And it's not great.

Every few years, the complex gets purchased by a new holding company. All they do is raise your rent, blow their entire budget on pointless external cosmetic renovations (such as replacing all of the classic wooden-lattice and flat-top balcony railings with rounded metal bars - you can no longer place a beverage, or ashtray, atop your balcony railing, making it far less attractive for social gatherings. I haven't been out on my own balcony in /years/, because there's no reason to go out there anymore). And it makes the balconies even /more/ dangerous for people who let their cats and puppies (or even small toddlers) outside, because they can easily slip through the bars and plummet to the ground below. As opposed to the old wooden lattice, which even a hamster would have difficulty wriggling through.)

Once they change the external appearance of the building, and completely rewrite your lease agreement, the New Owners(tm) simply sell off the complex to the next developer. I honestly can't even /remember/ who owns the Barton's Crossing complex anymore, at this point in time. Town and Country, then Sawyer Properties, then.. some other group... then whoever it is now.... it's a blur. Doesn't really matter anymore.

But some other group entirely will soon purchase the complex from the current holders, and they will shortly proceed to make things /even more obnoxious/. So it goes, on and on.

The latest change, that our latest owners have imposed, is that nobody is required to use parking-space decals on their car anymore. Gosh, this means that I can simply peel the decal off my car, and park it /right next/ to the elevators, stealing the coveted space from Whatshisname! All I have to do now is say "This parking space has always been mine", and with no decal to back that up, they'll simply have to take my word for it over his!

There used to be a time when parking enforcement and assigned spaces actually /meant/ something. But now, not so much. It's utterly pointless to have assigned spaces, when the cars themselves aren't tagged. (In the past, people have parked in my space. I'd complain to the landlords about it. "My parking decal is 0218, and theirs is 0119. They stole my parking space labelled A3." And they'd be all like, "Let me check our records... Yep, that's your space, alright. Leave him a note, and if he's not gone in 24 hours, we'll tow him outta there." But /these/ days' Pfft. It's practically a joke.)

Furthermore, should you move into Barton's Crossing, be prepared to be annoyed by your neighbors. There are any number of "nuiscance rules" in the lease, but the landlords do not act upon them. Right now, it's 3:30AM, and my neighbor is playing "music" - if you can call it that - loud enough to make my front door resonate.

He does this every weekend. He used to do it every *day*, until I called the cops on him. (Which I *really hate* to do, and have not done it yet this evening. And probably won't.)

The landlords will do absolutely nothing about this, even though it's technically a "lease violation". It doesn't happen on their watch (business hours only), so therefore, it doesn't happen /at all/.

They will also do nothing about people keeping dogs outside on the balcony all day. Even during the winter. (When they bark endlessly, because it's so damned cold, and they're hungry and alone and what-not, not to mention frightened by the firetrucks leaving from the nearby fire station at regular intervals, sirens a-blaring.) And, naturally, dogs will eventually relieve themselves if they're kept in the same spot for too long, so if you live /below/ them, your wood-slat-floored balcony will eventually be drenched in dog urine and fecal matter.

The Barton's Crossing Solution to this problem is, "call Animal Control". Sure, right. It's not /their/ problem, even though it's /their/ tenants who are causing the problem in the /first/ place. Let's just pass the buck! That's much easier!

Barton's Crossing only enforces "lease violations" when they cost them money. Like, if you're late by a day in paying rent, or the water bill, or the trash bill (all three must be combined into one check, requiring some scratch paper and mental acrobatics), they'll send you a Nastygram(tm). But god forbid you let your dog outside to freeze to death in the winter, or play your stereo loud enough to make your neighbor's dishes fall off the shelves - *that's* not *their* problem!

And furthermore, it's the year 2008. Why can I *still* not have my rent/water/trash payments automatically deducted from my bank account' Paying rent to these guys is the *ONLY* reason I still even own a physical checkbook. Every single one of my bills has been check-free since at /least/ 2002.

Incidently, there's still water damage on my bathroom ceiling (and, by now, floor).

Here's the problem. The guy above me, for some reason, apparently doesn't know how to properly use a shower-curtain. So every day, at roughly 5:45am, I get this little rainstorm in my bathroom.

Maintenance has repaired and repainted my ceiling a number of times.

But they have not at all "dealt with" the guy above me, who is the /source/ of the problem. It's not a leaky pipe, it's not a bad seal around his bathtub, it's not bad construction - it's just that my upstairs neighbor is a friggin' moron, and the landlords will do absolutely nothing about him.

I suppose since he still pays rent, then he can indirectly trash my apartment however he likes. It's most likely cheaper to simply have Maintenance repaint my ceiling every so often, rather than evict him for repeatedly damaging neighboring units.

So, to summarize, there are some benefits to living in Barton's Crossing. Mostly the area, and its convenient access to everything. You're practically in the /parking lot/ of Landmark Mall, which could be nice. And there's a number of nearby bus stops, easy foot-access to stores, and an in-house 24-7 gym, and what-not.

But it's just not a great place to /live/, long-term. The downside - and it's a /major/ downside - is the management. *Any* management, as it's changed hands a number of times since I've lived here. No matter who owns the building, they simply don't act on "quality of life" problems, despite repeated written complaints. They're quick to act on problems that cost them money, to be sure - but that's about it.

I cannot recommend friends to move into this complex. The only reason *I'm* still living here is, I'm too damned lazy to move. I'm saving up for an actual house, and /then/ I'll move. I've had enough of apartments - let's be honest; if I move out of Barton's into another complex, I'm just going to run into the exact same problems.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/19/2008
I completely agree with this tenant, I have been living in this complex for the past 7 months and there's nothing great to really brag about. The service is poor and if things do not happen during working hours, it could be difficult for you to get it resolve. I would not recommend it to anyone who consider moving in, yes the apartments are nice on the setting, but what difference does it make for you to live in a nice apartment where service does not top to complete it. My lease is over in December and I am definitely moving to another location until I save enough for my down payment on a new home.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/21/2008
Wow...although I don't live here..I do have two friends that live there and one of my friends is having an issue with his air conditioner leaking into his pantry and on his living room carpet. I'm assuming that this issue was not taken care of when the last tenants were there because if it was, he wouldn't be having these issues. Other than that, he doesn't have a problem with living there. I guess everyone's situation is different and I guess it just depends on how old the apartment is.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/23/2008
I live here for about 7 years now. And like everything, it has their problems but all of mine have been resolve always in a fast and profetional way. If I had a house... and my refrigerator goes bad how much money and time will take for me to get a new one? All it took was a phone call and 2 hours for me to get a new refrigerator. I save my self at least $800 just on this Oh well !!! Just my opinion, for has been a great plase to live The maintenance guys are wonderful!!!
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/26/2008
I am moving into Barton's in a couple weeks, and maybe this is wishful thinking but I have to agree with the above person. Most of the complaints listed above can happen no matter where you rent. I guess there is always some degree of luck when being a renter. Everywhere you rent, there is always some chance you'll hate your neighbors or tenant behavior is poor. This problem is inherent to renting and shouldn't be reflected upon the people managing the complex. And no, I'm no an employee of this company (I work in engineering), it's just that you can't control human behavior and why pin the blame on someone for something that's uncontrollable. They can only police their tenants a certain extent. As long as they are spraying for bugs regularly and sending maintenance up to fix leaks and broken appliances, it's hard to complain too much. There are obviously other things as well (e.g. parking policies, rent increases, etc) but for the most part I haven't seen anything to not like this place.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/29/2008
Yeah, living somewhere for 8 years really shows how bad it must be. This person is way off, Barton's Crossings is very nice.
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/02/2008
I'm just looking for now but, based on the original opinion and the ones that followed.......8 yrs is a long damn time to save up money for a house. Face it whomever you are.......you've been there long enough to fix most of the damn problems yourself. Quit whining because YOU LIKE THE JOINT TOO!!! Cry baby...LOL!!!
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/30/2008
I totally agree with everything this person has said. We have lived here for about 16 months and have constantly had problems with the management not doing what they say they're going to. We live on the 1st floor and the back side of the apartment facing a concrete wall (lovely, I know...we were suckered in to this apartment & we were desperate) and our neighbors above us have: been throwing bird seed from their balcony (which makes for lovely decor on MY balcony...which makes for lovely rodents and birds as company...) we were told by the management to "write a note to your neighbors" ?? WHAT?? Recently, someone above me threw 2 concrete cinder blocks from the apartment and it seemingly ended up right outside of my window/patio...lovely. We have had cricket infestations (for which the pest control guy was sent..didn't do much good) & we have had the birds, spiders, etc. Well, the icing on the cake is that we went to get our winter stuff out of our storage unit this weekend and there was mouse droppings everywhere and some of my scrapbooking paper was torn up and used as a nest. LOVELY. So what did the management suggest???? MOUSE TRAPS! Oh, lovely. Just what I want to do with my time...catch dead mice in my clothing. We absolutely love our apartment and didn't plan on moving for a while, but enough is enough. We've made too many excuses and the management has done nothing for us...so why bother doing any more for them by being a tenant here. We are very disappointed that we have to move (since this is our first place together) but we have been taken advantage of one too many times and there is only so much a person can take.

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