Review History for tkolstee

Northstar Lodge


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tkolstee

Resident 2013 - 2015

4/23/2015

I lived here for two years ending in early 2015. I would not recommend this place, especially for the price. First the good points: - The apartments are nice-looking with high ceilings and a good layout. - Maintenance is extremely responsive, frequently arriving within minutes of receiving a request. - The complex and its policies are extremely amenable to pets. - The clubhouse, exercise room, pool, etc. are nicely maintained and good to have available. - Most of the other residents are nice Now the bad, which far outweighs the good: Lease rates change daily with market values; quotes are only good for 48 hours and your monthly rate can vary depending upon when in the month and in the year you sign. Each unit maintains its own garbage cans and account with Waste Management. This not only adds to the expense but makes the parking lot a zoo on collection day, and there are no facilities with which to rinse out your cans so odors tend to accumulate. They charge over $70 in the lease for "utilities" but this only covers water and sewer. I haven't paid that much in a house with a garden to water daily. When the water rates go up, even by a dollar, they don't absorb the cost until the next renewal but inform you to pay more each month effective immediately. The apartments are horribly built. Carpet shows extreme wear in traffic areas after only two years and developed "bald spots" in out-of-the-way areas which received virtually no wear. Maintenance problems were frequent and seemingly due to cheap construction. Impossible to keep cool in the summertime with the one provided window unit at one end of the apartment. Also, dust collects noticeably quickly, even on things that receive daily use such as our coffeemaker. Bright lights and noise carry in from the parking lot and from other rooms in the unit, and noise carries from neighboring apartments, making it unbearable for light sleepers. The management often exhibits snotty and passive-aggressive behavior toward the residents. Constant notices arrive by email, paper mail, notes stuck in the door or taped to the garage "reminding" you of this or that, written in a manner that one would normally speak to a child. Residents are offered different renewal options depending upon how much management wants to keep them there instead of open, direct communication of issues. College students next door were told - upon first meeting the management - that they *knew* they were going to have loud parties all the time and that they wouldn't let it slide. Rules are enforced inconsistently. Staff walks right by obvious rule and lease violations with a smile and no word, but once they receive a complaint they're all over you. "walk throughs" will get one person notices about leaving your christmas lights up too long (yet others have them up year-round). A squash left out for two days to ripen in preparation for Thanksgiving was assumed to be a "rotting pumpkin" from Halloween and earned us a nastygram. We were charged $365 beyond our security deposit on moveout. Some of the charges were for normal, expected wear. Others were things that had been the same when we first moved in (e.g. $17 ea. for bathtub stoppers that were never provided, hooks were installed inside the bathroom door that were there upon move-in). Many of these things were noted on the move-in inspection but still called out as our responsibility. I spent two full days cleaning only to have EVERY SINGLE ITEM on the report marked dirty (how can the inside of a properly functioning dishwasher be dirty?!?). Supposedly every screen had holes and we had a damaged drawer, both of which were surprising news to us. Many things especially the appliances - were extremely dirty when we moved in. I didn't get the place as clean as I would've liked due to time constraints we left it in much better condition. We were warned about this by another online review but didn't take it seriously. I plan to dispute some of these charges.

    Review 8 out of 29

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    Northstar Lodge

    March 2024

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