Lake Linganore — Local services in Urbana

Part 1.

An honest review from someone who’s been living here for almost a year, if you have a baby or younger kiddos, this should be insightful. My fiancé, my newborn and I moved in December 7th, 2020. We had a pretty difficult application process. After John Jordan’s accommodating tour, his customer service skills couldn’t provide the most basic of support when we requested to provide an online notarized signature, instead of bringing in a physical copy of a document, in the midst of a pandemic. But we reached out to corporate and the situation was solved quickly. I recommend reaching out to James, the property manager, or corporate directly if you have an issue that needs a solution.The first night we stayed here, we discovered a mouse. A bag of grains was eaten through. James took care of it very quickly by calling in professionals to catch the mouse and prevent any other possible infestations.

Throughout the year we have struggled with the construction of the apartments itself. Cheap quality kitchen, upside down non functioning outlets, from kitchen cabinets to the sink food disposal everything keeps breaking and falling off. Toilet clogs due to the pipe rotation (our toilet was swapped twice, we had to use the vacant neighboring apartment). The shower is weak, and the water pressure is even worse. If you have long hair, say goodbye to washing it throughly. But the former maintenance man, Ed, was on top of it all, everything was always fixed within hours of the same day the maintenance issue arose. As of October 2021, I cannot say the same thing. Ed no longer works here, instead two other men were hired to work on the whole apartment complex, which is now fully occupied by tenants. I’ve had a broken kitchen drawer for a month (if your baby crawls, those can easily fall out BABY HAZARD#1) and we haven’t heard a word from maintenance, besides one of them coming in to take the second, fully functioning, drawer and never coming back .. ? It’s been a week since he stopped by.

Trash policy is absurd. You have to pay $25 a month for a trash valet to pick up your trash 4-5 days a week, sounds awesome right? BUT they pick it up around 11PM everyday, mind you they are very loud. In order for it to be picked up, the trash has to be placed in a certain garbage and recycle can you’re provided with. But no one does that, so the hallways smell absolutely ridiculous a l w a y s (BABY HAZARD #2, the smell is heart wrenching). We end up taking the trash out ourselves, but still paying for the valet because you cannot opt out.

Not family friendly community. The children’s playground has dog poop all over it, although the property has a dog park, tenants still bring their dogs to the children’s playground, specifically at night. The walls are pretty thin, and you can hear your neighbors pretty well. We live on the first floor, our top floor neighbors have a huge dog. You can hear the dog being a dog at all times of day and night. We love dogs, so we try to keep our peace. But the complex has no weight restrictions on animals and that’s ridiculous. (BABY WARNING #3 you can hear the neighbors well, your baby has a good chance of waking up). No stroller parking area, you are required to bring in a dirty stroller into your home. We’ve left our stroller by our front door on some occasions (we usually put it in our car, but sometimes my fiancé drives to the office and leaves it for me). At one point, the stroller was stolen. As it turned out, it was taken by the leasing office assistant Rosetta. We had to call the police and file a theft report, because we were given zero notification from the leasing office that they took our stroller due to a “fire hazard”. Which doesn’t make any sense because people pile their trash in the hallways at all times. Speaking of Rosetta, avoid her at all costs, she is very unprofessional and lacks basic manners and communication skills. We have a recording of her rude mannerisms, if corporate ever comes across this...

Part 2.

(BABY HAZARD #4) Mold. If you have any thyroid issues, or Hashimotos, DO NOT MOVE IN HERE. The construction was so rushed (we moved in on the day the construction was finished) and cheaply funded, that there’s still white paint on the floors. That should give you an idea on how much room for error there is for mold to emerge. I find mold everywhere, I have to clean the bathroom three times a week, includes scrubbing the walls of the bath. I’m constantly disinfecting the kitchen and bedrooms. We just lost a $1.5k mattress with amazing filtration to the mold. All my plants have come to develop mold. We cannot wait until our lease ends because it has become a health hazard for our whole family. We’ve ordered a mold test kit that came back positive for multiple strains, one of the tests was performed on the vents... Maintenance doesn’t change the air filters so we’ve purchased a 12 pack ourselves, and we have to change the filter about every three weeks because it gets so filthy.

The apartment complex isn’t energy efficient, doesn’t have any energy saving certifications. We pay on average of $100 for electricity every month. The most we have paid was during the winter, $180. The townhomes in the surrounding area with square footage much larger than ours pay an average of $80 for more occupants in a HOUSE. We also pay about $60-$100 in water and sewage every month. Mind you, we are two people and a baby, so keep this in mind if you’re considering moving here.

The parking situation has become awful, especially after 5PM. You’d have to park a few blocks from your own building.

In terms of amenities, it is decent. The pool and gym are pretty tiny, but the gym has all necessary equipment and a yoga room. Although the pool is very small, they have two nice cabanas. The amount of kids during the summer in such a small pool won’t let you get your swim in.

Also, we found a two year old boy in pajamas at 11PM on a Friday night wandering the parking lot of the apartment complex freezing cold. We called the police and couldn’t locate the mother for 2.5 hours. That may give you an idea of the neighborhood contingent.

Overall, for the price range Bainbridge is asking for, you are much better off finding something bigger, like a townhouse, in the same area. It doesn’t make sense to pay so much in rent to be dealing with the smell of dog urine every time you’re leaving or entering your...

My husband and I have lived here going on 11 months now. When we first moved in the process was very simple and quick. John helped us, everything was done online and we had signed a lease within 2 days! This was a great for us because we lived an hour away so it made the process enjoyable! Move in day was great, they had our fobs and keys there waiting for us and we went right to our BRAND NEW apartment. I was so amazed on how flawless everything was and how there were no major problems in the apartment. Which I was afraid of because even with NEW subdivisions there still can be a lot of problems. As time went on we did have a few minor problems in our apartment (light bulbs out and air filter need to be changed) but ED was right on it. You put in a request and he was there the same day. The grounds are always kept up on. Every Monday, landscapers come and cut the grass. During the winter they have contractors come out and shovel the snow and put salt down. The only complaint that I do have about the grounds is that people let their dogs in the playground and they use the bathroom in there and don’t pick it up. That is really frustrating because there is a separate dog park for that but I called and mentioned this to Rosie and there has been signs put up in the playground saying “No Dogs allowed” and also an email was sent out to everyone stating that it is not allowed.

As for the leasing staff. Rosie is AMAZING!!! She is very professional and is willing to listen and fix any problem or suggestion that you may have. I always know that when I call her for anything that it will get resolved in a timely manner...