If you are thinking of moving to Brookview the only advice I can give to you is the following. Do not move into any of the apartments where you will have neighboors on the opposite side of any wall. I moved into a one bedroom townhouse that was brand new, no previous tenets. The interior was nice, good rug, not the crappy rug a lot of complexes like to put in their units. Nice appliances, although the counter tops were rather cheesy and easy to chip. The toilets were the low flow kind and would constantly clog up on anything more than five squares of toliet paper. It took an advanced degree in the brown arts of toliet flushing to master those toliets without having to bring out the ole plumbers helper. The windows were rather leaky and you could feel cold air blowing in during the winter time, and you could watch your shades dance like ghosts on windy days. The apartments themselves were put together rather haphazardly. In my second floor bedroom I could feel depressions in the wood flooring where a hole larg enough for the ball of your foot could fit. The hole was not filled in when they installed the wood flooring in the apartments and before they laid down the rug. The upstairs bathroom looked like they put a rush job on it to move me in and the vinal flooring in the room where the washer and dryer were located was not glued down correctly and was peeling up and curling at the edges. The fixtures, and cabinets were rather lame for apartments advertised as luxury units. But the number one reason you may not want to live in Brook View is the amount of noise you will have to put up with from your neighbors if they are the obnoxious and oblivious type. By that I mean oblivious to the fact that anyone else is living within ten feet of them. And I have noticed that so called luxury apartments seem to attract more than their fair share. I think they get the attitude that they are paying all this money why shouldnt I be able to do exactly what I want and screw anyone else.
In the case of the one bedroom townhouses you are surrounded by three other units. A three bedroom unit has its kitchen located opposite your living room wall. The stove and under cabinet microwave are exactly opposite your living room wall. So you get to listen to all the pot banging, kitchen utensiles clanging and microwave door slamming that goes on in an average kitchen while sitting in your living room. Another unit has its kitchen exactly opposite your kitchen and you get to hear them open and close their microwave door too, along with other noises as they use their kitchen. Another unit has its stairwell opposite your stairwell but since the owners and the architects and the builders did not feel it was neccessary to put in sound insulation between the apartments there is the possibility of hearing your neighbor especially if they love to run up and down the stairs, what a treat. The year that I spent at Brook View was probably the worst experience I have ever had since moving to the south Jersey area. My first neighbor in the three bedroom unit opposite my living room wall loved to slam doors. I used to think there wasnt a door they didnt like to slam shut. I also had the joy of listening to them slam the hell out of the microwave door. Since they loved cooking in the microwave this could go on for an hour and a half every evening and they loved putting in overtime on weekends. The other unit with the kitchen opposite mine, I would generally only hear them slamming the microwave door but nothing like the other three bedroom unit. The neighbor with the stairwell opposite mine had a dog that like to bark and he liked to slam doors on occasion. And there was no need to buy your own stereo because you had no problems hearing your neighbors when they turned theirs on full blast. I thought I had it pretty bad until the neighbors in the three bedroom unit moved out and new ones moved in. They had three little kids that liked to scream and yell and cry. They loved running up and down the stairs, while yelling and screaming, and running from one room to the next slamming doors behind them. Since their kitchen was opposite my living room I got to listen to them whine and cry at breakfast, lunch and dinner. When they took their baths at night I could hear their toys slamming up against the tub walls and the slamming of their little feet as they jumped up and down in the tub. Of course the bathtub was located along the same wall as my living room wall but it was on the second floor so every night it sound like the second coming over my head. Parking was not a total nightmare but not enough spaces were allocated. I guess those genuises that designed the complex forgot that some people have more than one car. Whew, have I covered all the bases' Not yet! Did I mention Brook View has a pretty liberal dog policy. If you havent guessed by now that pretty much means dog crap everywhere. I had a neighbor two doors down that liked to let her dog crap in the little bit of front yard I had, all the time! I complained to managment but all they did was send out the maintenance guy with a shovel to clean it up. But, of course a couple of weeks later it was filled up with the same amount of dog poop as before!
When I was there they went through four rental managers until they found the meanest witch imaginable. I dont know if she is still there but dont bother going to her if you have any issues with any of your neighbors because she just didnt give two squats. I think her name was JoAnn, something that started with a "J".
My recommendation is not to move there. Every thing that glitters is not gold. But to be honest there are not a lot of choices in the south jersey area. All of the newer apartments are built the same way and the older ones are even worse. But if you do decide to move there the one bedroom end units are probably the least problematic but you will have to put up with a lot of parking lot noise. My stay there would have been a lot better if they had properly insulated the apartments against noise, and I would probably still be there because even though some of the other issues were irritating the noise I had to endure was the motivating factor that drove me out.
The few things good I can say about the apartment are:
1.) good rug at the time
2.) I liked the fridge, had ice maker
3.) Huge A/C compressor and quite, had no problem icing the apartment down in summer.
4.) Low heating and cooling bills, even with the minor window leaks.

User Responses
From: marjon7	Date: 09/14/2006
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU WE WERE GOING TO MOVE IN THIS DECEMBER AND I AM SO GLAD TO READ YOUR LETTER. WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN A HOUSE WE RESENTLY SOLD IT AND AT PRESENT TIME AM LOOKING FOR LOGING IN APARTMENTS I THOUGHT THE BROOKVIEW LOOKED TO GOOD TO BE TRUE I JUST CANT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR YOUR COMMENTS BUT WE STILL HAVE TO FIND SOME WHERE TO LIVE DO YOU HAVE ANY GOOD RECOMENDATIONS I AM JUST LOST FOR LOOKING NOW BECAUSE I DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO LOOK YOU SAID THE NEW APARTMENTS THAT ARE BULIT WITHOUT INSILATION ARE NOISY AND THE OLD ONES TOO SO I GUESS AT LEAST NOW I CAN ASK FUTURE APARTMENT MANAGEMENT ARE THE WALLS INSILATED THANKS AGAIN '''A VERY CONCERNED OLDER COUPLE LOOKING FOR PEACE AND QUIETNESS'''
From: MrJDM	Date: 10/06/2006
I have a comment for you, how bout not using all caps. Oh yah, how bout adding some periods to your comment.
From: shimmy267	Date: 12/11/2006
Before you talk ---- on someone else's comments, why dont you proofread your own...that's a thought, dont you think?!
From: stilllookinginSoJo	Date: 06/02/2009
This a very funny, thorough, and well-written post that made me laugh, despite my whole-hearted sympathies for your situation. I have been dealing with similar atrocities at various complexes in South Jersey for four years and am at my wit's end. I surely will not move to Brook View, though, thanks to your post. It's funny, though--my ex lives there, so I was constantly at his place and never heard anyone--ever. I guess sometimes it comes down to luck. An apartment is only as good as its neighbors (mine are always spawns of the same devil, apparently), but I agree that the construction shouldn't be so cheap that it invites every squeak and thump.

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