The Wilde Raleigh Apartments, raleigh-nc

DO NOT LIVE HERE. THIS WAS GENUINELY ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES I HAVE EVER MADE. I signed a 12-month lease (August 15 to July 31) and paid extra for a “premium room.” What I got was an absolute dump. The room they showed us before signing looked NOTHING like the room we actually received. It felt like a bait and switch. When we moved in: * The bed was stained. * There was mold and dirt everywhere. * The AC didn’t work. * Maintenance took over a month to do anything about it, despite repeated complaints. * There was literally a dead animal rotting outside our porch, smelling horrible. The “luxury” pool? Closed for basically the entire year except for what felt like a week. They advertise amenities that you barely get to use. Maintenance and management have been some of the most frustrating people I’ve ever dealt with. They don’t seem to care until it affects their ability to move the next tenant in. For weeks, issues got ignored. But suddenly, when new residents are about to arrive, they’re in and out of my apartment nonstop trying to make everything look presentable. It’s currently 5:30 PM, I just got off work, and there are people in my apartment once again doing last-minute repairs and rushing around because new tenants are coming tomorrow. Where was this urgency when we were living here and asking for help? And now, after all of this, I’m being threatened with a cleaning charge because the common area isn’t spotless. This is after spending an entire year dealing with stained furniture, bugs, dirt, cobwebs, maintenance delays, and conditions that never should have existed in a “premium” apartment in the first place. The pictures speak for themselves: * Cobwebs everywhere. * Dead bugs and roaches. * Filthy floors. * A disgusting HVAC closet. * Stains and grime throughout the apartment. * A dead animal left to rot outside. I paid premium prices for what felt like neglected student housing. If you value your money, your time, your sanity, or basic cleanliness, stay far away from this place. 0/10. Would not renew. Would not recommend. I’d rather sleep in my car than sign another lease here.

I would not recommend living here. It’s cheap, but you get what you pay for. If you look at the five star reviews you’ll notice almost none of them are from people who have actually lived here. Apartments look nothing like the showroom, they are cheap, old, and constantly falling apart. The showers are impossible to clean due to the fake tile, you will have cockroaches, you will have black mold, there is little to no ventilation in the bathrooms, and the ac will frequently break. While I was here I was falsely charged on 4 occasions. I experienced persistent headaches during my stay here which I found out later was due to a carpet of black mold in the ac unit room which maintenance had ignored. Parking enforcement exists only to line the pockets of local tow companies, and they will boot your car any chance they get (if this was an issue of parking space they would tow not trap your car in the space for longer). When moving out, they also went against the lease they wrote, and charged nearly double for broken furniture than what they dictated initially. The pool was open for at most a couple weeks over the past 3 years. Its slightly more but there are much better apartment complexes right down the road such as University Suites or Campus Crossing.

I've had a wonderful experience living here and would highly recommend this community to anyone looking for a place that truly feels like home. The staff is one of the biggest reasons why. Everyone in the leasing office is friendly, approachable, and genuinely cares about the residents. One thing that really stood out to me was the sense of community they create. What impressed me most, though, was a personal experience I had with one of the leasing agents. I was having an incredibly difficult day and stopped by the office feeling overwhelmed. She noticed something was wrong and took the time to talk with me, listen, and offer words of encouragement. It wasn't part of her job, but her kindness and compassion made a real difference. Beyond that, the property is well maintained, maintenance requests are handled quickly, and the staff consistently goes above and beyond. It's rare to find a community where the team truly cares about its residents, and that's exactly what you'll find here.

I went into this tour with a ton of reservations based on Google reviews. And I walk up in there and I'm like, "Listen, your reviews are trash, what's this about?" And I didn't get any sugar-coated, salesy, smoke blown my way answers. Our tour guide, Maddie - so perfect and authentic, let us know that the transition to new management (I think that happened Feb 2025 - but go fact check that) has been tough because there were some issues in the past they've had to clean up and work to gain resident trust. I told her I understood we'd see what an upgraded apartment would look like, but I didn't want to walk in in August to a mess. She said they aren't even renting anything for August that hasn't been upgraded. Do I believe in the fall he's going to walk into some swanky apartment that looks like the model room? No, but I think having hard floors in common areas and new appliances and counter tops will at least make it cleaner than the filthy on-campus residence hall he walked into this fall. Anyway, I believe all of Maddie's reassurances and feel so happy to be leaving my kid in her care. We met the office staff and the shuttle driver. They're now my favorite people! Even if my kid ends up hating this place or his roommates, he'll just hang out in the office and it'll be the best experience! Oh, also, a resident was walking in when I was leaving and I asked her if she liked living there and she said yeah.

For reference, my lease was from August 2025-July 2026, $835/month for rent. I was really excited to live here when I initially signed the lease because I toured the model unit and was introduced to all of the amenities, so I was impressed at the value for the monthly rent cost. Unfortunately, my experience was far from what I expected. The quality of the common area and rooms were disappointing. Upon move in, the A/C was broken and it took a week for them to bring a window unit to cool the apartment which was poorly installed and let in the hot air. It was to the point where we were sleeping elsewhere and avoiding being home just to be comfortable. The carpets didn’t look like they had been cleaned, the mattress in my furnished apartment was pretty stained, the only lighting in the common space was located in the kitchen and entryway (different from the model unit I was shown), they spray painted my tub white and that paint started chipping about 5 months into me living here, we dealt with roaches/waterbugs, leaks, and the stereotypical “landlord special” when it came to some repairs. *They didn’t end up adding lighting to the common area until 3 days before the end of our lease.* Aside from pure aesthetics and comfort of the space, I was deeply disappointed to find out we wouldn’t be able to use the amenities that were advertised to us when we signed the lease. The pool was closed for maintenance/renovation when we got here, and we still haven’t had a chance to give it a try. The gym was also under renovation until this year (2026). Two of the main things that set this complex apart from others at a reasonable price were unavailable to us for a majority, if not, the whole of our stay. The most consistent amenity was the shuttle service, that I never actually used. We paid our monthly rent with the intention of having access to everything the lease offered, but received less than what was offered with no compensation at all. I wish management or leasing communicated better with the residents and offered some sort of relief in light of false/poor advertisement on their part. On one hand, you could say we’re getting what we paid for, but if I knew that this would have been my experience, I would have coughed up the extra $100-200/month for a better living experience elsewhere. Luckily, I am moving to a location that is $11 more per month than what I’m paying here and is everything The Wilde claimed to be and more. I felt like this deserved to at least get 2 stars because the staff is friendly and the location is decent, but management really dropped the ball on this one. I say this to warn people looking to move somewhere affordable and close enough to NC State’s campus, if you are okay with dealing with roaches, constant maintenance requests, and lack of amenities, go for it! I hope the experience of future residents are far better than what mine and my roommates’ were, but I urge you to ask questions and be certain that you know what you’re getting yourself into!!