I recently received my rental increase as well. I have lived at the Riverhouse going on 4 years now. What was once a good value is no longer in my opinion. I also work in the property management industry so I'm well aware of the market. Trust me, there are far better and even newer product out there for the same prices. Ever since Varnado/Charles E. Smith (close cousin of Archstone-Smith) took over the building, the service has gone downhill. The building is now third party managed by Kettler. I asked for my renewal letter from the new property manager in my building and it took this guy literally two full weeks before I received a response. I actually went directly to the office a week after my initial request only to be told that he hasn't forgotten about me, but the renewal calculation are "complicated." I also contacted the general manager and left him a message, but he never returned my phone call. The same exact thing happened to my neighbor (who moved out by the way). No return calls from the general manager. If you want to win people over to renew their lease, do your jobs and return a few phone calls. If you are afraid to talk with people, then you are in wrong business. I literally received a renewal letter with a rent increase of $157 per month.
They said they were giving me a 5% discount off what they are charging people coming in for customer loyalty. Real BS! For a building that never had to give move-in incentives, now they are offering up to two months off for a new resident coming in. They jacked up the rents and that's why they need incentives to lure you in to this money pit machine. The previous year my increase was about the same. But, this year there is an ADDITIONAL monthly utility fee that will be charged based on square footage (utilities were included before). The monthly utility charge is anywhere from $150 to 200 (or more) for my apartment. You can literally use 1 gallon of water, but you will be charged a lot more. The management company says this promotes conservation. Someone posted their water bill in the laundry room. Their usage came out to be 2700 gallons of water. Correct me if I'm wrong, but 2700 gallons of water in one one month seems to be a lot of water for one person in a one-bedroom apartment. The management office took their bill down, but the person posted again. The bill reflected an increase. I don't buy the conservation BS. What the owner is doing is conserving their own money and lining their pockets with shady profit. For me, my rent increase with additional utilities is a net effective increase of $300 to 350. And, to really slap you in the face, the new management/owners want to charge an administrative fee per month to process your checks that you submit for rent. They are going to charge you 10 dollars for giving them money. That's right. I give them a paper check and they are going to charge me $10.20 to process that check. That's a $120 per year hidden fee. I think that is sleezy nick-and-dimimg. Charles E. Smith is Infamous for these types of practices. Parking which was once free is now $50 per month. Yet, none of the services or amenities for the community has changed. Actually, they did face-lift the elevators to make it look a little nicer, but cosmetic upgrades to the elevators doesn t build value for me. You pay more and get very little. There are probably about 200-300 empty apartments between the three buildings. There is a total of 600 units in each building (Potomac, James, and Ashley). There are about 34 apartments per floor. Just in my wing (there are 3 wings in a building) alone there are about 6 empty apartments that have been vacant for several months. We have another friend who lives in a one-bedroom. Although she has decided to renew on short term basis (3 months), she too will be leaving at the end of her short term lease. There are some newer buildings in the area that I encourage people to visit. If you are going to pay more, then you should at least get real value. STAY AWAY, THERE IS A REASON PEOPLE ARE MOVING OUT. DO NOT LIVE IN ANY CHARLES E. SMITH/VERANDO OWNED BUILDINGS...RIP OFF!! With the state of the current economy, I'd rather do business with an honest company that offers true value!

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/01/2008
Which other buildings close to the metro station do you recommend ? I am moving to Washington and was interested in these apartments at Riverhouse...

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