Reston - Archstone Charter Oak Apartments (Washington: apartment complex, rentals, credit)

[blkprl]

Howdy Everyone,
I'm moving out to the Reston part of Northern Virginia for a job change. My work location will be in tyson's. I'm in the process of short listing apartments for my move. I found the Archstone Charter Oak to be preetty good in terms of the website and stuff. However I was not able to find anything more about this complex in this forum. If anyone has or is staying in this complex please let me know if i'm making a sensible decision. Any help in regard woulb be helpful.

Thanks

[ShannonMilligan]

I didn't live in the Reston one, but I did live in an Archstone in Ashburn. it was nice...the grounds were kept up, the gym was in good shape (small, but nice) and they had activities if the residents wanted to participate. We signed a year contract and broke it due to finding a home so we had to pay $2500 in addition to 2 months rent to get out of it. We had a 2 bedroom with a one car garage and all in all it was a pleasant experience. That said, i hated it due to neighbors and such being loud and I have toddlers BUT you will have that with any apartment complex.

[blkprl]

Thanks twinma. I'm in a kind of similar situtation as you. I have rented before with Archstone and have good opinions about them. I'm not able to get information on the Charter Oak apartments which is supposedly under Archstone's management. Is there anybody on this forum renting with this complex?

[SteelCityRising]

blkprl, how did you make out with Archstone Charter Oak? I just signed a lease there and will be moving in next month. I have read all of the horror stories online about Archstone communities and their lack of maintenance, unprofessional staff, insect infestations, yada, yada, yada, but to me Charter Oak seems to be a good fit for my budget and lifestyle. I will let everyone know the REAL conditions of this complex once I move in.

[akorosdc]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I have read all of the horror stories online about Archstone communities and their lack of maintenance, unprofessional staff, insect infestations, yada, yada, yada, but to me Charter Oak seems to be a good fit for my budget and lifestyle.

I lived in another Archstone complex, and in my opinion the complaints are overblown. The management can be a little irritating, but if you bug them a few times it always gets done (also, this can change complex-to-complex as some agents are better than others).

[athousandlogins]

I lived in another Archstone complex, and in my opinion the complaints are overblown

I did as well, and agree with this statement entirely. I didn't live in an Archstone property very long, but when I did it was a fine place and I had no real problems. I've lived in much, much, much more poorly-managed complexes before.

[Azmordean]

Originally Posted by juniperbleu

I lived in another Archstone complex, and in my opinion the complaints are overblown. The management can be a little irritating, but if you bug them a few times it always gets done (also, this can change complex-to-complex as some agents are better than others).

I suspected this was the case. If you go to ApartmentRatings.com, you're lead to believe there's literally no good apartments in existence. This is because, people who are satisfied don't take the time to go to ApartmentRatings.com and write up a review (the "silent majority"). Only those who are pissed off do . Then there's also a whole host of people who have unrealistic expectations, and expect apartment living to be like having a detached SFH. They also are apt to go online and complain.

[SteelCityRising]

Now that I've been living here for a week in Charter Oak I thought I'd provide you all with a review in case anyone else was interested in this Archstone property. Overall I'm quite pleased, but there are indeed a few "snags" that drop this complex from what may very well have been "A" quality on down to a B-.

THE GOOD:

Location: I honestly can't think of a better part of Reston in which to reside. I can (and have) walked out my door and walked to Reston Town Center, Lake Anne, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, Harris Teeter, and various other stores and restaurants. I live a short walk from a couple of public pools, tennis courts, and a softball field, as well as the Reston YMCA. I feel like I'm playing a game of "*******" trying to cross the interminably congested Reston Parkway at rush-hour, but otherwise it's a VERY walkable area (much better than I had given it credit for beforehand). I regularly go running along tree-lined streets, and I'm hoping to scope out one of two nearby churches next Sunday to begin to worship there. I can relax on my rear patio overlooking a private country club or get all dressed up and head over to the town center on a Friday night to see a movie, enjoy a festival, or knock a few drinks back with good company before walking home.

Pricing: Granted I just beat the summer "rush" on rentals so I snagged a better deal than one might be able to get now, but I'm very happy paying only $1,135/month for a 960-square foot apartment whereas I also toured many rentals that were about the same price but only had perhaps 700 square feet. You quite honestly get more bang for your buck with this complex.

Friendly Neighbors: There is a very diverse mixture of neighbors here (at least in my row of units), and most are very cordial and respectful. My next-door neighbor is a California transplant with two dogs, and he's been very reciprocal of my social advances. The SUV that parks next to me has a huge Obama bumper sticker emblazoned across its rear, so I know I'll get along just fine with them as well! I noticed an elderly couple seems to live a few units down, but I haven't met them yet.

THE BAD:

Insect Infestations: I'm sure this probably has something to do with the wooded backdrop and the fact that I'm in a ground-floor unit, but I have to be careful everwhere I step anymore. So far today I've already scooped up three HUGE spiders and have had to release them back outdoors. I've also seen several ants and flies. I keep a very clean living space, so obviously this is the fault of either less-than-clean neighbors or a by-product of the very heavy rains recently chasing some insects indoors.

Socialized Utilites: While I'm a supporter of President Obama I have been and always will be a fiscal conservative at heart, which is why I think the current system of charging for utilities totally BITES in this complex. Granted I have yet to receive my first bill, but generally the way it works here is that the total bill comes to Archstone, which deducts a 5% "fudge factor" for public spaces, deducts out any vacancies, and then delegates the rest equally amongst the units, depending upon how many occupants there are per unit. In other words I can be VERY frugal with my water, but if the folks upstairs with their kids are very wasteful, then I help to pick up the slack. This outrages me, but I should have researched that before moving in.

Noise: While I understand you'll have some sort of noise in any sort of shared living quarters the insulation here between units is, quite frankly, not up to my own personal standard. I can hear my neighbors' dog upstairs, and I can hear my neighbor next-door as he walks across his tile foyer. It doesn't leave much room for privacy. I also don't like living on a ground unit that there is such a lack of privacy. My PC is adjacent to a front-facing window, and since I'm a corner unit everyone coming into our part of the parking lot and stare right through the window and see me inside sitting at my desk. As such even on sunny days I must keep my blinds shut, and today I was extremely peeved that a group of guys who sounded as if they had helped my upstairs neighbor move some furniture in walked slowly past my window on the grass as I was sitting here on the PC. If my blinds weren't firmly shut they'd be able to see clearly anything I was doing! Did I mention there are a LOT of dogs at this complex? While I like dogs I do NOT appreciate chronic barking.

Water Drainage: As evidenced by this week's heavy rain fall I can see just why there is very little grass and mostly just dirt all around my unit; the water just collects here! There really isn't much of an easy fix for this either, as draining the water down the gentle slope to the rear of my unit would flood the golf course. While this is a very minor issue if the water fails to drain over the summer it could become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Lack of Facilities: This complex has NO amenities. There is no pool. There is no fitness room. There is no conference room. There is a small tot lot and some open space for dog walking, but that's it. I really don't mind walking over to the YMCA to work out, but a pool would have been awesome to have, as Reston's pools look to get VERY crowded VERY quickly. I'm an avid swimmer, so this is really going to depress me this summer. On the plus side I live right near the dumpsters/recycling containers and a small car washing area, so this is very convenient for me.

[sladkayagirl]

ScranBarre,

Thanks for your review of Charter Oak. I've just signed a lease there and was wondering if there are any improvements to the property. Have you had any additional problems? Sorry I didn't bother to read these reviews prior to signing the lease

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by sladkayagirl

ScranBarre,

Thanks for your review of Charter Oak. I've just signed a lease there and was wondering if there are any improvements to the property. Have you had any additional problems? Sorry I didn't bother to read these reviews prior to signing the lease

Hey there. Sorry I didn't see your reply sooner as you posted this when I was out-of-town on business. Overall I'm still pretty happy here. The online reviews frightened the heebie-jeebies out of me, but I just wrote my own generally POSITIVE one tonight (4 out of 5 stars) to help counterbalance the others---it still only has around a 24% rating though! LOL!

I remember seeing someone moving in in mid-August in the next cluster over. I wonder if that was you. I live in cluster #11645.