Cheap apartments with 2 bus stops right outside that lead to downtown. The staff is very nice. Rent raises every year but nothing crazy.
However, they are very old and come with damages from past tenants. You also don't pay for AC here, but that means they control it, and leave your apartments incredibly hot during the transition from spring to summer since they don't turn the AC on until summer.
The laundry units in the laundry room are also not maintenanced well, and they're breaking down all... the time. My building got a set of 4 new dryers almost 8 months ago now and 2 of them still don't work, leaving us with only 2 dryers. A washing machine didn't drain about 2 weeks ago and it still hasn't been fixed. We only have 3 functioning washing machines and 2 functioning dryers for the entire building. I’m convinced that they don’t bother to fix anything until a tenant submits a complaint, so even if the housekeeper (not her fault at all, she’s a lovely lady) marks it out of order, they won’t do anything until a maintenance request is submitted (so at least they can say they handle 100% of tenant maintenance requests). Things go out of order so often that they have printed, laminated sheets of paper to put on the laundry machines that don’t work.
This is also an apartment complex mixed with students and families, and there doesn't seem to be an in between. Personally, I've dealt with loud noise from the family living above me every single day since I moved in and had students throw small parties with loud music every once in a while. I’ve heard repeated banging on the floor from that upstairs neighbor of mine for hours for some reason, all the way into the late hours of the night. Keep in mind that loud neighbors are a subjective experience for me, and other buildings may be quieter.
Because the floors are old, they're quite creaky, and you can hear a lot that comes from the unit above you even if they are at a normal noise level.
As far as I’ve heard, they don’t replace or renew the appliances. The kitchen appliances I have look and work like they haven’t been replaced in at least 5 years. The carpet, although not an appliance, looks even older.
The cons far outweigh the pros, but you get what you pay for here. Cheapest 2 bedrooms in Iowa City. Read More

Have lived here for the past 2 years and had a great experience. Management is very easy to deal with and the maintenance crew is excellent. Very quick response the one time I had a problem and it was user error! Great parking and location to the west side of campus. Will miss living here.

Half the time something or the other is not working. During peak summer days, you can expect the AC to not work, invariably (their advice generally is 'open the windows' ). There hasn't been a day when all four building doors work; it is either the keypads malfunctioning or the lock being broken and so on. Swimming pool - well, I haven't seen a pool with a rougher flooring. It's an eye-candy, really.

There are two good things. First, one of the ladies in the office and the maintenance person... are soft-spoken and understanding. Second, their emergency maintenance services are just a phone call away and are really prompt.

Read More