Somerset Park Apartments

So first of all — I am not sure why two people from CA have reviews for Somerset, but the fact that they’re rave reviews and not local, should tell you all you need to know.
Somerset Apartments was purchased by the Solomon Group in summer, 2015. Since then, then tenants have received little to no information regarding any changes to the property, with the exception of rental increases.
I have lived at Somerset for five years. For four of those years I have been month to month. This is very common at Somerset. Most of the tenants are long term folks, and we were never forced to resign. In fact Somerset preferred it this way and discouraged leases after year 2. I recently received a notice that not only was my base rent increasing by $ 100/​month but that the following fee changes had also occurred: Pet Rent = $ 35 (up from $ 25), Carport = $ 35 (up from $ 20), heat sur charge $ 60 (up from $ 40) and *NEW* water = $ 35 (previously ZERO). In case you’re counting, that’s $ 180 PER MONTH IN NEW FEES! $ 2160 per year!!! That’s IF I sign another 12month lease — month to month is even more!
Supposedly the complex is doing renovations and upgrades all around — however the only upgrade I saw was the upgraded charges for the laundry machines ($.50/​machine) and the new ‘cold water only’ washing system… yes they turned off the hot water in the basements that connect to the washers. My building fixed our own — but every weekend I have to manually turn on the hot water. Clearly they were hoping tenants didn’t notice.
Maintenance is terrible. I had zero issues with maintenance before the buyout. Now it takes weeks to get a response, if you do at all. No one tells you when someone is coming out or what the ETA is. You just come home from work each day and hope that was the day they actually took care of your issue or concern.
Let’s see — my building had an electrical fire and none of the tenants were notified. I guess it occurred during the day, and those who were home were evacuated. Of course no one thought to tell the tenants who weren’t home that this happened, never mind our fur friends in the building who could have perished if this had been more serious.
To the poster that says they’re great because the fire inspector checked their extinguisher — listen homey — that’s a STATE requirement. They’re not doing you any favors. If they didn’t do that — they’d be shut down.
The office is not nice. That’s at least consistent with the old management. And while paying your rent online is super cool (it is 2016 after all), charging a 2.5% fee is not. Otherwise you can take my personal check on the 5^th each month.
The fact is this place is getting worse before it gets better. Do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. Not worth the money or the hype!

I have been living in Somerset apartments for about 3 months. I have lived around the country, so I understand what apartment living is like. I couldn’t be more happy with my apartment! Every department here at Somerset has went out of their way in order to make sure that I’m happy living here. The new management is just fantastic! My apartment is clean, basement is clean, and there is room for storage! I’m very comfortable and happy in my new home!

Property is under new management the company that took over started making changes right away. I’ve been living here for three months now and have seen new roofs going up everywhere, the fitness center got a fresh look and is much cleaner now, new appliances have been going in to empty apartments and washer and dryers are going into apartments too. My basement is clean and dry there’s a place where it looks like there used to be a leak but it’s all sealed up and has never had water coming in there. My building is small and quiet and clean. My apartment is not one of the renovated ones but it’s very clean and everything works including my central heat and A.C. the parking lot behind my building got re-​paved and the pot holes were filled up. I never have issues finding parking right behind my apartment.
The grounds men planted a new tree in front of my apartment. That was really sweet. City inspectors have come in to check my fire extinguisher and my smoke alarm to make sure it’s working and up to code. Someone upstairs moved out so now maintenence is going to put in new electrical and plumbing for kitchen and wash/​dryer inside my apartment. I think it’s pretty cool. It seems like the new company is doing a lot to fix the issues the older management was having.

This place has no soundproof walls

Wanted to rent at Somerset Apartments and spoke to April in the leasing office. Haven’t spoken to a more condescending individual in my life. I was looking for a 1 bedroom apartment and she said 1 bedroom was $ 875 for a year lease, $ 975 for 6 months lease and $ 1375 for a 3 month lease and when I was taking time letting the whole thing sink in, she said sarcastically that once the apartment is available it will be gone in a day. Well, good for your April. If this is how you speak to people who haven’t rented with you yet, I shudder to think how you behave with current renters. Behavior is everything in business, please take a crash course.

Dawn forgot to mention the Parking lot has pot holes that will swallow up your car. Somerset’s solution: put an orange cone in it and leave it like that. Hallways have a stench of Indian food. Easy to hear people in the apartments around you.

DO NOT RENT FROM SOMERSET. I am a 30 year old college graduate who, compared to many folks out there in the world, is pretty normal. I don’t complain too much and for the most part, just «go with the flow.» I am not unreasonable but I do expect certain things from my place of residence where I am giving a hefty sum to live once a month.
I have been a resident in this apartment complex for 3 years and having to do it all over again, I would 150% choose somewhere else to live.
Five main issues I have with this complex:
1.) False advertising /​promises: Upon renting from Somerset, they told me my rent WOULD NOT BE RAISED. I guess I should have received that statement in writing because I received a letter in the mail from Terry, the complex manager, saying they were raising my rent. After two attempts to get my rent back to where it was when I started (both letters had to be written correspondence), she wrote back a rude, nasty letter letting me know that I should be so lucky to have had such a good deal all this time.
2.) The basement floods — SEVERELY. I was doing laundry last spring during a down pour and when I went to go switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer, there was about 3 inches of water in the basement. This is NO exaggeration. I had to put on rain boots to wade through the water. My boyfriend can attest to this. Furthermore, the water was not normal rain water — it was brown in color and disgusting. I’m pretty sure there is black mold growing in the basement as well, where the storage lockers are. Their solution? Put a bunch of fans down there. It took almost 3 weeks to dry completely and the smell of mold and mildew stuck around for months.
3.) The apartments are old. They seem okay at first, but they are out-​dated and for the price, I’d be asking for new carpet, cabinets and new appliances.
4.) Maintenance is HORRIBLE. I was having issues with our dishwasher (that is the smallest thing I have ever seen and is from 1936) so I called and left a message for someone to come take a look at it since it was leaking water all over our kitchen. Since NO ONE ever answers the maintenance phone, I had to leave a message as usual that no one had called me back. This was a week later! I have had this problem 3 times since then and no one can seem to get it together. The maintenance man FINALLY came (after claiming it wasn’t an emergency) and showed me the log. The log actually had written when they came the last time «They put dish soap instead of dishwasher detergent in the dishwasher.» What kind of moron would do something like that? Furthermore, when they come to do repairs, you have to leave your deadbolt unlocked. Yeah, that’s right. Strangers coming into your apartment to fix repairs. They could steal whatever they wanted, make a mess of your place and leave without a trace. So when I read that on the log, I started laughing. HYSERICALLY. Now, I’m a pretty smart girl and my man is a pretty smart guy. We have detergent SPECIFICALLY for the dishwasher — who doesn’t!!! So, I ask you… what kind of moron do they have working here that would write such an out and out lie?! Unreal.
5.) The pool — too many kids at the adult pool, unsupervised. Even though it’s an «adult» pool, teens still think they can come and hang out. WRONG. There are 5 pools in this complex: 2 adult pools and 3 kiddie pools. GO HANG OUT AT THE KIDDIE POOLS AND LEAVE THE ADULTS ALONE!!!
All in all, it has been the WORST experience living here. I would never recommend this place to anyone. You’d be better off living in a cardboard box.