Review for Remington Apartments

When we first moved into the Remington, we were pleasantly surprised and, to be honest, happy to be there. The application process was lengthy, and gave us confidence that residents were carefully screened for problems before they were allowed to move in. Our first few months there seemed to demonstrate this - our neighbors were quiet, and we experienced no problems.

Then a manager whose name begins with "P" came in.

I'm not entirely sure if the correlation of "P's" entry as manager has anything to do with the drop in quality of tenants, but it seems quite likely to me.

After 4 months of quiet and friendly neighbors above, below, and to our side, our neighbors slowly started moving out, as happens with apartment complexes, and new ones moved in.

Above, we had the constant fighting/drinking/partying apartment. I'm not averse to people having a good time and partying every once in a while, but doing it every night from the hours of 11 PM - 3 AM was a bit much. This combined with frequent shrieks, screams, and pounding on the floor resulted in our calling the police to their apartment on more than one occasion to break up whatever struggle was going on upstairs at 2 AM. It was certainly not heartening to hear the police remind many of the tenants, or perhaps their guests, that these actions violated the conditions of their parole. So much for careful screening.

Eventually, these neighbors left only to be replaced by a group that must have included a dozen or so illegal immigrants, who often came trying to open and banging loudly at our door downstairs in a drunken stupor assuming that our apartment was theirs. Having people sound like they're trying to knock down your door at 1 AM is not pleasant. As luck would have it, I speak Spanish and was able to overcome my gag reflex when faced with the stench of cheap beer or whatever they had been drinking to explain they were at the wrong place. These problems, combined with the incessant thump of Mexican pop music above our heads at all hours of the day and night, made living there less than friendly.

The first set of next door neighbors was nice, but the replacements were an absolute domestic train wreck, constantly screaming at their children and each other, banging on the walls, and playing their music very, very loud.

The downstairs neighbors had never been a problem, until a chain-smoker who liked to sit on the porch and shout loudly into her cell phone moved in below, forcing us to keep all of our windows shut to avoid hearing and smelling her. As an added bonus, we got to hear several arguments between this woman and her young children, boyfriend of some sort, and heaven only knows who else.

And then there was the time someone had their dog take a crap right on the stairway and breezeway in front of our door, leading numerous neighbors (but luckily not us) to step in it...

The quality of tenants the Remington seeks has obviously gone down hill. It used to be a friendly place for reasonable people. Now, it has become a home of whatever trash decides to move in. It would seem that the clientele the Remignton has chosen to court excludes polite and quiet people who do not bother their neighbors, and management showed no interest in talking to our neighbors to straighten them out.

The apartments themselves are nothing special and, in the case of our 2 bed, 2 bath apartment, are horribly designed. The kitchen does not have a drawer big enough for even a silverware tray, and the laundry room is largely inaccessible. The water heaters are HORRID - they will not last through a 5 minute shower, so be prepared for quick rinses if you move in. Don't let the fresh coat of paint on the walls fool you when you move in - these places are built using shoddy materials and substandard workmanship.

Maintenance was acceptable, but had horrible communication. Simply calling the office for a maintenance request was never enough - we had to go down to the office and practically hold the hand of staff to get a request filled out. Once the request was filed, maintenance generally responded within 48 hours and was friendly enough.

The grounds are constantly covered with dog droppings, which makes enjoying them nearly impossible and walking to the TRAX station an adventure to avoid the various "landmines" on the path. Management makes no attempt to enforce rules demanding tenants pick up after themselves.

After we finally left and thought our problems were behind us, Remington's lousy management came back to stab us one last time. They mailed out their bill to us very, very late - we received it a few days past the two week deadline they hilariously demanded in their cover letter - and, well after we had paid the bill, sent us another letter informing us we had a delinquent account. "P" in management was, unsurprisingly, unhelpful.

Don't mistake a new coat of paint for a nice apartment complex - the Remington has problems a plenty.