First Site Apartments, normal-il

I had an extremely negative experience renting through First Site and would strongly discourage others from leasing with them. During my time living there, staff entered my apartment multiple times without proper notice. One time they entered while I was asleep, and another time they showed up after operating hours. I felt so unsafe and uncomfortable that I ended up purchasing a camera just so I would know when people were entering my apartment. The last time they entered, they only gave me 15 minutes’ notice, which does not comply with the city ordinance requiring 12 hours’ notice. When I moved in, the apartment was also not properly cleaned, despite being told it had been professionally cleaned before my arrival. Then during move-out, I was charged for drywall holes that were already there from previous tenants. I was also charged for carpet cleaning and general cleaning fees, even though I had a rug covering most of the carpet in my room the entire time I lived there. Before moving out, I spent hours deep cleaning the apartment exactly according to their checklist — including the oven, bathroom, cabinets, walls, floors, furniture, countertops, windows, and more — yet I was still charged $315 in cleaning fees alone. Altogether, they charged me $580, took my entire $400 security deposit, and are now demanding an additional $180. I am currently disputing these charges because I do not believe they are justified, but I will most likely still end up having to pay them. This was by far the worst renting experience I have ever had. I did not feel safe living there, and it felt like the company cared more about finding ways to charge tenants than actually providing a good living experience. In my opinion, the only reason their Google rating remains high is because tenants are constantly pressured to leave positive reviews when entering the building. If you are deciding between First Site apartments and dorm living, I would strongly recommend the dorms. It was a far safer, easier, and overall more pleasant experience than renting from this company.

I lived at the 1010 lofts and had the best college experience i could ever ask for. It’s an amazing apartment complex with all the amenities tons of space great price too. First site always fixed thing that broke in a timely manner and I never felt unsafe living here. Close to campus as well so only a 5 min walk to my class everyday and the gym. First site did a great job at making my college experience easy and stress free!

My experience was kind of mixed. When I first came in, I spoke with Mallory at the front desk, and she came across pretty rude. She seemed annoyed when I asked questions and wasn’t very welcoming, which honestly made a bad first impression. That being said, Brayden, the leasing agent, completely turned things around. He was super friendly, respectful, and took the time to answer all of our questions. He gave us a great tour and made the experience feel much more comfortable. I think there’s definitely a disconnect in customer service depending on who you interact with, but Brayden was great and I’d recommend working with him.

My fiancé moves in and is welcomed with 2 guys putting in vinyl flooring on the day we were supposed to move in. I start calling first site and they had no idea people were putting in flooring that day, and was told that they did it cause there was some recent flooding that occurred over the weekend. Then I call there maintenance team, then they said that it was a “possibility” that it was flooding, and that there was no issues in the past with flooding incidents.I’m currently still at home with our u haul. So I drive 2 hours to see the place, reeks of fresh plaster, there are cracks in the wall, MOLD under the NEW FLOOR, the fans and windows are covered in dust, gunk and dead bugs, and one wall is leankng, while the other you can push on and it moves. Next day we talk with our leasing agent Gael, talking about a possible transfer. He says it was deemed habitable, our move in inspection only was listed with minor stains on the floor, and that to get transferred we must break the lease with a early move out agreement, and must pay 2000 dollars. The early opt out wasn’t even in the lease we signed nor the policy handbook. They broke so many Illinois laws pertaining to Tenants rights, and now we have have to wait for there attorneys to call us. We are literally college students and don’t have the time nor money to deal with this situation. I have been with Young America for the past two years at two different spots, and have not delt with ANYTHING this ridiculous. Please to anyone who is trying to go through First Site, BE AWARE they have poor communication with there maintenance team, they tried to do quick touch ups on MAJOR foundational flaws, and they are just trying to steal your money and not give you a proper home. Please anyone reading this, pray and wish us good luck on getting our money back.

A month ago, the day after I moved in and they inspected it, I submitted a ticket regarding my AC not working. They sent someone out from an HVAC company the next day who told me they sent First Site a quote for a part that needs to be replaced. 3 weeks later, with it being 85° in my apartment as it’s the summer months, I heard absolutely no update. I called 3 times and they kept saying they needed the quote to be approved. They then never followed up on my emails from 2 weeks ago about requesting a timeline of when the AC will be fixed due to it being hot inside despite using fans It’s a month later and they still have no timeline for it to be fixed.