The Harbor — Local services in Johnson City

hmm, where do i even begin??? monarch is the WORST. so first of all, the demo looks super cute and took my interest really quick. however, once we moved in things took a big turn. first of all, everything was basically broken (our dryer, ice machine, room fan, etc.) then, our wifi went out for about three months and i had to drive to the etsu library every night just to do homework. they kept blaming the wifi issues on renters’ personal routers, just to find out that it was due to construction that they were doing. after that, they decided to start charging me $20 extra/month for rent without telling me. every time i went to the office to ask them about it, they would tell me the same thing — “we’re charging you for insurance because you never provided proof of your own renter’s insurance.” this was weird because i literally gave them a copy THE DAY I MOVED IN. anyways, i ended up having this conversation and giving them another copy of my renter’s insurance at least 10 times and nothing was being fixed. my dad was getting fed up with this and kept asking to speak to the property manager, who interestingly was never there and was never able to return his calls about this issue. this happened for a few weeks until they put a red letter on my door saying i was late on rent and they were threatening to evict me??? just bc i wouldn’t pay the $20 extra that went towards something that NOBODY would explain to me. my dad ended up driving two hours to monarch just to get it fixed, and after a heated argument, they finally fixed it and told me that somehow they “accidentally” increased my rent $20. after this was solved, i thought i was in the clear. HOWEVER, the following three months they didn’t charge me for any rent whatsoever. i personally was okay with this because hey i’m saving money, right? however, i didn’t want this to comeback to me later on, so at least 3 times a month i would go down there to ask why i wasn’t being charged. every time they would tell me i had a credit on my account that was paying it off — even though i didn’t??? so my dad went up there a few days ago as i was moving out and talked to the new property manager — who seems super nice and was actually very helpful. he was able to fix it so i could pay it. however, now i have ANOTHER red note on my door saying i violated our lease due to unpaid rent and i now owe them over $1,800 — even though that’s not even what i owed after the property manager fixed it. this place is so disorganized and half of the workers don’t know what’s going on so if you want to ignore the stress and headaches that comes with this place, i would advise to just stay away. it’ll be worth it in the end.

however, if you DO decide to stay here anyways, here’s a few tips. always make sure to keep up on your rent and what you’re paying. they have an automatic payment plan, but i would advise not to do that just incase you have any rent problems like i did. also, take photos of everything in your room (especially any damages) before you move anything in. i can’t tell you how many scratches and damages there were to our apartment when we moved in (and even though most were minor, i didn’t want them adding them all up as damages i created once i moved out.) also, don’t use the elevators, i was in a boot cast for the fall semester last year so i was stuck using the elevator to go upstairs to my apartment and i can’t tell you how many times i almost got stuck in it.) it’s very janky and they took the very expired elevator permit out a few months ago so now there’s no permit and that makes me a little nervous to use it because i don’t think it’s been tested for a little while. also, if you have problems, keep annoying them as much as you have to until it gets fixed, i don’t want you to be in the same boat i ended up in.

also, a dog pooped a VERY large amount in our hallway a few months ago and it literally sat there for days because none of the workers would clean it up — it was disgusting!!

so yeah monarch sucks — i just advise you don’t stay...

This apartment complex is a living hell and I will never wish thisnplace upon anyone. Less than a 1/10th of the people I have talked to that live here plan on living here another year or have already lived here for more than a year. Out of the 5 people I have talked to(including me) 4 of them have bug problems all except one being roaches, the one was ants. The elevator is broken more than it is fixed(I have seen it break on a monday, be working Wednesday, and then broken that Thursday. There has been dried puke in hallway of my floor for two weeks, and the only atempt to clean it looked like they used a broom to try and just sweet the chuncks up(there is a very noticeable spot in the floor and it is sticky). This is not the only instance of something being in the floor. Exit signs, dog poop, piss, and random items such as food have sat in the hall for days. If you think because the place is safe because it is somewhat well furnished(most aprtments are, I have also been in some where multiple chairs are missing and a piece of furniture is not as nice as the one in mine) and looks nice to outsiders don't be fooled. It is one of the sketchiest places I have seen at my time in ETSU, many drug dealers, partiers and thieves hang around this area. Not to mention the doors that require a key to even get in the building? Most of the time they are broken, and monarch loves to put uo signs saying they will fine whoever leaves the door proped open. No one has the motive to leave the door proped open, the doors just never shut all the way unless you force them too. I have walked into my building twice having to crawl under the door, yes crawl, because the door was broken off the hinges. Speaking of safety you shouldn't feel comfortable in your own living room. More than once have I heard a single knock, maybe two, before they barge in saying monarch staff. The first week of living here 'painters' came in without saying anything, or holding any paint or tools to paint, tryin to paint one of my roommates rooms who was on his way to move in. According to them the room was empty and no one lived there so they were starting to paint. After telling them someone does live there and to call there boss, they said they would call after they started and went inside the room to start painting. With no paint. After calling monarch ourselves they could not tell us who these painters were or what they were doing besides a 'standard maintenance chech' we basically had to yell at them to leave and then never heard anything else about it. These 'painters' had a key to MY APARTMENT and was able to walk right inside. Multiple times were we threatened by workers to be fined if we didn't stop throwing cig butts off the balcony. None of us smoke. If for some reason you do want to live here read what you sign before you sign anything IN DEPTH. There are many stupid rules they can fine you for. If you are about to take out the trash don't leave a trash bag sitting any amount of time, even just an hour. If a worker walks in and there is a trash bag of trash anywhere but the trash can, you will be fined. I can go on and on about the horror stories but if this isn't enough to convince you walk through the halls without a monarch worker(don't worry about getting in the building one of the four doors will be open) and knock on a few doors and ask the residents to take 5 minutes to tell you about their experiences. DO...

All the one-star reviews are accurate. Many of the five-star reviews you see are written by their employees in an effort to make themselves look better. The location near campus is great no doubt. The furniture that comes with the apartment is fine, nothing to complain about there. If you turn down their cleaning fee ($25/month for 12 months added on to your rent for a one-time cleaning) they will allow you to move into a disgusting apartment. My apartment actually had the previous tenant squatting in it until about a week before we moved in. We had all kinds of questionable stuff on the floors and walls throughout the apartment. My room in particular was very nasty. My keys were not ready on move-in day, and were not given to me until the week after. Most residents of Monarch 815 are your typical partying college students, which is fine. There's typically a loud party going on every night of the week in your building. You'll run into loud aggressive drunks if you leave the room at night. Some drunk dude smashed in the wall outside of my front door - that was in the fall, it is summer and it still hasn't been patched up. The whole property is sketchy. I've been approached by some very questionable people in the hallways. Many residents smoke pot in their rooms. I lived on the fourth floor, and the entire floor reeked of pot all day and all night. A lot of the times it would come through the vents/fans and the smell would seep into our bedrooms and bathrooms. The hallways and grass around the building are typically covered in trash, dog poop, pee/other liquids. Takes forever for them to get around to cleaning it, too. People regularly leave trash in the stairwells, which will sit for around a week before it gets removed. Like everyone says, the elevator is constantly broken. I live in building three, and water leaks through the elevator shaft and leaves a puddle in the elevator every time it rains. The entire property is super low quality. The office staff is full of a bunch of college kids, some are pretty nice, some are just trying to get you off the phone. Maintenance is okay, super slow though. I put in a work order to fix a door in the apartment a few weeks before Thanksgiving, it was not fixed until I called them and reminded them in almost February. They try to coerce you into signing a new lease as soon as possible, then make it near impossible to get out of it, months before the new lease actually starts. Overall, they seem pretty shady and are just taking advantage of dumb college kids who don't know any better. Whenever I am asked about Monarch, I tell them to steer clear and find somewhere else to stay.

Don't let the five-star reviews fool you. The other reviewers are not lying when they say that almost all of them are...