Metro Area Apartments

[Andrea]

Does anyone know what percentage of the metro area's residents are living in apartments? I'm sure it's got to be quite substantial.

I was just glancing at one of the apartment rating websites and noticed that a lot of people have expressed dissatisfaction. ApartmentRatings.com. What do y'all know about this? Is Atlanta better or worse or about the same as other cities for apartment living?

[catlike]

^^^

By all accounts, I have lived in the most widely negatively-rated complex in Alexandria, Virginia, according to apartmentratings.com. Not that yours truly would stoop to unattributed bashing on a website.

Tenants may very well be dissatisfied with the complexes, but one needs to use a filter when reading them, since they range from verbal abuse (not productive or maybe even repeated negative posts just to bring down the ratings) to unbelievably sugary-sweet, (and again, often phony and/or put in by the rental management to bring up the ratings). I take to heart the ones that are clear, reasonable and provide detail. Some of them are downright funny, too:

"The roaches eat my breakfast before I have a chance to eat it. They curl with me under the covers when I go to sleep and shower with me in the morning..."

[teshadoh]

I have my own reviews - check out mine & the many other sad stories for Plantation Creek in Sandy Springs.

[Designerbee]

I have my own reviews - check out mine & the many other sad stories for Plantation Creek in Sandy Springs.

I've participated in the reviews of Savannah Midtown (on North Ave). My place was broken into a few weeks ago and while dealing with the police, discovered numerous other pleasant activities that take place frequently and are ignored/ covered up by the management.

I think the problem is that so many properties are managed in a group by big companies like post, equity etc.. so they don't seem to spend enough time looking at their individual problems.

I think cheap construction, poor security and Atlanta's huge homeless population have something to do with it as well.

My particular break in was committed by a homeless man who had been arrested for breaking in there before.

I lived in an apartment building in Savannah where the management and maintenence lived in the building so they seemed to care more about it because it was their home too.

I also think the design of these apartment communities is at fault. I think they should be built more like highrises with a central lobby/ elevator access/ management offices so that everyone must go through that central area to enter and exit the building. This creates a greater sense of community and security.

[derrickskugler]

As someone who used to work in property management, I can tell you that well over 90% of all reviews on that site (ApartmentRatings.com) are either not factually correct, tell half the story or are just outright lies.

That website is a waste of cyberspace and has zero credible value. It's only purpose is to provide a location for people to slander management companies without allowing the management companies to have their say in return.

Crime happens everywhere, and nine times out of ten, the management of a community has absolutely nothing to do with it. Cleanliness of the property and timliness of the maintenance staff are about the only things that reflect upon the management of a property. Anything outside of that is circumstancial and can not be controlled.

The best way for you to choose a place to live is to do get a feel for the property yourself. Go check it out with your own eyes and come to your own conclusion.

[Designerbee]

Crime happens everywhere, and nine times out of ten, the management of a community has absolutely nothing to do with it. Cleanliness of the property and timliness of the maintenance staff are about the only things that reflect upon the management of a property. Anything outside of that is circumstancial and can not be controlled.

Thats exactly the stance that renter's of these properties have to deal with all the time! No - crime does not happen everywhere. Crime happens where there is an opportunity. Large apartment communities with cheap construction and poor security measures give that opportunity. Apartment communities that see crime happen over and over again and do nothing to fix the problem are adding to the crime problem! Maybe you've never been the victim of a crime, I take it that you havent but if/when you are, and you're left helpless, maybe you'll feel differently. I hope that you do not have to experience that in order to understand what many of us renters go through.

I think the reviews can be very helpful if you keep in mind that most people are highly unlikely to write a positive review. They will be more inclined to tell others to stay away from a place if they have had a bad review. I found that most of the reviews were accurate actually. At my previous building, people stated that the publix trucks often blocked the exit to the parking garage and make it dangerous to exit. I asked about this when I visited the property and management flat out denied it. There were no trucks around so I could not whitness this for myself but sure enough.. it was true. Same goes for the break ins. Do you know how easily someone can kick in one of those cheaply made apartment doors? There is about a half inch of low grade wood holding that lock in place. One kick and the door is wide open. Residents have no options to prevent this. An alarm system does not prevent the door from being kicked in. It took police an hour and a half to get there so i doubt an alarm would even prevent someone from taking things too!

[teshadoh]

Oh the poor apartment management community...

I have lived in apartment complexes that were well managed - & I could tell the difference from the others. In most cases the renter has very few opportunities to voice their concerns.

[derrickskugler]

So in other words, let's hold others responsible for what happens to us. Great philosophy. By those standards, you will never have to accept responsability for anything in your life.

Personal safety is a personal responsability. It is not the job or the responsability of a property management company to ensure anyone's personal safety. Never has been... never will be. To say otherwise is to be blatently misguided with the facts. If you lived in your own home, would you come after the real estate agent who sold you the home or the construction company who built the home if someone broke in? I think not.

In 99% of all cases, there are more crime deterents in an apartment community than there are if you own your own home. How many people live in gated communities? Very few. How many people live in a community where police officer's patrol their streets every night? Very few. How many people have a keyed lock on their mailbox? Almost nobody... unless you live in an apartment community.

It is the property management company's job to provide a good place to live for the residents of the community while making the property management company money. The only way a property management company would be at fault would be if they were actively involved in the crime WITH the criminals. Personal responsability. Embrace it.

[Designerbee]

So in other words, let's hold others responsible for what happens to us. Great philosophy. By those standards, you will never have to accept responsability for anything in your life.

Personal safety is a personal responsability. It is not the job or the responsability of a property management company to ensure anyone's personal safety. Never has been... never will be. To say otherwise is to be blatently misguided with the facts. If you lived in your own home, would you come after the real estate agent who sold you the home or the construction company who built the home if someone broke in? I think not.

Because its a rental community, you aren't permitted to modify the property to enhance your safety. I could not replace the cheap door frame with a metal one. I could not add another deadbolt that I could lock from the outside. I could not change the type of crappy camera they used. I could not fix the gate faster. See where the responsibility lies? I can't do anything about it. If it were my own home I would!!!

Apartment communities ATTRACT crime not deter it. Do you honestly think those gates do anything? You can walk in after a car. At some places you can get more than one car through at a time. They're cheaply made and criminals know that. They can also hit more than one apartment in a short amount of time.

[teshadoh]

Ok Derrick - it might not be the rental company's responsibility to ensure safety within their gated apartment complex. Assuming that the rental fee is strictly just for the rented apartment unit, not to mantain the grounds or the gates or that the rental company advertises their complex as being safe. But it is fully justified to complain & to warn other people about certain apartment complexes.

[derrickskugler]

No apartment community advertises itself as "safe". If you ask anyone in the leasing office of an apartment community, they will tell you that it is your own responsability to ensure your safety. The police will tell you the exact same thing.

Your rent goes into paying the mortgage on the property and the salaries of those who work at the property. It also goes into things such as the grounds, resident social functions and larger funds of reserves needed when major repairs occur (roof replacements, new code upgrades, etc.).

And actually, yes, you ARE permitted to modify the property to enhance your safety. I have never heard of a management company not allowing you to add a lock (provided you provide management with a key to open it in case of emergency), or install an alarm system or something of that nature.

If you owned your own home, you wouldn't even have a gate to be fixing, so that is a completely irrelevant arguement. There's a reason they are not called "security gates". They are called "controlled access" gates. This is because they do not provide security. They provide controlled access.

This is a no-win situation for apartment communities. If they set the gate up to allow a longer amount of time between cars, then people can tailgate another car in. If they set up too short of a time, then the gate can close on a car and damage it. Either way, the resident(s) will complain.

The bottom line is that no one is ever going to be happy if things don't work 100% of the time... but that's not life. Apartment communities don't attract crime anymore than do single family neighborhoods. The element surrounding a particular apartment community or a particular neighborhood is the relevant factor in that equasion.