Apartment Review for Colecroft Station Condominiums - Alexandria, VA

Pros: Close to Metro Cons: Condo Association Board members, thin walls, bad neighborhood, poor amenities, not pet friendly. I have lived hear for the past year and the experience has been bad to the point of being comical. Harassment by the Association board members is non-stop. First of all let me say that my wife and I are great tenants we have never had any kind of party, we abide by all the rules, we are extremely quite, and we pretty much keep to ourselves. We have also lived in many condos and this is without a doubt the worst I've seen. Upon moving in we were greeted by a property manager who was angry that we had moved a couple boxes the night before apparently if you want to move anything into or out of the building that is bigger than grocery bags you are supposed reserve the elevator and pay a deposit. The harassment continues throughout the day by various people who always felt the need to stop and tell us they are on the association board and then point out some minute infraction. The day concluded with a knock on the door by management asking if we were going to clean up the mess we made in the hall way that leads directly to the door. I politely said of coarse and then having every intention of cleaning any debris that was tracked in by our move went into the hall way and looked down at completely spotless carpet, there was literally not a spec to be seen. This theme continues throughout our time hear by various board members asking things like what is in our trash that we through down the shoot, did you get permission to purchase and move that single small piece of furniture. The property manager is at least polite and just doing her job; the board members on the other hand are not polite and go far beyond any authority they may have. Sometimes I think they wait around in the halls for this purpose. Everyone in the building that you see seams to be on the board and they are all clinically insane. Beyond the relentless harassment another item to note is that the walls between the apartments and the hallways are actually paper thin, they seem to be made of tin and not drywall. The result is that you can hear every conversation and every TV and worst of all everyone else can hear every detail of your conversations. The building is close to the metro but surrounded by public housing and not a safe place at night, especially for single women. In the span of a year there were several muggings, several thefts and a homicide, all just steps from the front door. There are no amenities worth mentioning, no concierge, and all packages just get dumped by the mail boxes were anyone could grab one. The rules are and endless and constantly being added to. If you have a pet you will face additional harassment and rules. There is a very small section of grass right along a path frequented by unsavory characters where your dog is allowed; that’s it, your dog is banned from the rest of the property, don’t get excited about the courtyard. It can all be tolerated for a year or so if you are renting but if you are considering a purchase it would need to be about half the cost of comparables to be worthwhile; even then you are giving up a lot of freedom and quality of life. It really takes a special type of person to live hear.