I recently moved out of a one-bedroom "loft" style townhouse in Woodlake Village. Living room and kitchen and dining area on the first floor, and the bedroom and bathroom upstairs, in the loft. After having lived there for over 3 years, I feel qualified to write a review. First, the units are old (I was told by management that the units were built "sometime in the 70s) and poorly maintained. The unit was VERY poorly insulated. Very hot in the summer, in the loft, which is the bedroom. So much so, that I could not sleep upstairs in the summer, even with a fan. There are very high ceilings in the unit, which is really nothing more than a lot of wasted space. The high ceilings, combined with the poor insulation, make it very difficult to keep a comfortable temperature inside. It is nearly impossible to keep the upstairs cool in the summer, as there are only 2 vents for the a/c 2 small vents for an upstairs area with very high ceilings are totally inadequate. Likewise, that works against you in the winter as well. Not enough warm air for the upstairs, so consequently, it was always ice cold upstairs in the winter. I had to use a space heater to keep the loft warm enough. Given the poor design and poor insulation of the unit, you can only really be comfortable hanging out downstairs, except for maybe April-early June when the weather is not too extreme in either direction. And, your electric bills will be sky-high, as you pay it all. The only thing Woodlake pays for is cold water. Yup, not even hot water (hot water heater is electric so you pay for that too!) Also, speaking of the upstairs, the way up/down is via a spiral staircase. The thing seemed very rickety to me and always on the verge of collapsing (it never did, but I always expected it to). Ok, next are the windows. The windows have obviously never been replaced as they are all rotting out. They caused terrible drafts in the winter. The one window in the loft could not be opened as it was so rotted I was afraid it would fall right out of the wall if I even touched it (thus adding to the heat problem in the summer). They put new carpeting in the unit before I moved it, but it was extremely cheap, apartment-grade carpeting, which got dirty very easily, despite my constant cleaning. Expect it to stain easily. The appliances were just typical cheap apartment appliances. I had a problem with the dishwasher where it broke repeatedly (4 times the last year I was there). Each time, they came and fixed it, it broke again about 2 weeks later. Eventually they yanked out the dishwasher and replaced it with another one (used, from another apartment). Management was inconsistent with their responsiveness to my repair requests. Sometimes, they came the day I reported a problem. Other times, I waited a week, other times, nobody came at all, in which case, I had to make a new request for repairs. I had several problems over the years-leak in the air conditioner condensation line which soaked the carpet, a "short" in the heater which happened in the middle of the winter, ill-fitting screen door for the sliding glass door on the ground floor, etc. The maintenance guys I dealt with over the years seemed to be trying their best, but they were simply overwhelmed. They didn't have enough maintenance guys. The last maintenance manager they had was an alcoholic whom they fired for stealing. Apparently he was using his access keys to enter the apartments when nobody was home and stealing stuff which he would then sell at pawnshops. The place was just too big and they needed to hire more help. Exterior-wise, the unit was dilapidated-looking. Faded old brown wood paneling. As far as the residents it was a low-class bunch. White trash and low-class minorities. Hate to sound racist but it's the truth. Lots of loud, obnoxious kids ("thug" and eminem-wannabe types) out in force during the summer, loitering around, being boisterous(lots of cursing and foul language), and playing loud rap music on car stereos and boom boxes, etc, all day and into the night. Don't any of those kids have jobs' Noisy and undisciplined small children running around unsupervised (where are the parents') Lots of littering (I was constantly picking up garbage and beer cans that were tossed around outside, and also dog poop that people obviously could not be bothered with cleaning up). This type of place is not going to attract the cream of the crop. Rumor has it that the complex has a lot of Section 8 people and I wouldn't doubt it. Definitely not a place to raise a family or have children. Also not recommended for a single woman as I don't think it's the safest neighborhood, either. The main problem with Woodlake is that they have very old units that they do not maintain at all. They do nothing to keep the units nice or beautify the property. If they renovated everything (and I mean completely gutted the interiors and replaced everything and properly insulated the units), gave the exteriors a face-lift, and raised the rent (which would force the riff-raff to move out), it might have potential. My advice is to look elsewhere. For $845 a month, you are not going to get 5-star accomodations, but you can do better. Of note is the fact that the complex is owned by a bunch of Orthodox Jews from Long Island. They built a yeshiva (rabbi school) in what used to be the management office. Lots of rabbinical students live in the complex. I wonder if the students get a discount on their rent or faster responses to their repair requests' And a final note- when you move out, management will go over the unit with a microscope and try to deduct any little thing they can from your security deposit. They will try to nail you for things that are normal wear and tear. They did it to me, and after they nitpicked their way through the apartment, they ended up keeping half of my security deposit to cover the "damages" they claimed I was responsible for. I don't have the time to dispute it or else I would. I'm just happy to be out of there. The unfortunate thing is that some sucker will move into the unit I left and not know what he's getting himself into. Take the advice of someone who has lived in this dive complex for 3 years and steer clear of it, unless you don't mind living in a hot in the summer, cold in the winter apartment, with the scum of the earth as neighbors. You have been warned.

User Responses
From: justme72	Date: 08/13/2005
I have to disagree with this post on some points. you are referring to the one bedroom loft style. I live in a 2 bedroom townhome and with brand new central air and yes, I do have cheap carpeting. when I have a stain, its because I made it....use throw rugs where normal people put them and dont spill your food/drinks...every carpet will stain if you are not diligent and take preventative measures..cheap or not. Its not loud in all areas of the complex, I happen to live towards the front entrance and find it VERY quiete and I have NO problems with noise whatsoever. Yes, the electric bills are high...before you signed your lease..Im sure you recognized that there were high ceiling..and umm..even in the best built homes have heating/cooling issues, that would just be comment sense. go ahead and try to find ANY place to live in ocean county that is halfway decent for $1000 or less...fat chance. I have been here for a while..and while its not the taj, it suits me and my dog just fine...and by the way...you can live in the nicest of places..and maintenance will always suck..you cant please everyone all the time....
From: gladtwobeegone	Date: 10/25/2005
I just hope your dog is a big German Shepherd that likes gansta meat for dinner. Better put your valuables in a safety deposit box at the bank just to be sure!!!

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