My boyfriend and I have been living at English Meadows for the past few years, and we have been renting a one-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor. We moved from our other apartment to this one because of a high increase in rent at the old one. We found this one to be more affordable, bigger, quieter, and nicer. We are generally pleased with our stay here, but there have definitely been some things that have not been so good.
Positives:
- Great location: close to freeway,close to shopping, short
...drive to downtown Milwaukee and surrounding areas
- Nice neighborhood: the complex is tucked back away from a main road, but the apartment area is generally quiet with lots of green space
- Outdoor pool: available in summer (We have never used it, though, so we cannot attest to its condition.)
- Heat and water included in rent
- Patio/balcony
- Walk-in pantry
Negatives:
- Older building: no central air conditioning, older furnishings, old smell, some damages
- Expensive/inconvenient on-site laundry: there is no in-unit washer/dryer, so you have to use the two washers and two dryers in the basement that are for the whole building; oftentimes, they are in use
- Inconsistent maintenance: sometimes you will receive a response right away, other times it will take weeks; it does not matter whether or not you call or use the email address for this; snow removal is often not very prompt and it is difficult to get cars out of the lots in the morning for going to work
- Inconsistent office staff: oftentimes the office will be closed during posted office hours with no explanation or indication given for a planned time of return; this seems to have gotten worse over the time we've been living here
- High increases in rent without much prior notice (though, this seems to be pretty much anywhere)
- Conjoined balcony: our neighbors have children, and they are very loud; we can hear everything that goes on next door if our sliding window is open
- Tiny kitchen: the small galley kitchen is not big enough for for than one person to be in there at one time unless you coordinate your movements very carefully; doors of fridge, oven, and dishwasher completely block movement.
Overall, we've been alright with this as one of our first apartments, but as soon as we are able to, we will be moving. In my opinion, the apartment with all included and not-included amenities is not worth the cost of rent.
