :)

User Responses
From: lovetoship	Date: 12/26/2006
I lived at The Ethan's from Jan 2004 - Mar 2006. Although there are no guarentees on safety anywhere you live, The Ethans did not do a criminal background check as part of their approval process and I know there was a child sex offender living on the property. I recommend moving to a community that does that as added security. I never had any problems but do know others who did - mostly car break-ins. I complained about the water bill and found out from an ex-employee that "common water" (the sprinkler system, filling the pool, etc.) is added in to the residents water bill - nice huh. Also, the water is billed for the entire building, then divided by the number of people who live in the building and that is how your usage is determined. My electric bills were also high, but I faced north and had vaulted ceilings, so that might have attributed to that. Regarding the office staff, wasn't too bad when I moved in but the staff changed several times during my 18-month stay. There were alot of egos from the office and maintenance staff - I tried to stay out of there, put my rent in the drop box and faxed in any maintenance requests (and there were several of those) - the manager was one of the most unprofessional individuals I have ever dealt with on top of wearing clothes that were way to small for her figure - also unprofessional. I have lived in 5 different apartment communities north of the river since the early 1990's and this was by far my worst experience. You can find a better place to live, in my opinion, that The Ethans! I hope you get feedback from others as well and wish you the best of luck in your search.
From: overthetopataglance	Date: 01/02/2007
I would completely agree with the last response. the utility bills are higher than other complexes in the northland by about $30.00 plus on electric and water maybe $10 or more. so not too bad but in the summer if you are in the wrong place the air can cost an arm and a leg and if there is a problem with the sprinklers you will pay for the water to those too.there are alot of break ins and partiers in general that live here. and im sure that comes and goes and depends on where you live in the complex but are you that lucky? maintenance is horrible and rude for the most part, same with the office staff. it depends on the day i suppose. they messed up my rental payment once and said i didnt pay when i did but straightened it out. the manager is very unprofessional and speaks to you as if you are a child and i am far from that probably older than her and the attire is correct in the other response.....bad stuff. yes its cheap the apartments are ok (depends on which one you get). i am moving and have looked recently and know people who live in other complexes and would suggest camden passage, they have fluxuating prices daily and are nice so keep trying with them or barclay has a special right now too. good luck
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/27/2007
I live there now and have lived there for several years. the apartment is a crap shoot. If you get lucky and get an apartment with few maintenance headaches you are OK. I was one day late on the rent once due to being on the road for work and got dinged a $50 late fee which I thought was VERY excessive esp since it was the first time in 3 years I was ever late. As far as energy use goes, I found my furnace was not installed correctly and had a huge section of plywood blocking it's intake greatly reducing it's efficiency. Also the coils in the exchanger where packed with crud. I got a saw and expertly cut out the offending piece of plywood, and took a steam jet to the coils and my heat/cooling went down by almost 30%. The reason the coils go tcaked in dust was improper installation of the furnace. Due to where the run the freon pipes you cant properly replace the filter without having to ball it up to get it into the furnace. The water is rediculous. They have broken sprinkler heads all over the poperty and they just POUR water down the storm drains. And they water the lawn when teh grass is clearly dormant due to heat which is a huge waste. The lawns are all but usless for recreation as the people with dogs don't clean up their dog poo and it is EVERYWHERE. They really need to crack down on this. those of us that don;t have dogs are tired of walking in it and having an unuseable lawn. My water is about 30 per month and electric runs about $128 a month.

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