Pines of Ashton Apartments — Local services in Raleigh

I have lived at this complex for roughly 5 months and had to break my lease to get out of there due to various reasons listed below.

Pros:

There are 3 locks on the front door so I feel somewhat safe when in the unit.

Cons: TL:DR at the bottom but I highly recommend you do the light read as it gives a lot of insight.

Mornings smell of sewage

Uneven floors throughout the unit.

Gun Shots frequent from 12/27/18-01/22/19. To elaborate, 2 of the 3 incidents happened off the grounds and 1 on the grounds. The one on the grounds was in line of sight of my unit, the unit directly in front of me actually had bullets penetrate their walls. Like others have mentioned, the shootings are pretty common and management is not willing to do anything. If you break the lease, just make sure you have the money because even though they know about the shootings, they are not willing to work with you in regards to money.

When moving in, the unit was left in terrible condition for me. I did one round of vacuuming and the canister was filled 3/4 with just dust.

The air quality in the units are awful. I have had to purchase 1500 MPR filters and also use medium sized purifiers to clean it up to a livable state.

The front door is off center and there is enough gap to basically waste your utilities.

The windows are off center as well and you have to place towels in the creases to try and retain your heat.

There are about 3 security guards on the grounds with weapons but I have yet to see them do anything. When the gunshots happened, they weren’t around. Neighbors always blast music through the late night and even though I live very close to the complex where the guards are usually posted, they do nothing.

Fees…They get you with low rent. Below are some fees I have noticed: $15.00 fee just to get your mailbox keys. I have lived in 6 different apartments over the last 7 years and never encountered this. ~$8.00 admin fee in your water bill (monthly) if you don’t notice. This fee wasn’t added into the water bills until 12/2018 to be “transparent.” It was previously just a hidden fee.

Don’t even think about emailing the complex through their portal, you will not get a response. You have to go into the office and pick up a card to get your hands on an actual email address, but even then, it takes 3-4 days to get a response. The front office staff is really unprofessional. From just the way they speak to you to not getting responses. There is one lady who still works there as of January that is very nice and remembers resident names but she is not enough to cover for the others unprofessionalism.

Don’t be fooled when you read “renovated” apartments in the tag lines. When they say renovated, they mean a stainless-steel fridge and oven. Everything else remains the same.

Roaches are also a huge problem here. I had to use borax powder to line the indoors, purchase roach traps, and spray bleach on the window seal area to try and prevent an infestation. The complex routinely sends people to “treat” the pest problem but I have seen no difference.

The parking rules are just plain dumb. They have “visitor parking” but you have to get a pass from the front or they will still tow the car if left over night.

TL:DR – Robberies, Shootings, Poor Management, Sewage Smell, Fees are not mentioned upfront, Uneven Floors, and lots of lies to get you to rent. If you still decide to rent here, good luck to you and make sure you have a checkbook because they will milk you. Don’t believe all the fake reviews...

Im not a tenant at POA, however I recently inquired about renting an apartment there. POA has been know to be a dump in the past years which made me skeptical to rent there in the 1st plsce considering the area and crime rate of the area. I went to view 1 of the remodeled apartments and was impressed with the upgrades, however upon touring the community there was trash, and broken beer bottles all over the parking lot/building walkway. I had been working with Kendall for at least a month who seemed to be very pleasant but a lil overwhelmed. When 1st running my credit kendall called me and said they wouldnt be able to rent to me bcus of prior violations with other communities i rented from for not paying rent/paying later or having bounced checks which ive never wrote a check in my life. I told him there must had been a mistake or maybe he pulled someone else file because ive rented from several high end properties in the area and never once had any problems with them and i always recieved my sec. deposits upon moving out because my apartments were always in good condition. He later called me back and said there was a mistake. However He told me i had a balance on my credit history and if i paid the balance they would work with me. I was aware of the balance owed to another property for canceling my lease early although I had court ordered papers to do so! I paid the 300$ balance and did everything on my end however i was still denied being rented too. Nonetheless to say I was unhappy with the service i recieved and at no time I was ble to talk to a manager whenever I asked to do so. Im glad i didnt become a tenant there, i took my business and money elsewhere and I was able to find a much nicer property in a nice neighborhood, a lil more than i wanted to pay but the process was smooth, quick and pleasant. My application was approved the same day with a very low deposit so im happy with that. I dont usually write reviews but POA wasted my time! Im a hardworking single female with no kids, 2 degrees and 3 jobs as well as a clean record yet i was denied WHEN I KNOW criminals and people with no jobs that live in the community! I will say the upgraded model apartment was nice inside but I have friends that live there they complain about the noise, crime and bugs all the time and say they cant wait to leave POA. The gym is a joke, the indoor pool isnt heated instead they have heat blowers inside the building to make it warmer. If youre going to deny applications, deny the shady characters you...

I have been a resident at POA (2x) since 2018. Ms. Deborah Harris and the team is what truly makes the property an overall "5" star experience.

I left in 2019 (thinking I could do so much better) when my 1st lease ended for a "luxury" apartment near North Hills that will remain nameless. It was disastrous, to say the least. Came back in May of 2020 (at the height of Covid) and am glad I did. I know I could have done a lot worse.

The "good" about this property

-Ms. Deborah and the professionalism when dealing with management. They respond to issues with empathy and candor; never have I been misled about potential turn-around times for issues to be resolved.

-They clean the grounds regularily and take pride in the appearance of the property.

-Security is overall very friendly and effective, in particular Willie deserves to mentioned for his outgoing and good nature with respect to a job that is frankly, not glorious and not really appreciated.

-Clean buildings that are sprayed for roaches regularily.

-Most important (to me @ least)... OLDER BUILDINGS and OLDER ACOUSTICS mean less noise trasference between units. I cant hear my neighbors and they cant hear me. You will not get that in those new/ugly mass produced "luxury" apartment buildings built post 2000.

(Free bit of advice, dont pick the interior units)

The "bad"

-The neighborhood has its reputation for crime and mischief. It is rightfully earned, believe me. That said, certain people make better "marks" regardless of where they live/roam and I (Big/strapping single Male) dont make for much of a target (I think).

-No retail amenities within walking distance.

All of the items under "bad" are beyond the control of those who manage and maintain this property. I have never seen a more efficient operation in terms of response time and ultimate results from any apartment management operation. GSC deserves to be mentioned in dispatches as well!

That said, POA would be a "3" star experience @ best if it were not for Ms. Deborah, Terrance, Willie, and all the other staff here. No apartment complex in-and-of-itself is a "5" star experience, it is the people who work there and their management that provide that experience is what I have learned. For that reason by itself, if I have to be in the triangle region...I will only...