I've lived in the "Tuscany" 2 bedroom/1 bath floorplan at Avalon for almost two years now and my experience has been very good. The staff know me by name, even though I usually only pop in when dropping off the rent check. They also have monthly breakfast get togethers for the apartment community where they cook breakfast for everyone. I haven't been to the breakfasts, but only because I like to sleep in on the weekends. Still, it's nice to know that it's there if I wanted to go.

I've only had two maintenance issues during my time here (a shower rod fell off in the bathtub and the kitchen garbage disposal became clogged). Both of those issues were fixed in less than 24 hours.

The noise level in general is very low. I can hear when the people above me let the toilet seat drop, but when you live in an apartment, you have to give your neighbors some slack and hope they'll give you some slack too.

I really like the kitchen in my unit - it's a wrap around style that gives you lots of cabinet space while also opening up to dining room and living room. The bedrooms have nice walk-in closets. On the downside, the dining room is smaller than I would like because of a partial wall to make sure the front door doesn't open too far.

The location of the complex is very convenient. You have easy access to downtown Redmond and Microsoft, although traffic can be high during rush hour. Also, there's a bus stop near the entrance to the community, which is very convenient when you want to get to and from SeaTac Airport - just pay for bus fare rather than long-term parking charges.

Here are the downsides I've experienced while living here:

1. Parking can become tight during summer. During the other times of year, there's no problem finding parking right outside of your building or the buildings next door. During summer, however, you may have to park near buildings further away in the complex. The vacancy rate must be very low during this time or maybe people have more guests over. This becomes less of an issue if you pay extra for a covered parking space or garage, but I just park in the uncovered parking areas. It's more walking during summer, but it's also cheaper.

2. No air conditioning. Nothing special about Avalon here - apartments in this region just don't come with air conditioning. Normally it's not a big deal, but there are a couple of weeks during the summer where it would be nice to flip it on. :-)

3. Price. I'm from the midwest where prices are generally much lower, so I go into sticker shock about every other day here on the west coast. :-) Avalon is more expensive than average, but looking back on my time here, I think it was worth it because I've had a pretty trouble-free time here.

I'll be moving out in August since I bought a home. If I hadn't bought a home, I'd renew my lease. To sum up, I would recommend Avalon to others.

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