452 W ALDINE AVE, Chicago, IL

The premises of this building are alright. They renovated the entrance area and elevators recently. But it remains an old building with issues. The staircases look really bad and the general smell in the corridors to the apartments is not pleasant. My apartment unit itself was renovated before I moved in and there is little to complain. I encountered rather large cockroaches twice but they were dead already at that point. My bathroom was full of water once because a pipe broke in one of the apartments above me but the building manager was quick to fix that. The real issue with this apartment is the noise from the hardwood floors. They squeal and squeak in such a loud manner that it's hard to have a conversation while you walk around. In fact, the floors make such noises and the insulation is so bad that I can hear every step from the couple living one floor above me. Since they apparently have to go to work early during the week, they start walking around at 4am and I regularly wake up from the noise of their steps. This becomes unbearable after some time and it's my no.1 reason for moving out again after my 12 month lease expired. It's a shame because the neighborhood is great and all other inconveniences are minor.

If you want to save yourself time and money DO NOT look to rent any apartment from REALTY & MORTGAGE CO. in Lakeview/Wrigleyville. I was deceived by the price of the studio that was a "steal". Now I know why it was a steal. They took $50 from me for nothing. It could be worst though. So I'm happy that everything is over now and I'm done with them. I wanted to take over the lease from this girl that lived in one of their properties. Studio app for around $600 seemed like the best deal there is. So, I went to REALTY & MORTGAGE office to fill in the application. I did that and they charged me $250 move-in fee before they even checked my credit plus they charged me for credit check $50??!! After a few days they called and told me that I need a co-signer (since I declared myself a student). I asked about my credit report coz I know that its perfect and the person told me that they did not considered my credit report at all, since I'm a student and I need a co-signer. Why then they accepted my application IN THE FIRST PLACE and plus took $50 for credit check that was not even considered?! Talk about rip-off. Then I asked to pay my rent in advance. They turned that offer down too. What kind of landlord does not want money in advance???? Then I realized that they took money from me and will also take money from a current tenant since she will not be able to sublet this app under these conditions. I asked for my money back. They told me that they only can refund my move-in fee and not my credit check money. Since I paid for my credit check I asked them to provide me with my credit report. The person that I talked to had already prepared answer (which means only one thing - they crossed a lot people over). She told me that they are not able to provide me with my credit report but I can call their screening company and she immediately was able to give me their phone!!!?? DECEIVING, BAD PRACTICE AND RIP-OFF. If you value your time and money you will not go to this place, even if the price is a "steal". Especially DO NOT try to take over the lease since you will have just a headache

I currently live in the property and can t get out fast enough. I like the location, I love the layout of the building, my apartment is huge, but it is falling apart. I have had fraying carpet in the entrance to my unit since November (it is now March). I called the maintenance man at 10:30 one night because the lady above me had a pipe leak and he told me there was "nothing I can do about it right now, I come tomorrow to look". By tomorrow I had a 3 inch puddle of standing water in my bathroom and bedroom. It took them 2 days to fix the leak and 4 days to get the water out of the bedroom. Let me tell you, it is no fun walking through standing water for the better half of a week. It has been over a month now and the bathroom ceiling is still falling on my when I take showers. <br><br>There are many other little things that are tough to deal with, but think you get the idea. The management company did not want to have anything to do with my complaints until it was time for my lease to renew. I kept getting talk to (name of maintenance man) for all of your problems; he is the one to fix everything . I do have to say that the live in building Engineer and his wife are very nice people; they just don t care for the building or the units as they should. Bottom line, don t live here unless you can fix everything yourself. Cheers and good luck on your search.<br>