It was great living here when I first moved in for about a week. I got in with a great deal where all utilities (including electric) were included for a fair price which was one of the big renting factors for me, since heat and electric bills had been pain staking my previous year of renting.

Then I realized what a big mistake I had made. The walls and floor are paper thin. I could hear my down stairs neighbor opening and closing the cabinets in her kitchen in the morning. I realized right away there was going to be a huge problem. Not only can all the apartment residents hear everyone else's conversations and activities--privacy is basically non-existent in the whole neighborhood--in the middle of the night, I could hear my next door neighbor two doors down talking on her phone through the open window in her bedroom, perfectly: word for word. Coming from Madison (where they is always some type of white noise to drown out small sounds), the amount of quiet here may be a good thing for some--but people who make even a little noise will stand out and aggravate the natives quickly.

I nearly panicked when I noticed someone was gaining access to my apartment. I would come home, and things would be moved around, and it would be evident that some of my appliances and things had been used (management looking at my apartment when I was away')--luckily nothing was ever stolen--and when I had them change my locks the intrusions stopped.

Furthermore the buildings are really old (which is why I guess they have the rent deals they have, to compensate for it). The building I m in is from the late 60s--the bathroom sink was having some severe rotting problems, giving off a nauseating smell until I did some maintenance on it myself because management would not. The toilet in my apartment was constantly breaking, the handle fell off the bath tub faucet--the sink was always leaking, and there was a huge spider problem--I'd see at least 4 per week. If it fell below zero the bath tub drain would freeze and not drain at all, and at least once a week, there would be absolutely no hot water in the apartment, resulting in uncomfortably cold showers.

On top of that, the management office lost my rent check on one occasion (when I actually paid a month early), and even gave me three consecutive written eviction notices and a phone call because of it.

The maintenance man would often chastise me, undermining the requests I gave the office--he would often do a poor job of taking of things, leaving things just as broke as they were after he visited my apartment--it was almost as though he'd stop by just to leave a "request resolved" note on my kitchen counter. I do have to give them some respect since maintenance was very responsive (within 12 - 24 business hours), but when nothing is getting resolved it really doesn't matter how fast they answer your requests.

I think the biggest problem, and why this apartment complex is in such disarray is that they can't hold a property manager for more than a few months--and management is constantly changing over--records and maintenance are endlessly falling through the cracks because of it. A permanent property manager would do them a lot of good. In the time I've been here, I've seen 5 property managers, and it hasn't even been a year yet. I put up with a lot because I knew the rent I was paying was cushioning me from several hundred in water, electric, and heating bills but it s always been one thing after another and no rent deal is worth this.

Watch out for elderly neighbors that do nothing but stay at home--they'll be quick to harass you and complain when anything goes louder than a toilet flush for more than 5 minutes (if I could get my toilet to flush correctly in the first place). After a few poker nights I developed a few permanent arch enemies out of some of the elderly here and I don t blame them the paper thin floors probably made it seem like we were playing poker right with them in their bedrooms!

Crime seems to be sky-rocketing too in the neighborhood I can t wait to leave.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/13/2009
This so not true this person is ridicoulous. I have lived at Oakview for over 5 years and there hasnt been 5 different property managers. This person is def one of those people that complains about everything maybe they should buy a house and stay away from apartments. I have nothing but great things to say about the property manager and maintenance. They are very prompt at getting back to me. This person just one of those people you can never make happy and that complains about EVERYTHING. Im sure everyone that lived around you is glad your gone!

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates