I live here and I am looking again as I have new job in new place. As I looked for apartment ratings I am flabbergasted by negativity and triviality poured out. It seems whole days of greeting everyone takes a toll and many want an outlet for negative feelings. Here is what I have noted.

The good:
1. Awesome school district rated 10. Devon elementary scholl is great.
2. Nearby Kumon maths & reading center at Devon which is run by Rosemary Chen and she is stickler for quality. Takes interest in every student. Not all Kumon centers are alike. It's awesome.
3. Shuttle to train station, though a bit unreliable at times at shuttle breaks down. Train station of SEPTA just a mile away.
4. Some basic convenience of Public transport- SEPTA bus to Paoli via mainline.
5. ACME & Kmart nearby. ACME is expensive, so not very useful. Kmart rates have been bought down a bit. Kmart also has car repair center.
6. A playyard where a lots of children play.
7. If you are Indian you will find good company. ------- organized Diwali function in community center and also did Halloween program and in general have good bonhomie. It's a good base if you consult and move around.
8. Most important to me was lease breakage facility. It's two months rent. Give it and get out anyday.
9. Maintenance have always come the same day we called. Never experienced any issue.
10. Ceilings have double insulation. To some extent alleviates noise from kids upstairs.
11. The PECO electricity bill seems a bit low for kind of usage we have. We run dishwater and in-apartment quite a lot. Still it comes to $58 only. I wonder if it is shared bill.
12. If youe blinds are broken, maintenance will replace it.
13. Except one apartment across road there is nothing else available in Devon. There are Devon gree but it's small and quaint.
14. There is huge parking. Friday is bit crowded, but you get 25 feet away if not next door to apartment door.

Not so good
1. As it's been mentioned the ISTA heating bill is very high. Goes upto $200 in winters. Approx Nov-April.
2. Apartments wall are thin on some sides. Buildings are L shaped and four apartments are on side of total 10 on a floor. Those 4 should not have as much of problem. Generally all apartments have thin walls. I have never heard of any apartment not having thin wall.
3. Playyard is invaded by rude neighbours from outside apartment. Still they can be ignored. They just make a bit of noise. I don't consider that to be a problem in play yard.
4. My student neighbors were not noisy. Maybe some could be. There is quota of about 25% for students in the apartment. Generally we haven't heard any problem due to students.
5. Lease breakage is not put in black in white. It's at their discretion.
6. I found management to be a bit inflexible butnothing like being rude. Basically their rudeness doesn't matter much to me because - a.I expect them to be b.We deal nicely with maintenance and get what we want c. Their being nice will not change fundamental situation with respect to location, rent, schools etc. d. I interact with them only 2-3 times a year. It will be irrational to take important decision just on basis of how I felt in those few minutes of interaction.
7. Someone mentioned about dogs barking- that could be true. Students, I don't know why they keep dogs. We had dog in neighbourhood and sometimes we felt the student neighbours locked poor dog in closet. The barks of him were heart rendering. Anyway we didn't hear dog all the time.

Overall summary, big thumbs up- just add $150 to rent for overhead of heating and do ask for new carpet if you have kids.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/28/2008
Regarding point 6: Some people deal nicely with maintenance and DON'T get what they want. Also rudeness bothers some people because it shows a definite lack of respect towards people who basically pay the staff's salaries. Regarding point 14: a little more than 25 feet away.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/30/2008
Wait till you have to deal with staff after a fire is in your building...then come back and rate the community and staff.
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/01/2008
I mentioned inflexible aspect. They didn't pay heed for blocking front parking space for me so that my stuff comes in without problem. Maintenance guy said it has never been done before. I wanted to tell him even --------Americans and women didn't vote for long time but there was a first time for them and it couldn't be told that they never voted before. Anyway I understood it's not in them to think beyond copybook. Regular maitenance is done with verve and passion. Just don't ask them to solve problems. And you will find rare individuals with capacity to solve problems. I found one maintenance guy with capacity to do that in my earlier cheap apartment complex. Apartments.con won't list these details.
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/24/2008
I donot recommend this apartments, except if you are having children and staying with them for education.The Management staff is very rude and inflexible and they are irresponsible.I support all the statements which are good and bad but needs to be included some more points in bad side like insects in the apartment, no controll for heater(if you are feeling more hot then you have to on cooler to balance the temperature. so 2 ways we are consuming electiricity) etc.the staff changes their behavior based on people region. There is no equality, if they like people,they give some considerations, if they dont like then they impose charges

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