This apartment complex was about the 15th one that I looked that before I had decided to go with it. I will give both pros and cons of the place that maybe you won't get from a rental tour. I currently rent out one of the one bedroom apartments in the complex and live here alone with a cat. One of the perks is being able to have an animal live with you. The grounds are kept nice and there are even many external improvements in the process. I recently spoke with the new property manager and he was very interested in my ideas of making this place nicer. Whenever I have had a problem, the man who does onsite maintenance has been there to help.

Where it comes to some of the cons...

While I have never had a roach or bug infestation, I can agree with the heating situation. THe buildings are old and there are no individual heating controls in the units. I happen to have an apartment that would get really really hot so oftentimes in the winter I would open my windows and walk around always with very little clothing on.

Lets talk about the electrical situation. First of all, the electrical system here is an UNGROUNDED SYSTEM. For those of you who may not know, this is not particularly horrible to have, but not recommended. It is an outdated version that lacks the extra saftey of having the grounding plug. THis is something that I was not told when I was looking because there are no stickers on the switches or outlets in the model unit. However, on every outlet and switch in my apartment there is a sticker that I think is mandatory that warns about the system being ungrounded. Playing off of that, in the circuit breaker in my apartment there are only 2 circuits that fuel the apartment. For those of you who are technologically advanced, this means that you cannot run your hair dryer and air conditioner or hair dryer or microwave at the same time without blowing the fuse. Keep in mind the amount of electricity that most people today use at one time including the microwave, hair dryers, computers, air conditioners as well as TV's and stereos. More often than not, if you are not constantly conscious about which appliances you have running, you WILL blow the circuit.

My next largest complaint is the parking situation. I realize that in north jersey there is naturally an abundance of people and a lack of space to put them in. However, I am a person who is more active at night and when I come home from the gym, there are nights where there is literally NOT ONE parking spot in any one of the lots or on the street. I have driven around for 20 minutes in the middle of the night only to finally surrender parking in a place designated as a yellow curb or no parking only praying that I dont get a ticket. Also, there are alot of people that park here in the lots that do not have the stickered approval to park here and thus take the space from the residents. I would have to honestly say that I believe I walk about a quarter of a mile to my car most days because the only spots are on the other side at the other end of the complex. Now, I am young and this does not bother me so much however residents that may be older or mind the walk more may have more of a problem with it. My only problem with parking so far away and walking in the nighttime is safety.

There are alot of stray cats and they will stay because there is I know an elderly man that at least in my corner of the complex feeds them. There are also an abundance of kids and be careful driving because many of them will run out into the street without so much as looking. The laundry rooms are pretty bad and also very small however there are several located throughout the complex. Each only has 4 washers and 4 dryers.

As far as the interior of my apartment. All of the appliances were brand new (stove, refrigerator, carpet) and that was very nice. There is absolutely NO space in the kitchen (in the one bedrooms) but if you are single and don't cook much, it is not much of an issue. The only other interior problem I have is that there is not alot of water pressure in the toilet and sometimes takes 2-3 flushes to work.

So if all of these things seem like "non-issues" to you.. the complex is overall not horrible to live in. I personally will be moving at the end of my one year stay into something that better suits my needs. Some of the neighbors are nice and it is always a safe secure feeling to become friends with some of them so that you know at least someone. People seem friendly but dont mistake that for the ability to let your guard down. I have heard stories of how bad this place used to be and I do believe that it is being cleaned up for the much better but improvements will not all happen overnight.

Okay so that is all I think... I hope my review was helpful!

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates