Only if you're desperate
From:
LH714
Date posted:
7/14/2006
Years at this apartment:
2004
-
2006
When my husband and I moved into Meadow Woods at the end of 2004, everything seemed to be fine. All of our furniture fit, although the kitchen is miserably small, but the closets are good size. We were also fortunate to get a south-facing apartment, so we were able to hook up DirecTV, although there's some satellite interference when the tree leaves come in during the summer.
Moving very soon will be a welcomed relief because the property seems to have gone significantly downhill in the last few months. Overall, our residency here hasnt been unlivable. The heat and AC work, the location is very convenient, and weve made a relatively comfortable home. But there are a number of annoyances and frustrations that, in combination, make MW the kind of place you wouldn't want to live if you can afford something a little nicer.
First, let's recap a few things other posters have mentioned:
Walls and windows are thin, so you can often hear your neighbors' TVs, stereos. Our idiot downstairs neighbors are oblivious to the fact that other people live around them (or simply don't care), so they often blast the stereo at sound-distorting levels for no other reason than "because they can." I've never heard anyone's conversations through the walls, but the floors are squeaky, which is also annoying.
The ice cream truck frequency is insane.
The loitering and noise problems around the property are prevalent, especially when school lets out for the summer and teenagers congregate outside until the middle of the night, shouting to each other from one end of the building to the other. Classy.
A number of unsavory characters in adjacent buildings. I haven't had any problems with vandalism or assaults, but with the property in decline, I think its only a matter of time. There have been a number of instances where Hispanic people will come to our door and ask for "the --------." Makes me suspicious of what used to go on in my apartment. It probably wasn't English lessons. Overall, I haven't felt "unsafe," but I'm definitely aware of my surroundings. There are a lot of small children on the property and a I pray, pray, pray, that the questionable adults in their lives know better than to put their kids in harm's way by bringing violence to the property.
I haven't had any bad experiences with the management office. The ladies in the office are nice enough, and seem to be well-meaning. I had one emergency maintenance request that went unanswered on a Sunday morning. Someone in the apartment above us let their bathtub overflow, which caused the water to come through the heat lamp light fixture in our bathroom ceiling. We caught the water in our wastebasket and called a few times over several hours to have someone come and make sure everything was okay. Eventually the water stopped, but no one ever showed up. By the same token, last October we were watching a football game with some friends and noticed how chilly it was in the apartment. Our heat wasn't working, so we called emergency maintenance and someone came over within an hour to light the pilot on the furnace, which had been overlooked earlier in the month.
I also haven't had any problems with parking. If you come back late on Friday or Saturday night, pretty much all the spaces are taken, but that's going to be true anywhere that doesn't have assigned parking. What really pisses me off though are the jerks that use the public driving areas of the parking lots to stop and have private conversations with other residents. Pull into a damn parking space and talk there!
Now let's talk about how Meadow Woods spends our hard-earned rent money on investments on the property.
In late November 2004, I noticed that the window in the second floor of the stairwell had been pushed out (probably so someone could smoke without leaving the building. Lovely.) I reported it to the business office, at which point I was told that they were aware of the problem, but the window supplier was no longer in business so they were searching for a replacement. It's now July 2006 and there's still a gaping hole where a window should be.
Also, the fascia on the overhang above the front door of the building fell off about a year ago and hasn't been replaced.
Rent was increased at the beginning of 2006 (not much), but in the last year theyāve raised the charge for the laundry units twice without any notice. Around Christmas 2004, prices were down to $1 for washing and $1.25 for drying, now itās $1.50 for each machine. Maybe thatās not that big of an increase, but when youāve collected enough quarters to do all your laundry and then ā Surprise! ā the prices have gone up, itās incredibly frustrating.
So, that's more money for MW, but none of it goes toward fixing safety hazards, broken structural elements, or maintenance issues in specific units. In the meantime, the leasing office has gotten new carpeting, furniture, lighting and countertops; new signage for the property was installed along Lockheed Blvd.; and the building that houses the 'activity center' has gotten new awnings and new paint on the balcony railings.
Makes me wonder if there's a renaissance coming to MW, but I highly doubt it. And if that is what's going on, they're certainly not setting the world on fire. They'd be better off going condo, which would drive out the riff-raff and make a ton more money. Then again, it's not like they'd use the money for property improvements.
Overall, if you need a cheap place to live and don't mind putting up with people who have no sense of propriety and believe that as long as they're happy, all's right with the world, MW is the place for you. If you want clean buildings with respectable neighbors, go to Clarendon. For my husband and I, MW was a right-place-at-the-right-time deal and served its purpose as a temporary place to live until we could afford to move. Now that we've gotten to that point, I'm happy to go. If you move here, save as much money as you can from your paycheck every month so you can afford a nicer place ASAP. Good luck!
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