Crystal House 1900 South Eads Street, Arlington, VA 22202

"This apartment complex is around $200 cheaper than nearby places, but don't let that discount fool you. Since moving in, I've dealt with multiple leaking ceilings, mice, and cockroach problems. As someone who keeps their unit clean and has never dealt with issues like this in other apartments, I'm quite shocked by the poor management here. Pest control for mice and cockroach is done by a specialist who is only available about 2 days a week so their response is limited. When they do come, they don't try to find the root cause of the issue (such as patching up holes or entryways) and simply just spray a few things and then leave, promising a follow-up that never happens. It’s been really shocking seeing the increase in pests over the past year. Maintenance staff are great, but I wish they would comes into a unit wearing shoe coverings. If you give them permission to enter while you are away, you can expect to come back and clean noticeable dirt on the floor from where they were walking around. Concierge has a lot of turn over and can be rude depending on who you get. Overall, if you can afford to budget an additional $100-$200 a month, I suggest you look into other apartments nearby. The lower rent cost from living here is not worth it other than proximity to the metro and Costco. Sure, you might actually get a unit that doesn't have a lot of issues, but if you get one with issues, it's just too much of a hassle to resolve."

"I'm moving out once my lease is up. Overall, the day-to-day staff that you interact with (concierge, maintenance) are perfectly nice people and get their job done. I've not had the problem of having packages stolen (don't know how that works considering packages are delivered straight to the concierge). I've not had issues with mice or bugs, like some reviewers have (my guess: if you're closer to the ground or a certain part of the building, you'll have more of those problems). The negative or annoying I've experienced: I've lived in CH both in a studio and a two bedroom with a roommate. There's way too much variability in the appliances. My oven in my tiny studio was great, but my current one will set off the smoke detector (without smoke - I presume carbon monoxide ?) If you put the oven at 400 degrees or higher. The counter space in the studios are so tiny to be almost unusable, and the one I lived in had no drawers. The HUGE problem with living here is the AC. To their credit, it's not CH's fault that Virginia has state laws that requires them switch to heating/cooling at certain times of the year, and for 1-3 weeks a year it's downright uncomfortable, especially in the Spring. Having said that, there's no incentive for anyone to be moderate in their AC use - your bill is determined by the total building energy bill divided by the number of rent paying tenants. I don't know if it was inflation or what, but I don't think this was always the case as my power bill jumped big time in the summer/fall or 2022, relative to 2021. There are good things about living here, and I'll list them. They're the reason I'm not giving it 1 star. It's close to metro. You can feasibly live car free here (I have). Restaurant row is great, and as long as you're using starry or fios (not Xfinity), you can WFH comfortably. This is a great apartment if you're just breaking into the area as young working professional. But. It's going downhill, it's probably not worth what you're paying. Whenever there's a weird technical problem, especially one that's predictable, management doesn't care to work with you. They're currently breaking in a new payment portal and they keep saying it's working or you can do this and that, when you can't. My toilet broke during this, and I couldn't submit a maintenance request. And I told them for a week beforehand that nothing is working and they didn't really care to work with me or instead patronize me with false information. In short, Amazon bought and donated to the county some committed affordable housing to offset their effect on the market in the neighborhood. That's great! But the recent property management transition basically implies that they don't care about the wellbeing of this property anymore. I've lived here 3 years and haven't been late on rent and that means nothing to them. It's as if the leasing office and management has no idea how to deal with something outside of the routine. It's infuriating. Talk to me like an adult, not a child. I obviously have the ability to pay and I understand obstacles, but I don't want to carry around a >$1000 cashier check in a neighborhood that just this week had some teenagers rob people by whole foods. To be clear, I feel safe in the neighborhood, but like DMV crime right now, it's not at a historically high rate but it's randomness can make you paranoid. So yeah, if rent was $300-500 cheaper (as it was during the pandemic when I moved in - my studio was about $1500 and now is probably around $1800), i would say you're getting what you're paying for. But between variability of appliances and pest control (not that I've had to deal with it), an increasingly apathetic management that treats tenants like children, and a building that definitely shows its age, I'm not sure if it is. You can find better quality apartments for similar (albeit more expensive) prices in the same neighborhood. CH is a couple hundred dollars/month cheaper in price but probably $1000/month cheaper in value."

"I am a resident of Crystal house of the 2000 building. I have lived here good two years and your company took over the property for the past two weeks and the customer service has dropped exponentially. My mail has been missing, misplaced, and the concierge in the front continuously disappears to smoke weed. Today I asked for my package, he slammed the door in my face and said, “I’m on break.” This break of course is after his disappearance . I still haven’t gotten my packages. Multiple residents have been complaining about him and the current management that’s been taking over the building. Additionally, I had beautiful flowers delivered to my residence and they put them in the back behind packages and they wilted. This place is disorganized, unprofessional. They told me they’d get back to me and they didn’t."

"STAY AWAY FROM THIS APARTMENT BUILDING! It's the worst building I've ever lived in my life. To begin with, they have centralized AC, and in the spring, it's super hot because they switch to cold air after a specific date, even if it's over 90 degrees outside. The same goes for the fall - it was super cold inside, and I had to use several blankets to sleep because the heat was off. The next problem is pest control. One night, I woke up, turned on the light, and saw a mouse only 2 feet from me. The building is old and has a lot of holes. Furthermore, my neighbor complained about a cockroach problem in their apartment. There's also constant construction work. I specifically rented an apartment with a balcony because I wanted to enjoy my time on the terrace. However, I never got to use the balcony because of the construction. Despite this, I still had to pay the full rent amount, and they refused to reduce it. Another issue is with the leasing office. Rhania was extremely rude and uncooperative with passive aggression towards me. When I asked to speak with her supervisor, she constantly replied, "She is not available." After I moved out, I had some important mail delivered to the old address. I called the leasing office and asked them to give me my mail, but she refused, stating that all mail issues had to be addressed with the postal office. Ironically, when I was living there for a whole year, I received mails from previous residents and constantly gave them to the front desk. When I asked Rania to connect me to the manager, I heard her usual answer: "She is not available." The only good thing about this building was Owain and Ashley! They were always helpful in this disaster. However, it was hard to talk to Ashley because somehow Rania often answered the phone. Anyway, save your nerves and money, and stay away from Crystal House."

"I've enjoyed the last 10 years living in the Crystal house building, and it's been a pleasant experience. The location is superb, offering convenient access to shopping and transportation. The building's maintenance staff has been great and we have had a nice experience working with the leasing office especially, Ashley who has been very helpful throughout our tenure. Although there have been a few minor hiccups, they've been swiftly resolved. Overall, it's been a wonderful place to call home, and I look forward to more years here."