My husband and I rented a one bedroom apartment here during our engagement and our first year of marriage. We truly enjoyed our time here and wanted to share our thoughts for anyone considering renting with Fresh Meadows complex.
Pros:
1) The apartment space (either in the large apartment building or the 3 floor walkup apartments) are quite large and modern with many closets and cabinets and a beautiful view of the park. Great school district and quiet neighborhood. Walking distance by the little shopping area,some restauarants, and the AMC movie theater.
2) This is a rent controlled apartment and the rent was very reasonable. We broke our 2 year lease and we were told we were responsible for the remaining months of the lease until it was re-rented. We heavily advertised on Facebook and found a renter within 2 weeks. Landlord were able to take part of our security deposit to pay for the days not-rented and refunded us the remaining amounts.
3) Electric bill was cheap. Roughly about $40 a month and $100 when we had our AC blasted all day long. They have solar panels all over the complex. Maintenance crew were quick to come to fix anything in the apartment.
4) Shout out to Mike, our mailman. He knows everyone by name in the large 13 floor apartment building.
Cons:
1) I was playing Russian Laundry Roulette every time I had to do laundry, which was super annoying. Even though they upgraded the washing machines when we first moved in, half the washing machines did not work. I would fill up those machines with my scented laundry beads, detergent and softener...only to find out that they did not work. Let's just say I've wasted a lot of laundry supplies and money over the 1.5 years I was living there. Despite calling maintenance, I had the same problem every week and was never refunded the amount. If you're lucky and find someone working in there, they'll override the machine for you.
2) That lady in the management office honestly scares the hell out of me. Not very friendly and pretty rude. If you ever get locked out after-hours, Walk to the luxury apartment building and the doorman has the master key to all apartments.
3) Though they didn't have alternative side parking and there were some limited free parking for residences only in the front, which was great. Parking can be quite a nightmare, especially after covid when everyone was home. I started parking near the movie theater or by chase bank on Horace Harding but you had to move your car at 8am.
4) You have to go through the broker in order to rent an apartment here. There was no going around this. Jenny, the broker, is amazing and I loved working with her. However, on top of paying 1 month of security, we had to pay 10% of our annual rent as a broker fee.
Hope these tips help in your apartment searching. read more
