I lives in a basement apartment which was great because it was quiet and cost about $100 leas than the other apartments. I loved everything about the layout and the location, but after a year and a half I could no longer brave the bugs. Large ground beetles, spiders, carpet bugs, earwigs, moths that ate my clothes, Japanese beetles.... I could go on.
An apartment in the building had a roach infestation (or maybe it was the trash room in the basement down the hall from me) and I'd find
...stragglers no matter how clean I was. I had to hire my own exterminator since theirs rarely came by for routine visits and I never received any feedback. I called the office about a roach and their exterminator didn't come for 2 weeks and clearly isn't proactive about fixing the situation. Since I'm a good and clean tenant (who kept photo evidence to show management and the health department) they agreed to let me terminate my lease without penalty but not soon enough. I had to quit my job so I can go live with my grandparents while I figure out where to live next.
I don't even want to get into the time my kitchen flooded with toilet water when the septic backfired, or when I got home from work during a stom and the drain outside my apartment was caked with freshly cut grass and almost caused my living room to flood.
I don't believe that the Alvern Gardens staff is at fault. I blame prudential and will not be renting from them again in the future. The staff at Alvern Gardens is very nice and attentive, but I also know they are overworked, under paid, under staffed, and under funded. Maybe if they had the staff and the money they needed for a property of this size they could give the place the attention it needs.
Honestly, unless you're absolutely desperate, I'd stay away. The upstairs apartments may not have as many pest or flooding issues, but I know they're really noisy and the ceilings cave in.
Max of 3.