Review History for webmaestro

Avalon Cove


Review Author Icon

webmaestro

Resident 2009 - 2012

1/8/2013

The two of us rented a 2 bed, 1.5 bath townhome at Avalon Cove for 3 years. Our overall recommendation of Avalon Cove is "yes, rent here." Despite what may look/sound like a long rant of negatives below, most of the issues were actually minor (relatively speaking). That said, here is my review. As with all my reviews, I attempt to be as objective as possible. THE GOOD 1. Beautiful location. Avalon Cove is nestled amongst several small manmade lakes and surrounded by a lush Midwest landscape. If available, you can have a lakeside townhome if you'd like--just 20 feet from the water's edge. Walking-distance down the road is a small convenience store, gas station, liquor stores, auto service station, and more. 2. Mayo Shuttle Stop. If you're a Mayo Clinic employee, it doesn't get much better than this. Depending on where in the complex you live, you're right next to a major Mayo shuttle stop (serving Downtown and St. Mary's campuses). 3. Biking/running trails. Again, depending on where you are in the complex, you re no more than a couple minutes from the biking/running trails. 4. Storage Space. Provided you can get your items up the ladder and through the opening, there is quite a large storage space above the garage. It's not insulated though, so don't store any weather-sensitive items up there. 5. Garage. You have a choice of a 1 or 2-car garage, depending on townhome model. 6. Clubhouse. Never used it, but definitely a benefit for those who like to entertain. 7. Playground. Again, never used it, but great for those with children. 8. Gas fireplace. A nice touch in the cold winters. 9. Friendly, courteous staff. On at least two occasions, we were a day late on rent and they let it slide. 10. Wildlife! In general, the variety of wildlife was a delight for us, having previously lived in big cities all our lives. Saw my first (and many subsequent) bald eagle while living here. 11. Got a good chunk of our $600 security deposit back. Though we're neat-freaks and were very careful, after 3 Minnesota winters we were a little concerned about this. In Minnesota, the carpets get dirty here pretty easily. Got nearly $500 back, so we were happy about that. THE BAD 1. Snow removal is so-so. It's included in the rent price, but I lost count of the number of times I had to struggle through knee or waist-deep snow to get in/out of my townhome and I work normal business hours. I also lost count of the number of times I had to break my back shoveling my own walkway and driveway. 2. No ice removal. Management will remove top-snow, but not finish the job by salting. Naturally, dangerous ice forms. We fell a number of times due to icy streets, walkways, and driveways in the complex and suffered some minor bruises and sprains as a result. 3. Unlocked mailboxes. This is actually the USPS's call, but it's still worth noting. Incoming and outgoing mailboxes are not locked. Anyone can access them at any time, and management's response was (jokingly) "c'mon, this is Rochester!" Hate to break the news, but Rochester is not immune to mail/identity theft. 4. Odd architectural design quirks. Some cabinet doors that can't be fully opened (because they bang into other things). Odd vent placement in the master bedroom that necessitates blocking/covering at least one vent with bedroom furniture. The hot/cold plumbing was reversed between our upstairs faucets and downstairs. In other words, upstairs, hot was left and cold was right. Downstairs it was the exact opposite. Seems like a little thing till you try to live with it. Notified management, but the fix was denied because it would require a major (and expensive) plumbing project. 5. Drafty, inefficient windows. In the winter, icy air literally POURS in from the outside. In the summers, the same happens with heat. This makes heating and A/C bills pretty high. This also makes mold a problem (around window sills), so be prepared to pull all the screens off and spend a whole day removing mold once a year. 6. Poor kitchen design. We're avid cooks, so we demand a lot from our kitchen. The poor appliance placement, poor use of (and lack of) cabinet space, etc. puts these kitchens on par with a small apartment, not a luxury townhome. These kitchens are fine if you don't really cook and instead eat out a lot. 7. Noise. Noise transfer here is comparable to apartments, so don't be fooled by the wall cutaway they'll show you in the model... where management will tout the sound-dampening. During our 3 years here we had to report our neighbors twice to management (which changed nothing), and finally to the police (which actually did have an effect). 8. Geese. The geese are beautiful, but noisy and poop everywhere. Their constant noise is an especially bad problem because of the poor sound dampening of these townhomes (see #7 above). Be VERY SURE you're okay with this before you sign a lease. We thought we were okay, but it turned out to be a nuisance for us. 9. Inadequate hot water heater. One of us always got a cold shower. Forget about a hot shower if you did laundry or ran the dishwasher within the last 2 hours. When we asked management about this, they said 15 mins of hot water, max, is the norm. That's unacceptable for a 2-plus occupant luxury townhome. 10. Odd electrical quirks/wiring. This is difficult to articulate without writing 2 paragraphs, but suffice to say you'll understand when you move in. Good luck figuring out what wall switches control what outlets. Also, we had a bizarre and random "reversal" of our light switches in our upstairs bathroom that happened a few times per month. Didn't notify management because it wasn't something that could be induced manually. It was totally random. 11. No sidewalks. First place we ve lived with no sidewalks, and we found this very odd. Given the speeds at which some people tear through the complex, and some of the blind curves, it's definitely dangerous walking around here. This is even worse in the icy winters (see #2 above).

    Review 7 out of 16

    Share This Review

    Check Availability

    Avalon Cove

    March 2024

    Sun
    Mon
    Tue
    Wed
    Thu
    Fri
    Sat
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    11
    12
    13
    14
    15
    16
    17
    18
    19
    20
    21
    22
    23
    24
    25
    26
    27
    28
    29
    30
    Beds

    0

    Baths

    0

    Share This Review