Barr Real Estate

Here’s my experience from moving out of a Barr apartment. First they will show your apartment at a preset time (1pm daily) and will tell you that they will show it any day without previous notice. They will just show up. Every day you will sit around and wonder if you have a knock on your door from Barr wanting to show your apartment to people. I felt like I had no privacy at all. This lasted at least 2 months.
Before moving out they give you a move out checklist. I followed this to the letter and went above and beyond and was charged $ 377 out of $ 650 for CLEANING! In my Google web albums, please decide for yourself. If it wasn’t for my photo’s, I would not have received a dime back from Barr. In total, I settled on a refund of all but about $ 70 from Barr because I was simply worn out from arguing with them. If you are a current resident of Barr please protect yourself and take video, pictures, or have them walk the apartment with you! If you are considering renting from Barr, please look at my cleaning photos and then see what I was charged for after moving out. This is not an uncommon example, as you can see from other reviews.
Cleaning charges:
Pictures I took after cleaning:

I was happy enough with my apartment with barr. A good apartment for the price. What I have a beef with is their assessment of cleaning upon moving out. Like the previous reviewer, we scrubbed all our surfaces to within an inch of their lives, but we were charged for them to be cleaned. That is outrageous and appalling. They even charged for items to be cleaned that were not included in our ‘things to clean before move out’ list. I would have cleaned it had I known I was supposed to.

I agree with Jenna M. — Barr Real Estate is terrible! I moved into one of their new complexes called Karma, and I thought I’d gotten a great deal because it’s close to downtown Champaign and was furnished with all new furniture. But the heat/​cooling system always breaks, and I was freezing all winter. Also, leasing agents and maintenance men are always coming into your apartment to show it. One time I was resting in my bedroom and a maintenance man came into my apartment without knocking! And then today, my car was towed from the spot I pay for at my complex because apparently I wasn’t parked precisely in between the lines. I will not sign with this apartment complex, or with the Barr Real Estate ever again. And you shouldn’t either…

Commercial landlord reviews are tricky, because a lot depends on which unit you get. I was in SW Champaign (Karen Ct), and the place turned out to be unsafe and falling apart, so I’ll try to keep my review to objective Barr issues and not unit-​specific concerns.
Maintenance — nonresponsive.
Move-​in — place was filthy… Think bugs, unflushed toilet, and food in the carpet.
Apartment showings — 7 days a week people walk through your place.
Security deposit — two of us scoured my place when I moved out, yet they kept $ 158 of the deposit for cleaning fees. It looks like they hire a contractor to go in and clean, and they give that contractor a checklist of items that could be done (with charges for each, such as $ 7 to wipe down the oven top/​range). The contractor then gets paid based on how many items she checks off and «cleans.» Let’s think about this rationally — would you want to walk into an apartment and make $ 20 or $ 158? Exactly. Every single item on the list was checked to be cleaned. Every single one. Just to bring some logic in here since you have no idea whether I am just a crappy cleaner or not — The morning that I moved out, I replaced all the stove top metal plates that go between the actual stove and the electric coils on top. In other words, they were brand new, sparkling, and I never even used them. I was even charged a fee to clean those off. (You’re better off just not cleaning at all when you move out because you’ll be charged either way.)
Essentially, the security deposit situation sums up any relations with Barr: you get screwed.