Review for The Overlook At Mile High Apartments

If the Overlook at Mile-Hi overlooks anything in reality, it's a piece of *ell. I moved here two years ago when my fiance and I became engaged. I was amazed that such a large community stayed afloat with such high vacancy rates. I now know how they accomplish it. They charge loyal residents absorbitant rates for EVERYTHING and then provide no services at all. I knew it was a bad start when I found that other residents literally *climbed* our balcony to steal our bike. And security did...nothing. The "security" gates are really just seen as an impediment to traffic. With no guards or cameras monitoring these gates regularly (there is sporadic guard presence now, but the gates continue to stay open in the middle of the night for no good reason), "visitors" of residents crash our gates nightly, only to run into the gate and cause it to remain shut, locking us in. Security again does...nothing. Each giant tower building has access to 3 washers and 3 dryers. This is in a ghetto neighborhood where frankly, the average family has at least 3 children. To alleviate the washer/dryer hangup management merely extended laundry room use hours till midnight (fine as long as you're not the guy next door...). But they apparently ommitted telling security about this. So security locks up the laundry room whenever they feel like it, often with your wet work clothes still inside. They also don't bother to open the laundry room till hours after the posted opening time in the morning. Their maintenance line refuses to page anyone to solve this problem. Moreover your paid-storage is also beyond this oft-closed laundry room door, so IF you pay the Overlook to store your things, you have to live with the Overlook's timeline when it comes to getting your things back. The lawns are overwatered to the point of being ponds and mudslides (you, dear resident, do pay for this) and building maintenance is non existent. When my fiance originally moved in, he was promised Spanish tile in the entries. Never came. Now they just paint the concrete floor grey from time to time. He also signed up to have paid covered parking instead of free open parking. But in the blizzard of '03 the carports collapsed and instead of replacing them or cancelling the paid parking status of carport users...the Overlook kept taking their money and began charging everyone for previously free, unreserved parking. If the community were genuinely closed, this would be less of an issue. But the community is open to everyone and their dogs. So you're basically being forced to pay for what amounts to on-street parking...I might add that last fall a man was shot where I park my car. And our paid security is not much comfort to me when I go out to work graveyard shifts. About four months ago, the boiler in my building began to act oddly and water that was once scaldingly hot became intermittently scaldingly hot and freezingly cold. Aside from the annoyance of getting burned and then frozen while shampooing, I was annoyed that management did nothing. Two months later, the boiler broke and *flooded* my apartment. I opened the door to go to work only to find men (residents, not staff!!) frantically squeegeying water down the hallway. There were two inches of standing water. Needless to say, I rushed to get electronics and heirlooms on high perches. Management's line: "mistakes happen. That's what renter's insurance is for." Uh-uh. I *worked* in insurance, kids. Renter's insurance is for recovering your property when your neighbor falls asleep, cigarette in hand and burns the place down. Renter's insurance is to protect renters from things beyond the community's control. But the community is there to offer basic services and coverage and maintenance...the Overlook took our money, some of which should have gone to repairing this boiler and did what with it again??? Our apartment smells like musty socks. Moreover, while they advertise being a gated community that's safe and friendly, blah, blah, blah...the Overlook rents to anyone. That includes migrant workers, section 8, and criminals. Another resident hit and ran my car. Security did...nothing (even though there were witnesses who gave a detailed description of the offending resident). Management rented the unit next to us to a nice, but wholly derranged section 8 couple who regularly broke TVs and walls (including our hallway walls) as part of their domestic routine. The yelling was constant. They were late on bills, trashed the place, and generally made life next door unbearable until FINALLY, they were evicted. Their apartment sat UNCLEANED for months. I got a nice view of it through our balcony which looks into their windows. There was trash everywhere and it smelled awful. Roaches came through the bloody walls. Management again did nothing. Management in fact, frequently gives themselves breaks when they just close the office. Lights off, no one home. During their advertised "open" hours. AND last but not least, there's been an ardent push from the owners (who must not know what the place looks like or something) to RAISE prices. The Overlook is so close and convenient and nice, they say, that we should all pay more. If you don't like it, look around. SO WE DID: So here's a cost comparison...with the condo market in early 2006, we bought a 2 bedroom 2 bath penthouse condo in south Denver for less mortgage per month than the Overlook's ("renovated"...meaning it has AC and a Dishwasher) 1 bedroom/1 bath rent. We have 50% more space. Our HOA puts us a little higher than the OVerlook per month, but gives us utilities, COVERED parking, workout space, helpful/charming management who are actually there to help, and a community where people don't get shot.