Review for Redmont Gardens Apartments

I realize this page is for Redmont Gardens, but since there is not a page for Homewood Townhouses (which are also owned by Redmont), I decided to put my review here to hopefully save someone from making the huge mistake I did. I'm a current resident, and I've lived here for 7 months. The only thing I like about the place is the distance and ease getting to work--I can completely avoid Hwy 280 and I-65. Unfortunately, I hate everything else about this apartment. First of all, there is no cell service in the apartment--yeah, no cell service in the middle of B'ham, and it's probably because of the concrete walls. You can forget about hanging pictures or even curtain rods unless you want to do some major drilling into the walls. And, if you have an emergency, you can forget about calling for help--it's not happening. Next, the apartment is NOT insulated whatsoever, so during December, when I left my thermostat on 65, my gas bill was $160 for a two bedroom apartment (in addition to the $50 electric bill). I've never paid over $100 at my other places. Now I have to leave my heat off during the day (which makes the house freezing cold) and only use it at night. I am still paying around $100/month to sit on my couch in 3 shirts, sweatpants, socks, and shoes, covered with a blanket--it's a bit ridiculous to say the least! Another problem I've had is with water damage to the walls. I reported it when I moved in, but all they did was paint over it. I reported it again in January, and then a month and a half later, they decide it's time to look at it again. (Yes, all they've done is look; probably because the only way to really fix it is to rip out the whole wall on both floors and rebuild.) The paint is bubbling up and peeling off the wall, and whatever they used to cover the concrete (it's not sheetrock) is cracking and falling off. I'm embarrassed to have anyone over to my apartment because it looks like crap, not to mention the wall seems like it could fall down at any moment. The last major problems are the outside and maintenance. The apartment has no lights around it for safety; it's pitch black at night, so my neighbor and I have decided to leave our front and back porch lights on all the time. Landscaping is nonexistent. There is trash everywhere, dirt covers the sidewalks, leaves piled up in the fall, etc. You might not think it's a big deal until you have to walk through a giant puddle or mud-hole to get to your car every time it rains, or you have to park down the street from your apartment because there are huge piles of leaves raked into your parking area. The staff does their work at the oddest times of day. One night I took my trash out around 9pm, and I turn around to go back in the house and there is this guy dressed in dark clothes with a huge rake standing behind the building next to me--keep in mind that it's almost pitch black behind the buildings. Another time, someone knocked on my door around the same time at night delivering my phone book. You can only imagine how scared I was both of those times! On another instance, maintenance came to look at my walls and evidently dropped the key to my place on the porch outside and didn't bother or didn't notice to pick it up. The key was laying in plain view all day while I was at work; anyone could have walked into my house that day and I would have never known because I was not notified by management that they had lost my key. And those are just three examples; this kind of thing has happened more than that. These are just my biggest gripes about the place. Some little things I hate are the old-school stove and refrigerator, the fact that I don't have an electric outlet in the bathroom, the paint peeling off the tub, no dishwasher (you'll be buying paper plates and cups in no time!), and so on, and so on. Frankly, I'm tired of being cold, I'm tired of wondering when my walls are going to collapse, I'm tired of being scared to death in my own apartment--I'm TIRED of living at Homewood Townhouses, and I'm counting the days until I get to leave this dump-hole! Fork out the money to live at a nicer place; it's completely worth it!