Ok, first off I'd like to say that I lived there for around 3 years, and looking back it wasn't all bad, though it certainly could have been better. I've read the reviews, and I have to agree with some, and disagree with some. I recently became aware of the fact that Wilma was accusing me of writing a derogatory review on this apartment, and I'm assuming it's because of the review that states that Wilma's solution to ants was a can of raid. While I did share a similar experience, I was NOT the one who wrote that.

I'll start off by saying that Wilma is far too old to be managing anything. She herself lives in a small apartment that is LITTERED with stuff from her 80 years of life. Then there's her little dog George, who, while extremely cute and well natured, is allowed to hang out in her office with her all day, with no regard to those who may be afraid of dogs, or even allergic to them. I wasn't even in the state when my husband signed our lease, and with her word that we were allowed to have UP TO 2 pets (I had a very small dog at the time, which dwarfed her barking fur ball George) he signed the lease and moved in. He said she seemed nice, and was even allowing him to sign the lease without me present, and there was no fee for the credit app. It was a dream come true, that quickly turned into a bad dream.

The apartment was small, but perfect for us, and at the time the price was right. We were paying $600 a month for a 2 bedroom/1 bath. I didn't make it my first priority to get to know the neighbors, and since they didn't seem to be there very long, it didn't seem like much of a point. I did eventually meet one though, and we have developed a long standing friendship. Some of the first problems we had in our apartment were flying ants, they were everywhere near the door, they seemed to be coming in from under the floor that led to the apartment next to us. After a couple days, I alerted Wilma to this problem. Her solution' "Here's a can of bug spray". If you remember, earlier I mentioned I had a small dog, raid was not a very good solution to the problem, and of course it didn't work. After about a week of sweeping up dead flying ants 3 or 4 times a day, the problem finally stopped. The problem did re-occur the next summer, but it wasn't nearly as bad, and I just ignored it, because by then I knew she wouldn't do anything about it anyway. The problems only seemed to come more regularly the longer I lived ther. The biggest problem I probably had though was her lack of presence at the management office. She would just toss a "be back at..." sign in the door, and disapear for hours. So there was no one there to help even when there was an emergency. There were many other problems too, and I'd have to say the neighbors are the next on my list. She would rent to ANYONE with enough money to pay the deposit, whether they were drug dealers, or disruptive, she didn't care, as long as the rent was paid, she'd turn a blind eye to it. There were even times when people from the streets (the hospital, friends of friends of the neighbors) were hanging out by my apartment, smoking, drinking, and loitering. I spent the better part of my time there alone, so having several men hanging out by my apartment window smoking, and acting suspicious, didn't make me feel very safe. I did end up calling the police once on a man who made it his job to drink beer by my kitchen window. Once the police escorted him off the property I never saw him again. There was also one incident with a friend of mine, she had come over to visit, and brought her dog with her. It was a small dog, and he was there to play with my dog while my friend visited with me. It was not the first time my friends came over with their dogs, and it certainly wasn't the last. Well, she saw this girl outside with her dog and told her the dog couldn't be here, and she had to leave. The girl came in and said she was leaving and told me what Wilma said. I told her to ignore Wilma, and after a couple hours she went home, and it was never mentioned again. She complained once about all the cars we had parked outside when we had visitors, but never once did anything about all the non-working cars that sat and took up space for months. She also didn't seem to mind a small bed and frame that were sitting right out by my door, making it very hard for me to get to my door, that is until a girl that was staying with me decided if it wasn't going to be used that she would just move it into my apartment and use it herself. Wilma about lost her mind, she came over banging on the door and demanded that the bed be put back outside so she could give it to someone who was moving in and didn't have one.

I never did have a problem with her coming into my apartment without my knowledge, she never snooped around my cars that I know of, but whenever I asked her to do something, or complained about something, she always made it seem like I was asking her to do the high jump off a diving board. It seemed like it was too much for her. She acted like I was only out to get her, and all I was doing was asking her to do what she was there for; to manage the apartments, and handle any problems that may arise from 50 years of the structure standing, with no improvements or basic repair. I had many problems too: the heater in my living room broke, so she "loaned" me her small space heater, but after a week wanted it back, and never did offer to have someone come in and fix the problem. This was only after the heater started to spark and actually catch fire for a split second, at 3 am. But the maintenance guy came by and re-wired the burnt wires, and the heat worked for a while. I also had problems with mold; her solution' "mix bleach and water and wipe it off". Well that might have worked had they used something other than crushed marshmallows to paint the walls, by the time the mold made it's appearance, it was already too late, it was embedded into the walls, so I just put duct tape over it, because it was also ruining things I had up against the wall, such as pillows and furniture. There were also cars that did not belong on the road, let alone being started at 6 am outside my bedroom window. There were many cars that didn't run, and would sit in the parking lot, and not move, for months. There was also no weather strip on the main door, and you wouldn't think that Washington gets that cold, but it does, and there was always a very cold draft coming in from that door. So I installed weather strip to try to keep the cold out. The fan over the stove stopped working, her excuse' "Oh, it must have burnt up". Ya think'

Wilma also had very poor record keeping, and I'm still not sure how much of a deposit we paid, and how much was our "non-refundable pet deposit", but I got $300 back regardless, which is what she had written on the lease as paid for a deposit. As I mentioned earlier, she said we could have UP TO 2 pets, but it clearly states in the lease that pets are NOT allowed, unless you have WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM MANAGEMENT. That would supercede her verbal agreement the day my husband signed the lease. She decided to demand a pet deposit too, even though for 2 years it wasn't an issue. I never paid a pet deposit.

These apartments lacked basic ammenities too, like garbage disposals, 2-sided sinks, and sprayers on the sinks. Some of the apartments didn't even have dishwashers, and the smaller one bedroom apartments had dishwashers that were barely big enough for one person, let alone two or three. And she allows people with upwards of 3 children to live in her small 2 bedroom apartments. The master bedroom is large, but the 2nd bedroom is too small to accomodate two children, let alone three.

The biggest insult was when I left. I cleaned that place the best I could, and even left a few improvements I had made. I fixed my own damage, and brought it to her attention, she said it wasn't a problem, and it didn't end up being one. I had also shampooed the carpets numerous times, sometimes twice in one day, and I did all of them. They looked better when I left than they did when I moved in, and smelled better too. Well, I mentioned it to her, and she had the nerve to tell me that, according to the guy who cleans the carpets for her, that my machine wasn't as good as his, and that my shampoo damaged the carpets, and that I shouldn't have done it. Well, lets think about this for a minute. That place was DISGUSTING when I moved in, but I had a small child, so I was not about to let my child crawl around on disgusting floors, so I cleaned them, and even found a tick in the water one of the times I dumped it out. Of course she blamed this on my cat, which never went outside. At that point I hadn't had a dog for several months, and this was not the first time I had shampooed the carpets.

Wilma enjoys gossip aswell. She talked to me several times about the personal lives of other tenants, and I'm sure passed my personal information to other tenants too. I tried to be nice, and keep the peace, but there was no having it. It got to the point that when the rent had to be paid I simply put it in an envelope and dropped it off late at night when I knew she was asleep or gone, so I didn't have to deal with her.

Bottom line: if you're looking for a nice place to live, avoid this place. I'd say you get what you pay for, but from what I understand, she has kept with the competition and raised rates, even though the owner has done NOTHING in the way of improvements to justify paying that much. I am also aware that she has been letting anyone and everyone move in, so there are also safety issues, along with noise and drug issues. The owner Sam also has other apartments around the area, and he has been described as a slum lord in regards to those properties. And you get to the same royal treatment at Westwood.

You will probably find better living conditions in the woods by Steilacoom park. Avoid Westwood if at all possible. g-hKOS7s4Nq5n3hEIpHd

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