Verve Apartments — Local services in Seattle

I lived here for 2 years and had a fairly good experience overall. The main reasons I moved out were the rent increases and lack of air conditioning. But, I'll start with the pros:

Excellent noise insulation. I lived in one of the higher 2br units and rarely heard my neighbors in any direction - the concrete construction definitely helps here. You will hear quite a bit of road noise especially from Denny, but that's city life.

If you have an higher unit facing the north or west, the views are jaw-dropping.

Very convenient location. Central to downtown and lots of tourist attractions, while being far enough away that it's not crazy. It's walking distance to restaurants and bars in Belltown without being in the middle of it all - never had an issue with guests parking on the street. Only problem is when there are certain events - for example parades tend to go down 4th Ave on the way to Seattle Center, and on those days the garage is inaccessible from any direction.

Most garage spots are very spacious. There are some that are tight, but I would say 80% of the spots are wider than average.

Rooftop and amenity spaces are excellent. Incredible views from the roof, and the gym was a decent size - though it is fairly basic. It does have a couple treadmills, ellipticals, a Peloton, dumbbells, and a couple of machines though. I found that it was rarely used in the mornings.

Management seems to have improved since changing staff. Not that I had many interactions, but Wynn seems to be doing a better job than the previous manager. Communication does tend to be on the slower side, but I had no issues with maintenance turnaround times.

Now, onto the cons:

The lack of central or wall-mounted A/C is the main reason for moving out. While the views to the north and west are amazing in the winter, in the summer it feels like a greenhouse. Especially with the size and amount of windows in some of the rooms, portable A/C units were not strong enough to put a dent in the temperature of the living room. Also, there's only 1 A/C port in the entire apartment.

The second main reason for moving out is the rent increases. While not uncommon, it's still worth noting. My rent increased about 20% the first year and 10% the second. These are somewhat expected due to the low prices in 2020, but I have friends in other buildings that have not faced these same rate hikes.

While it's very noise insulated, I cannot say the same about smell. On some days I could smell whatever my neighbors were cooking, or a strong cleaning smell from the hallway. Also, there would sometimes be a trash smell if the trash room was left open.

Appliances and fixtures feel cheap. Everything from the cabinets to the bathroom fixtures, kitchen sink, fridge, washer/dryer (though some units have this upgraded), window blinds (again, differs by unit) just felt cheap given that it's marketed as "luxury" and that there's other buildings in the area that feel higher end for comparable prices.

No netting on the windows. There's lots of spiders in the summer, so it feels pretty necessary.

While there was recycling bins in the trash room, they were more often than not overflowing. There were recycling dumpers on the 1st floor so it wasn't too inconvenient to go there.

If you have a car, the garage fob is quite large and doubles as your fob to enter the building. They were unwilling to issue the smaller fob for me in addition. Another inconvenience is that you need to fob to EXIT the garage as well. There's 2 ways to exit the garage, but it's a busy alley so sometimes one way is blocked.

There's a 10% cleaning fee on move in that wasn't mentioned until I signed - this seems pretty standard for Seattle but wish it was...

Avoid this place at all costs. The management here is completely incompetent.

Thankfully, I didn't end up signing here. I applied for these apartments and decided to go elsewhere and rescinded my application immediately. They collect the security deposit up front, even before you know if you've been approved. Then, you must cancel your app within 24 hours to even have a chance at being refunded your money. I applied on a Saturday evening (9/23) and they are closed on Sunday. I called 10x and left 1 voicemail on Monday and could not get ahold of anyone (go figure) and received no attempts to contact me back. The next day on Tuesday (9/26), I received an email from a leasing agent letting me know my application was approved. I let them know about my countless attempts to contact them and how I'd like to rescind my application and be refunded my security deposit. 3 days later (9/29), I received an email letting me know that they will process the deposit return that same day. 11 days pass without receipt of my deposit or any communication from the Verve team so I reach out again on (10/10). The person's manager steps in to let me know his employee had not submitted the request for reimbursement correctly and that he would finalize the processing that day and follow up shortly with an update. Another 9 days pass with no communication whatsoever from the Verve team and without receiving my funds. I follow up on (10/19) and receive an email letting me know that they confirmed a check was cut (presumably same day after my email) and they will be mailing it to me. They also instructed me to reach back out to them this time next week if I do not receive anything. This time next week is 30 days since my original inquiry. It took them a day to receive my money but nearly a month of following up and demanding the bare minimum with nothing to show for it.

Additional important thing to note. I was advised that the water is not metered individually. Instead, the cost for the entire floor is divided evenly and billed to the residents. The leasing agent who gave me a tour said it generally costs around $150 but can range higher in summer/winter months. As a single person who lives very efficiently, this is asinine. My water / trash bill at my last residence was never more than $30 a month. It seems unethical to punish residents for corners that were cut in development.

I am so glad I never signed with Verve. I cannot imagine how much of a nightmare it would be to live in a building managed by such people. I will update this review if I am ever...

Pros: The building is great for views, and maintenance and services are prompt.

Cons: Thin walls: Voice travels between apartments Lot of noise from ambulances and fire engines Logic behind move out charges.

I am leaving these details about the move-out process so that fellow tenants are aware of the issues.

I had bad experience with the move-out process. I kept my apartment is really good condition, and didn't use any nails or drill holes on the walls, and when I moved out, the paint and the walls were in really good condition.

After moving out, I chose to be present at the time of inspection. First, they gave me a Sunday appointment. When I got there, they said they don't do move-out inspections on Sunday and gave me a Monday 9 AM appointment. When I got there on Monday morning, the maintenance supervisor said they have already done the inspection, and didn't find any damages or issues. He said that we will paint the apartment, because "it's standard, and that's what we do for all apartments in this building". I trusted Nik and didn't argue about this.

Later, I read the WA state tenant rights and realized that they can't charge me for paint, giving this reason, and tenant can only be charged if the damage is beyond normal wear and tear.

I tried to dispute the charges with greystar but got these responses:

1. We disagree with you on the wall damage and we don't need to provide you any proof or pics for it because we are not obligated to do so.
2. You should have been present at move-out inspection.

Now, I am not a lawyer, and neither I have enough time on my hands to hire a lawyer and drag this, nor I am going to sweat over this amount, but I was expecting some logical and decent conversation with greystar instead of being given standard answers which basically mean "Screw you for not covering all your bases".

The amount of paint fee and cleaning fee itself is very reasonable, but it was more of an issue of principal for me. I wouldn't be leaving 1 star rating despite the charges if people from greystar were not rude. In the end they just said, what are you going to do. True words. So, I'll just leave this...