The grounds are beautiful with plenty of grass and trees. The location is fabulous being across the street from Coulon Park and Lake Washington. We had great fun walking to the park for special events, an evening stroll, or to show off the region to friends. We enjoyed our space because we were newlyweds. The unit we were in was newly remodeled with chair rails, crown and base molding.

Unit drawbacks were that it was a ground floor so we had a _ton_ of spiders--even found 2 spider nests alongside the water heater and the washer, which I quickly destroyed (no wonder there were less potato bugs!). Also there were two small closets, which may work for 1 person, but thankfully as a signing bonus we received a gift card for IKEA (and Safeway), with which we bought an armoir and dresser.

The manager who signed our lease was promoted and moved to a different complex, and was replaced by a new manager who I believe is still there. Our experience with the recent manager was extremely frustrating. We felt she was adversarial and for the most part unwilling to make concessions, even leaving what we felt were rude email or voice mail messages. No apologies were given by management, only blame, when mistakes were made on their end. This made our working relationship with them exasperating.

Worst of all, the management is unethical as we feel we were lied to about our "cleaning fees," where the manager did not honor our walk-thru appointment and charged us $$ for cleaning for "dust on the chandelier, on the back of the washer, and a bit of hairspray on the bathroom counter" and "a bit of food" on the side of the refrigerator, which she pulled out to see. This after we spent 8 hours cleaning the apartment from top to bottom -- even cleaning the seals on the refrigerator, the washer, dusting the fan, cleaning the windows, the blinds, scrubbing the fridge and freezer, buying new bowls for the stove top, sweeping the patio, storage closet, puttying the walls, dusting the molding and rails, and vaccumming and cleaning the carpet, scrubbing and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors and fixtures. We were pretty tidy while we lived there besides.

Unfortunately the remodel did not replace the windows, which have serious mold growth on the pane and the window sill, even mold growing out of the wood. We believe the mold aggravated my already existing allergies and I was sick quite a lot.

In the time we were there, there was painting, construction noise, landscaping noise (leaf blowers and lawn mowers waking us up early morning, even the day after Thanksgiving, which was a holiday for us) car over spray, and remodeling above us which sounded like anvils being dropped on our heads. I also experienced waking up to the maintenance man, who was a nice guy--but still, in my apartment without my having given the office permission to enter (which the manager argued was my fault, though it is managements' responsibility according to landlord/tenant law to secure date/time for permission to enter). That situation was awkward and frustrating and epitomized our growing feeling that the space wasn't really regarded as our space by management. To her credit, the manager did work with us to resolve the car over spray and noise issues when we brought them to her attention.

If you're going to move here, do it for the location and the convenient little gym, the outdoor swimming pool, not because you think you will enjoy working with the management. It is more important, in our opinion, to value people above rules and property and to show this value in quality service and honest, friendly communication.

If we are asked to recommend ML, we do so with reservations.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/03/2007
I just have to reply to this statement. First and foremost if you took this much time to write this and still will recommend Marina Landing you have way to much time on your hands. I feel sorry for the next community you live at...they will have their hands full with you. I have lived here for over 4 years and love the fact that they take great care of the grounds and would never complain about that...have you gone up Sunset and looked at those communities?? Yes we have had some changes in the office but the current staff is great! They have a really hard job running this place and and would imagine a hard time dealing with people(s)like you. My response is if you want things to go the way you want them...BUY A HOUSE!!!! Have a great day.. I would recommend this place until I am blue in the face...
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/04/2007
I have to be honest, I would recommend ML as well but I do agree with the original review that stated the windows are a mess. My windows continously leak cold air, always have mold growing, and condinsation is awful. I think they did a beautiful job on the remodels but the windows are a huge issue. My power bill is insane (over $100 a month during the winter for one person)! They are a big enough issue that they are a deciding factor when it comes to me renewing my lease.

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