Echo Lake Village Apartments

Place is a total rip off! Has anyone actually got any of their deposit back? I received a bill after I moved out. I left the apartment immaculate. Connie plays house with this complex. Totally unprofessional. Stay far away!!! Hallways always stink like rotting garbage.

DO NOT RENT HERE IF YOU HAVE A CAR! I lived in a new studio in 2011. I knew it was next to 99 but was basically told there would be some outside parking lot and street parking if I didn’t want to pay. There was not. Most of the parking lot belongs to the James Alan salon and they will tow immediately. My disabled friend parked her car in an area that was confusing and was towed within 15 minutes of coming to pick me up. She was confused and did not use her permit which would have prevented the $ 150 fee I had to pay to get her car out of the towing company lot later that day. More than once I found notes from someone named Zachary Harrison who worked at the salon on the floor of the garage (near the garbage bins) requesting a tow. It’s horrible. Also, lots of marijuana and smoke smells in the buildings. I had no issue with management and the pool was nice but usually filled with rowdy kids. I want to give it 2 stars but the memory of the parking issues won’t let me. Perhaps if someone only used the transit system the parking hell of Echo Lake would be okay. The James Alan Salon people are horrible.

Connie, the apartment director, is the most helpful person there. She will listen to your concerns, good person overall. I was very frustrated with the apartment situation, but Connie helped me resolve the issue. Thank you.

As a resident here for the past 3 years, I’ve seen a bit of change in clientelle. In my opinion, it’s an improvement. …but with that change has been a bump up in rent with really little to show for it. What were once common community events are no longer taking place.
Parking outside the buildings, if you want to avoid the $ 75 parking spot fee, is attrocious. The City of Shoreline recently forbade parking along N 192^nd as residents parked there as overflow. …so either fight with those residents playing musical cars or pay the $ 75.
Inspections are now becoming increasingly routine. A bit invasive, if you ask me. In a recent announcement, the property manager cited an RCW that pertained to «common areas» to justify entering an apartment. I left them a note stating that they were not permitted to enter my unit without me being present. It seems they entered anyways in spite of my protest. Needless to say,
The apartments overall, while appearing nice, were cheaply constructed: press board counters, lenoleum floors, leaky shower, noisy fridge, and poor insulation between floors. My bathroom runs non-​stop as the maintenance worker thought I was stupid and didn’t know how to set a timer. Unfortunately for him, the fan’s timer is broke and it needs to be replaced. According to him, it’s a part the complex doesn’t carry. So… I manually turn the fan off and on. It stays on during the summer to allow air to cycle through the apartment. My apartment was designed in such a way where the air becomes stagnant and stuffy during the summer. Since there is no air flow through the place without a fan or two.
The one good thing is the close proximity to transit, the Y and Fred Meyer.

Lived here recently and although the amenities are great and the apartments are luxury style with nice appliances and everything… I would not live here again unless they changed a lot of things. First problem with this place is the LACK of parking. This is in no way an understatement either. If you want, you can pay $ 75 per vehicle to park in the parking garage, PER MONTH. Or you can risk trying to find a parking spot. However, about ¹⁄₃ of the parking lot is designated for the hair salon that is in the bottom of the building next to Highway 99. The salon owner there watches the camera to make sure that residents don’t park in their spots. There is never anyone there and they will tow you immediately! My girlfriend and I lived here for a year and on our 1^st month of living there we were both towed at the same time when we parked in two of their sports to move our stuff in. The most difficult place to move into period. They don’t have a service elevator, just slim stairs from the parking garage, and a small elevator in the lobby. Riddle me this, how do you fit a king sized bed (let alone a Queen sized bed) into a small elevator? Impossible! Had to struggle it up 4 flights of stairs with my gf and I.
Terrible experience! Very loud, very expensive, and no where to park. The three worst things you could wish for in finding a new apartment.
The only reason I have given 2 stars is because the apartments are very nice! I also really liked the pool, and how beautiful the property was by the lake. Other than that, I would not want to live here ever again. I totally would sacrifice on the quality of the apartment in order to have better parking and less noise. That would never happen here though. The property is WAY too small.
THE WORST EXPERIENCE.

If I could give negative stars, I would. The worst place to live with horrible management. I would strongly advise anyone considering moving there to stay away.

Beware! This place is crazy bad!!!
On the answering machine, the outgoing message states that they offer «brand new» apartments. The apartments are NOT new. People have been renting them for some time., and you won’t find a «new» one in the complex. This is your first warning. A blatant lie, right out of the gate.
That is just the beginning of the ruse that is Echo Lake «Village». BTW It’s not a «village».by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a typical complex and it’s nothing special nor unique.
The parking is ridiculous. Almost all the «free» spots are full; even in the middle of the day. When you come home after work, there are rarely any available. Good luck having some guests come to visit. There is no street parking unless one wants to walk a considerable distance. It’s especially nice on a dark sideways-​rain winter night. «Welcome home!»
Oh. One can buy a parking space. Because of tight spaces and beaucoup pillars, it will be a challenge to squeeze into one. You will be blocked-​in if the others don’t park correctly. (They don’t.) The parking spots were $ 50.00…then jacked-​up to $ 70.00…now, $ 75.00. They can raise prices whenever they choose… and that is often.
The ads say dogs are welcome. After you agree to the lease… they have the right to review it. At that point, you are informed that there is a $ 400.00 deposit for your dog. Surprise!
The utilities for which you will be responsible are not divulged until you get the novella of a lease form. Then, you find that you even pay for water. Unheard of!
If you decide you want to back out because of the «surprise pet fee», etc., you lose your $ 200.00 deposit. They drag out your approval, demanding all these forms, and then won’t return your deposit because more than three days have passed. If you mention that they took longer than three days to approve you, you are informed of some obscure Washington State Law that allows them to rip-​you-​off.
Also, they won’t let you use a Credit Card for your deposit. Only Money Orders or checks are accepted. (They «hammer» the checks immediately.) This is so you have no recourse to get you money back.
You are basically told «Too Bad!» and to «Go jump in the lake!». They DO offer a small dock that goes about 10 feet into the lake. However, you can’t use it to «go jump in the lake», because there is a railing blocking you. Brilliant!
When you arrive home, or leave your apartment, you will be greeted by dirty hallways that reek of Marijuana and Tobacco. It’s awful because there is no ventilation in the hallways and the fowl odors saturate the carpets and walls. Not to mention the garbage that tenants put outside their doors. Enjoy!
The lease form that you are to sign is 54 pages in length. You are basically signing-​up for a year long prison sentence. You can’t change to a better apartment that may become available until your year sentence is complete. By then, you’ll be running for the hills or dead from the off-​gassing that is evident the minute one enters any apartment.
They don’t use Low Volatile Off-​Gassing Chemical (Low VOC) Paint and the cheap carpets are giving off fumes that will probably kill your pet. The studios have miniscule balconies and the sliding glass door is the only way to get any ventilation. You can’t get cross ventilation and you don’t want to open the door to the hall to allow that stench to flow in. You’ll be trapped in a chemical soup. Good luck, if you have allergies or are chemically sensitive. Headaches are gratis!
So…do you want to go live in the fake «village»? Think it over.

We have lived here since October, and we love it! It’s a great place to live! The apartments are beautiful inside and the buildings are attractive outside. Housekeeping cleans the halls on about a weekly basis. The pool area is awesome and the community center is great, with a pool table and cozy fireplace to sit by.
The apartments have nice new appliances and hardware that is good quality (shower curtain poles, tp holders, light fixtures, and pluming). We hear very little noise from neighbors. In my last apartment, you could hear every footstep from above. I never notice that here. Also, smells from nearby apartments don’t permeate into mine, although you can smell them in the halls quite strong.
We are in a corner unit, so we have a lot of windows and light. We paid for a parking spot in the parking garage ($ 70). We also have two small (4×5) storage units just down the hall (one was free and the other $ 35/​mo).
The staff here has been exemplary. They have always been courteous, friendly, and helpful. Administration, maintenance, etc has been great.
The reasons for four stars instead of five are:
1-​that the halls in my building often smell like cigarette smoke. The whole campus is smoke free, but people break the rules. The smell never permeates my apartment though.
2-​parking for guests is difficult. The Salon next door has 22 parking spaces reserved, which leaves very few left for residents who don’t have a garage spot and even less for guests.
Overall, highly recommend! We got a 6 month lease (we had to sign up sight unseen from another state) but we plan to stay a long time!

I would never recommend living here to ANYONE! While many of the reviews insist that the hallways are dirty, I have yet to notice this issue. Our hallway is moderately clean and no garbage smell as well. The worst issue for all Echo Lake apartment buildings is the thin walls! SO BAD! My boyfriend and I live above a nagging couple that constantly sends in complains about our «loud stomping» that wakes up their toddler from nap time, our muffled talking that disturbs their quiet reading hours (?), and our arguments (which I understand, but what couple living together doesn’t fight from time to time?). How ridiculous! We constantly feel like we’re walking on eggshells in our own apartment! We understand not making noise after «quiet hours» (10pm) but now we have to be completely silent all day too? What’s the point of living in an apartment you can’t even feel comfortable in? I can’t bring friends over, play the t. v too loud, talk too loud, walk heavily (are you f*cking kidding me?), have sex, cook at «unreasonable» hours, and so on. IT IS HORRIBLE! On top of that, the people above us blast techno music all day long. DO NOT MOVE HERE. One of the worst apartment renting experiences in my life. We are counting down the days until our lease is up so we can get the hell out of here and never look back.

I give this complex one star for the appliances in the apts, but besides that it’s over priced and a pain! The leasing agents are very rude and inept. I’ve even had something stolen from my apt by what I could only imagine have been a maintenance worker. The staff also managed to lose a rental payment I made from almost a yr ago, and they are billing me for it until they can find proof of payment. This is the worst leasing experience I’ve had in my life. I do not recommend moving into this complex. Also the fact that tenants have to pay for parking is rediculous also. I’d understand if this property was in downtown Seattle but its in shoreline. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS PROPERTY IF YOU DO YOU WILL BE WRITING A REVIEW LIKE THIS ONE IN 11 mths

My sisters live in this building. Unfortunately I have to frequent the Stuart building to see them. They live on different floors and each of them are dirty. Walls are dirty and the hallways smell. The parking is HORRIBLE. They have NO parking for residents so they definitely don’t have parking for guests. They’d rather make money from the Salon off parking spots them make their residents happy. The Salon is never busy, normally there aren’t any clients there yet they reserve ALL the spots and will tow you minutes after they park there. The stylists are so bored, all they do is walk around the lot and confirm license plate numbers with the clients. A joke. Pool is nice, interior of apts is nice but everything else is gross. The leasing agents are rude as well.