Birchview Gardens

Current Resident 931775

Resident • 2009 - 2010

I want to move out NOW!

Where do I begin.... After living here for about a year, I was dying to move out but because of some personal circumstances, I had to stay for another year, mainly because of the location, but I really should NOT have stayed... Apartment is spacious but useless. Like most people's complaints, the electricity bill can go up to the sky during summer and winter to keep the house cool/warm to the minimum. The building's very old, insulation is horrible, or maybe there is none, and there are lots of ants and strange looking bugs that somehow creeps inside. Oh yeah, and the neighbor's cats are often chasing after rats. I live on the 2nd floor but I can hear people talk, walk around from downstairs. I can only imagine the noise the downstairs people have to deal with. Few month's ago, there was a flood in the parking lot that completely drowned our two cars...completely dead and had to be towed away. I asked the ignorant maintenance people and all they said to me was "well...we had it worse 3 years ago..." So I guess I had to be thankful that it wasn't as bad as 3 years ago... After the flood, the laundry room, which is in the basement smells moldy and disgusting. And there are a lot more bugs now since the flood. And just the other day, my GPS was stolen from my car... The only good thing about staying here is the location but even that is not worth it when I have to come back to a dreadful looking apartment everyday.

justsmile1214

Resident • 2007 - 2009

Much better places to live in this area..

I lived at Birchview for 2 years, mainly because moving is such a pain, so I stuck it out for another year. First of all, its not as good of a deal as it seems. The rent is cheap and the rooms are spacious, but keep in mind, there is no laundry, no central air and only one shower in the 2 bedroom apartments. And the worst part is that your heating bill is going to be insane. So just consider other places that have higher rents but either have gas heating or include your utilities. The heat is a real pain. You can't set a temp, so the heat is either on or off. Your options are coming home to an 85 degree apartment and dealing with the bill, or coming home to a 55 degree apartment at the end of the day. I finally got a space heater and that helped a little. The 30 year old air conditioner in the living room is going to do absolutely nothing for you in the summer, so you might as well turn that off and save some money. No locks on windows and our sliding glass door and screen door were both broken when we moved in. Consider moving into a 2nd floor apartment because they have no requirement for putting down rugs. I was unlucky enough to live under an older man who was up walking around often during the night. After several days of waking up at 4 in the morning, I realized I would have to wear ear plugs every night to get a decent night's sleep. The parking is fine, the only problem is that there are no lines to park between and the people living here are too lazy to park near other cars instead of directly in front of their door. So if you come home later in the night, there will be a ton of open space, just no spaces large enough to fit your car into! The last major gripe I have is with the lack of communication between the rental office and the business office. I was in Peru last summer and was unavailable to sign a renewal lease. I informed the rental office of this and they said it would be fine as long as my roommate signs in time, which she did. Guess what? I get back to states and sign the lease but in a few weeks we get a letter saying that they are increasing our monthly rent because we did not sign the renewal lease in time. So I walk over to rental office and talk to that moron who works there, Maria and she assures me that she will take care of it and that I can throw out the letter and send in our usual rent check. This happens two more times. We were getting statements saying we owed them money and I kept bringing it back to the rental office. Finally I decided to call the business office myself and I spoke to a very nice lady who assured me that she would fix it in the computer. Guess what? That took several months and at least 5 phone calls because this secretary or whatever she was could not figure out how to fix it but would "get someone who could as soon as possible". Yeah. So by December, 6 months into our lease, I finally stopped getting statements asking for money. The bottom line: living here was a mistake and I should have been smarter in my apartment hunting. I could have lived a lot more comfortably for about the same amount of money. Don't be awestruck by the rent because you will end up paying a lot more than that per month!

Current Resident 159891

Resident • 2008 - 2009

Think before you rent

This square footage of this apartment is great for the money. However, there is not insulation in the apartments and everything is electric including the heat. Due to the inefficiency of converting electricity to heat compared to gas heating be prepared to shell out the money to keep your room warm in the winter months.

Current Resident 602143

Resident • 2006 - 2009

Not Bad

I have lived here for almost 3 years. The location is decent, quiet neighborhood near freeway. The laundry facilities are adequate. The heating/cooling systems are very old and expensive. The apartments are big and reasonably priced.

safasher

Resident • 2007 - 2008

Good value and service

We just renewed our lease here because despite a few problems-- this is a great place to live. first-- the problems are what everyone else has stated that everything is electric so heat in the winter causes the bills to skyrocket. but the rest of the year,my bill has been as low as $50 sometimes -- and i cook,use the a/c occasionally, hot water for showers and dishes etc.. my apartment doesnt ave a dishwasher which is a bit unfortunate. but the size and layout of these apartments is fabulous. everyone who visits us loves the hardwood floors, open space, the walk-in closets. there r very few apartments that can fit my king size bedroom set and this one does and still appears spacious. you don't have assigned parking but that makes it easy for guests. the neighborhood is super safe which is one of the best things.you can forget your purse in the car, your laundry in the laundry room etc.. and noone takes it. its a real peace of mind. the apartments are super peaceful and quiet also--a rare quality. the alundry room is quite close too andnobody will steal your stuff if you levae it overnight in the dryer. the maintenance is alwso very helpful-- they came to fix my clogged drain twice- in less than a day. they also touched up some paint in the bathroom that i showed was peeling.it was done before i got home so was a nice suprise. the gardens and swings are nice and i recommend this place.

ishwish

Resident • 2006 - 2008

AVOID, nasty management and neighbors !!

I'm moving out very soon after living there for few years, mainly because of the crap the office people give you, as well as those 'older tenants' who became close to the office people. They do the BBQ with their shirts off ! on top of very loud music !! I once approached them to suggest to turn it down a little, then all hell broke loose!! My car has been 'spit' in the wind shield, the office lady 'Maria' have been yelling to 'newer' tenants for even a puny little things. Maintenance people works with their shirts off. One time, my 'older neighbor' complained Maria about taking their 'special spot', then she just came onto me yelling! Later on, she broke into my unit without any notice, during day time while I was working! Pets are not allowed, but mainly because the office have two big dogs, all of the older tenants have one or two dogs or cats. It's a getto apartment, and laundry room is very small and dirty. AVOID if you have a common sense of decency. Nowadays, I'm seeing lots of units getting emptied.

Current Resident 309338

Resident • 2008

Good place

I've been there for 9 months. Going to move out since I bought a house. Would've stay here longer had I not bought that house. As any other rental complex in NJ, they asked for 1 year contract, but I managed to negotiate a 9 month with them up front (I planned to buy a house in 9 months!) Overall, this is a decent place to rent, comparing to all other places in the area. Having read many other reviews, I must say that something did happen to me and something did not. Here are details: - Landlord: The landlord lady that everybody mentioned about has quite a terrible English - it is sometimes hard to understand her and I kept asking her to repeat. Otherwise, she is nice enough to me every time I communicate with her (e.g., asking for repairs, asking for keys when I locked myself out, ...) By the way the only time I locked myself out I went to her apartment at 7:00pm and she did not charge me for it - said she would charge me the next time if that is after office hour. Also, like many said, she tends not to be in her office during office hour, so do call ahead of time and leave a message if need be for appointment. - Apartment condition: pretty spacious, OK condition. I got 1 bed room, 1 office, 1 kitchen, a dining area and a large living room. Have an "old" smell in the cupboard and small closets. I have a walk-in closet in the living room, another "standard" closet in the bedroom and two more small closet - one in the living room and another in the office. The office could have been a second bedroom since it has a window and a (small) closet. However you can walk right from the kitchen into that room - if they install a door there you can probably call it a bedroom. Also, the wall and floor are very very thin. I can hear every step my neighbor made upstairs. When I just move in it creep me quite a bit since it usually sounded like someone was walking inside my apartment. - Maintenance: The outer places are well maintained. Most of the time they respond very well with request to repair things inside the apartment. There was that one time they told me there would be a long delay and they only fixed my leaking faucet after three days - nothing bothered me much accept that I do not want to see water getting wasted. - Neighborhood: nice and peaceful. There are some children in the area but our kid did not have a chance to play with them yet. - Parking: plenty of them. All unassigned. Your guest can part anywhere they want, too. I think there are some detached garage too, if you would like to rent. - Utility: everything is electric. And it is very expensive given the size of the apartment. During winter time it is usually $300 even though I tried many way to cut the bill. My AC does not work at all but I only noticed that 20 days before moving out - does not even bother to report for that reason.

Current Resident 557515

Resident • 2007 - 2008

Good sized apartment for the money. Electricity bills can reach $380 a month!! Very old heaters in every room... (no central AC). Also, no washer/ dryers and the laundry facility is pricy. Try to get an upstares unit. If you have upstairs neighbors, you'd better be a sound sleeper! You can hear every step from downstairs. The landlady is nice. Good location. Right off I-287.

JSalz

Resident • 2007 - 2008

Feb. 2008: A Solid B , all around.

I've been living here for a couple of months now, here are some facts about Birchview: 1. Great bang for the buck overall, good size, most units have new kitchens, I have two walk-in closets, all have pretty large balconies, some are placed in nice courtyards layouts with different types of trees. 2. Staff is fair. Don't waste your time trying to get them to fix anything cosmetic they don't seem to care or have time to put a new cover on an outside light bulb or repaint a door if it looks worn, however when stuff is broken they move quickly. When my toilet broke they came out and replace it immediately, the guy was nice. 3. Apartment is all electric, heat, stove, etc. (can be ~$200 in winter, spring/fall closer to $120). When I looked at other apartments that included heat/hot water they were about $150-200 a month more expensive so one way or another you're still paying for heat. If you like to BLAST the heat this may not be the place for you. 4. Nice enough neighbors. The community is quiet and peaceful, the common areas are clean but older than others. People say Hi but that's about it.. 5. New side versus Old side. The new side has a more attractive tan brick exterior, the old side has your standard dark red brick. I've been in both and I really like the layouts of the older ones much better, more closet space and it seemed like better build quality, they do look worst on the outside though. They are the same in price just about. 6. Close to everything. It's right off of exit 9 on Rt. 287, you're 5 minutes from Target, Walmart, Stop N Shop, Regal Cinemas and about 10 minutes to the Bridgewater Commons Mall. Overall I very happy. If you need to be in this general area, I would recommend it, but if you can live down in the Plainsboro area, prices there seemed lower and the apartment communities are much newer.

Current Resident 912288

Resident • 2007

Just ok at best

ADVANTAGE: Even though the land lady has a horrible attitude she will help. They have quick responses to maintanance problems. Disadvantage: If you are over 5 days late they will not except your check and charge you 60.00 dollars and a court fee that remains on your credit history. The walls are paper thin so if your neighbors are loud and you live on the bottom floor it is a nightmare. They say in the lease that you only pay for electric but everything you use depends on it ex: hot water, heat, lights and cooking so what would normally be a monthly $30 bill expands to nearly $200 in the winter and $80 in the summer with air conditioning. There are also bugs not roaches but insects that look like centipeds that infest these apartments. CONCLUSION: If you can find better with a reasonable price. Go for it!!!!!!!

contentwithvalue

Resident • 2005 - 2007

Rebuttal to It's Ok, some good, some bad

Let's be clear - the management are not scumbags. My husband and I have found them to be helpful on all occassions. Our bathroom floor felt like it was dipping in front of the sink - they had the entire floor torn up and relayed, re-tiled and all within three days. When the flood came through in April '07 I probably called 20 times to get updates, they were very kind and as helpful as they could be with passing on information that the Emergency Management Control gave them. Regarding the landlords have a dog - yeah they do, so about 30% of the tenants. Even more have cats. True there are no pets allowed per the lease, but until 2 months ago, it was never enforced until the OWNER issued a letter telling tenants enough is enough -NO PETS. I've lived in other complexes before this, heard stories from others, and this is a nicely run place. Yes, it's old. Yes, there are faults, high electric bill in the winter (electric heat), old windows, and yes, you do get bugs (ants, centipedes, spiders) that type of thing. If you bring it to the attention of the landlord, they'll arrange to have an exterminator do the apartment. However, there are two sides to this complex. The new side and the old side. I currently live on the old side. The kitchen is newer with a remodel - new cabinets, flooring, fridge, old stove though. My husband and I are probably going to move to the new side shortly. The buildings are newer, so I'm hoping that some of the issues will be left behind with the old construction. Whatever this person's gripe is regarding the management, is obviously his/her problem. Form your own opinion when you meet them.

Current Resident 795473

Resident • 1994 - 2007

It's OK, some good, some bad

The management are scumbags as they will actually file eviction notices if you're late by five days. They do this so the lawyer can get about $300.<br><br>In addition if you have a car that's not working and it sits for a month they will put a very hard to get sticker on the windshield.<br><br>The floor/ceilings are very thin and I can actually hear the people downstairs snoring while sleep.<br><br>The apartments are good sized. With a family room (that most use as an extra bedroom} and an dining room. The balconies are a good size with front and back entrances.<br><br>The neighborhood seems to be OK. A good racial mix.<br><br>Pets are not allowed which hasn't stopped the onsite landlords from having a dog. A few years ago they began to enforce no grills on the balcony. I suspect it was more a fire dept. thing rather than them.

Current Resident 229884

Resident • 1998 - 2007

Very Good Place to leave

I have been living here for 8 years now and very pleased with the upkeep of these apartments. Management is good, the layouts are large and very comprable for the price. I never planned to stay here as long as i did, but I have yet to find any place better until I purchase. Only downfall is no washer and dryer in apartment, but they ahve a very reasonable priced laundry mat on the grounds and its always clean. They up keep the grounds very well and respond quickly when need assistance for anything inside the apartment. Very child friendly as there are number of families in the area - the courtyard setup, makes it nice to keep an eye on them while they play outside. Definitely recommend for anyone looking for a great place to live. Oh and the rent increase is very minimal comparted to most places. However the heating bill can be high - but it is due to the open floor plan, large windows, wood floors and its baseboard heat - so I wont complain. Definitely still recommend!!!

Current Resident 444317

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Good Apartment

Its an older place, but they keep up with maintenance and renovated a bunch of units including the one I have. I’ve found it particularly quiet, it’s fairly white complex. The only bills are electricity and cable. They were pretty flexible about the length of the original lease, and let me re-sign after my term was up with a rider that lets me leave on 30 days notice. They also raised the rent 2% from 895 to 915. Couple down sides, there is coin laundry, and the units don’t come with dishwashers. I bought a counter top dishwasher for 100$ and its been great but the laundry thing is irritating in the winter. They are very lenient with the terms in the lease, and many people have cats and a couple have dogs. They are also good with grounds maintenance.

Current Resident 919859

Resident • 2004 - 2006

Great choice... BUT warning

This is a great complex for young and old. Been living here for over a year and plan to stay until I purchase a house. Most people here have stayed over 10 years!<br>Pro: The best bang for your buck in the area. Its safe, clean, classy, and cheap! They are a mom/pop complex that doesnt advertise so they aren’t your usual apartment rental complex. Not much noise, attractive landscape, large clean apartments, right next to 287 (but you cant hear the traffic), friendly people, & great maintance. They all have beautiful balconies too! The only utility you pay for is electricity. Once a year they give every building outside fresh paintcoat and clean up any dirt/old wood, etc. When you move in your apartment is freshly painted, cleaned, new kitchen and bathroom items. Snow cleanup is a dream! It says no pets, but cats are fine and there are some dogs in the complex (there is no extra charge for a pet). There are children to play with yours, but they are not obnoxious if you are a single person or couple. There are tennis courts in the back, as well as an area to grow your own garden!<br><br>Cons:<br>Since it’s a family business they tend NOT to be there during business hours. Make sure to call before hand and make an appointment. <br><br>Electricity bill is high. During the summer, if you use the AC unit only when you are home, the bill is around $60-70. During the winter months you are looking to pay around $180/month.<br><br>Every place you live there is always one or two nightmare neighbors. As stated before, almost everyone is kind here but many of us would like to give out a warning. There is a tenant who lives in the front of the complex has lived there for a while, and feels that area is theirs. They own 3 extra large Truck/SUVS (they only use one of them!)and feel that the parking and lawn area in the front belongs to them and no one else. They will vandalize your vehicle if you park in their "special spots". Their false claims have caused evictions and have threatened the well being of many people. So as a suggestion avoid the front of the complex and go for a cozy middle area apartment.<br><br>Word is getting around about how great this complex is and apartments seem to be filling up quickly!<br><br>All in all a great place. <br>

JOSHUA06

Resident • 2006

VERY GOOD!

I BEEN HERE FOR A MONTH,VERY HAPPY WITH MAMAGEMENT,I READ ABOUT HIGH ELECTRIC BILL,I HAVE TO WAIT TO SEE.ALOT OF PARKING SPACE

Current Resident 905576

Resident • 2002 - 2006

Great place to live in

Great place to live in. Very safe Parking is also good.Lot of parking space.Management is also good and friendly.Maintenance also very good. They respond immediately .<br><br>Good for kids too. Lots of kids to play with. On the whole a great communtiy to live in.

Current Resident 777856

Resident • 2004 - 2005

Great place to Live! High Electri Bill

It's a great appartment community. Nice management. Plenty of parking space. Good place to live except, High Electric Bills (All Electric) and Thin walls and ceiling.

Current Resident 647656

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Good Place to live and apartment mgmt is very good.

The apartment complex and maintenance is very good. The apartment management is excellent in service and provide to the needs of the tenants. The laundry facilities are very good. Also the apartment community is very nice and you will enjoy it. I was very satisfied. The one draw back is the all is electric and results in high utility bill during the winter months when you need to keep warm.

Current Resident 669637

Resident • 2005

Amazing place to live

I been staying here for almost 1 year..Best place to live -->Birchview Gardens.<br>Great management.<br>only prob is High Electric bills :-(

Current Resident 153270

Resident • 2004 - 2005

Happy with Service.

Whenever I need something repaired they are there as soon as possible. My old appartment manager from Town Oaks Apartments did not give such good service. I am happy.

Current Resident 999762

Resident • 2002 - 2004

decent apartment

nice size apartment. some upstairs noise, but it's expected. electric heat is VERY expensive. an average apartment. decent place to live.

Current Resident 564338

Resident • 2004

LOVE IT

We moved in in April and love the place. Management is good, the grounds are kept beautiful and the people are nice. There are several laundry rooms available and the hours are fair. Plenty of parking and TONS of space in the apartment. Nice open floor plan! We have two bedrooms, and my only complaint is the bathroom. The light switch is located on the OUTSIDE and I always forget to tun the darn thing on. I also must add, that any new apartment you live in gets new cabinetry and in some cases, flooring and tiling in the bathrooms. The new hardwood cabinets are beautiful!! I love it here, and have recommended it to MANY of my friends! <br> <br>One thing to improve though- There needs to be more light from the parking area into the courtyards. Sometimes it can be very dark!!

AJerseyBoy

Resident • 1999 - 2004

Decent Place

2007-08-17|Complex is on Raritan River upstream from Bound Brook and flooding from Hurricane Floyd damaged many apartments in back of the complex. My apartment building was fine but I was evacuated for about a week. [original review] I lived here for 5 years and it's been fine. Neighbors sometimes annoying but not much. Management good and responsive.

Current Resident 714783

Resident • 2003 - 2004

bad neighbors = horrible place

everything about this place is decent. the price is good for the space. <br>parking spaces are plenty. <br>but the walls and floors are paper thin! <br>our downstairs neighbors fight all the time, and i can even hear them when they are just talking normally! <br> <br>i would not recommend living here.