AvalonBay

I moved to Avalon for my time at Duke. I received a concession so the price was cheaper but it is a cheat. They charge lots of extras such as $85 for internet and $40 for trash valley. In addition, they don't follow the timeline of the construction, for example, they haven't opened the pool and it is almost winter. Besides that, the walls are so thin and you can hear EVERYTHING. It means that the apartments are insanely noisy.
The only advantage they have is the electrical amenities, but it is definitely not enough to justify coming here.
Do yourself a favor and pick another place.

We have been living at the Avalon for the last 1.5 years and it has been the worst experience we have so far in any building we have lived so far.

First, there is nothing luxurious about this building that markets itself as a “luxury” building. All the appliances in the unit are very very old, rusty, and of extremely poor quality unlike pictures shown on their website. They break down often and they get replaced by even older and cheaper models - but only after many follow ups with the building management.

Second, the building's elevator breaks down often and for long periods. The building had only 2-3 operational elevators (out of the the 5) almost all of last summer. Residents had to que up for 15-20 mins during rush hours to get into an elevator. We heard from the other residents as well as building staff that this is an ongoing issue with the elevator and building management doesn’t care.

Third, we have been dealing with incompetency of the building management in providing us a functional dishwasher for 5 months now. We started seeing particles on the dishes and reported it to the building around Jan’24 when we also started noticing brown color water in the tap. However, instead of investigating the real issue and fixing it, we received a condescending emails and behavior from building managers. In one incidence, one of the general manager who came to our unit showed hostile behavior and kept arguing with us to such a point that we had to ask her multiple times to leave our apartment.

Additionally, ACs do not seem to work to the point that the temperature reaches 80+ degrees in the common areas and the building management doesn't respond when you email them.

I was a resident from July 2023 to July 2024. There were many issues with the apartment. The kitchen sink flooded multiple times soon after I moved in, and the apartment was covered in dirty, disgusting sewer-like water. The problem took months to be resolved. The AC never worked and the heating was excessive, and there was no control over it. Only one window in the apartment opened, and only by a small amount, which made it hard to get proper ventilation or to dissipate the excessive heating. There was no overhead lighting, which made the apartment always look dingy and dark. The washer and dryer in the unit took several hours to finish a cycle and were very loud, such that you could not have work calls or watch TV while they were running. The building is old, as is the apartment, which shows everywhere. The walls are thin and you can hear everything from your neighbors, including upstairs neighbors. Plus, the whole area is noisy and you can often hear very loud construction work starting from 7 am. The building also has a mice issue. I saw mice scurrying in the apartment multiples times. It's almost impossible to be at peace there.

Rent is excessively high. I paid around $4,000/month, and they tried to raise my rent to almost $5,000 after a year's tenancy.

Worse, Avalon has unlawfully retained my security deposit. They claim I gave insufficient notice that I wasn't going to renew the lease, when in fact I gave almost two months' worth of notice, and then offered to stay on an additional month, but was told that they had already leased out the apartment to a new tenant whose lease would start right after mine. There was no provision in the lease stating that they could keep the security deposit in this manner, and they cannot do so under Massachusetts law. I intend to sue to recover the security deposit and invite other tenants who have had their security deposits unlawfully retained to contact me.

1 mile from campus. Includes gym and pool as amenities. For a large apartment complex with amenities, it's probably the best value for the area.

The complex is very pet and family friendly with a dog area and two playgrounds for kids. Good schools nearby as right down the road from Glebewood Elementary. Management is super easy to deal with, maintenance is quick, people are friendly, amenity areas are nice, clean, and well maintained.

Avalon Courthouse Place has overall been a good experience. There have been sporadic elevator issues, but otherwise I have no complaints. Maintenance is very responsive and the amenities are nice.

The apt itself is great since it has a garage, gym, grills, rooftop, and a lobby area that also can be rented as event space. However the building managers are awful and there are usually many issues that either are never resolved or strung out for far too long. If you have a dog, most of the other dogs are not well trained or the owners are awful and aloof. The building manager is not friendly and usually cannot do anything.

Avalon is generally a very amazing apartment for students to live, 10 minutes‘ walking distance to Columbia.

I love that it is close to a metro stop but it still would be nice to live closer to campus. However, places closer to campus do not offer the same value. I get a lot of nice amenities: gym, pool, work/study lounge, rooftop lounge. It is easy to submit maintenance requests and they typically respond really quickly. It is walking distance to Harris Teeter, Trader Joes, Union Market, and a few coffee shops and eateries.
The downside: not the cleanest surrounding area, there is construction across the street, people ignore the no smoking policy, and some pest (bugs and rodent) issues in the building.

Very good amenities, not that you’ll use them all (like the indoor movie theater). But gym is great and community there is pretty cool. Great place if you have pets, convince Amazon lockers/fridge storage room and front desk service. But it’s a 40-55 minute commute to campus with the metro/AU shuttle and a 35 minute commute with the metro and a personal scooter.

New buildings

I like my apartment and complex, but 2 of our doors are not real doors/have no locks so there is less privacy; it is expensive; the management is occasionally helpful; I like the location but it is far from other things

Located in the Vienna area of Tysons Corner, this is a beautiful apartment that is close to almost everything! Greensboro metro station is just a few minutes walk away and has a single-train ride up to Foggy Bottom. A shopping complex about 5-minute walk has Lidl grocery store, TJ-Max stores, 7-Eleven. Marshall stores and Walmart are also within a walking distance. I sometimes walk to the popular Tysons Mall. Metro Bus stops are just in front of the property. Security is good and the schools are among the best.

Some cons would be the high cost of the apartments and the non-inclusion of utilities. However, I find the cost considerably lower than some in the area. Note that the buildings are somewhat old and that comes with its challenges; maintenance is highly responsive and effective. I will definitely recommend!

Love my apartment! While it may be pricy, I live with my partner and we split the rent, which makes it much more reasonable. There are really great amenities: a gym, pool, outdoor space, grills, everything that you need. The management is very responsive to maintenance requests as well, and they regularly do events where they cook food for residents. I really enjoy it!

Good people