Aura At Midtown

Okay, so I signed a least and never ended up living here and this is why… I’ve debated writing this, but I feel like people deserve to know what they’re in for with this complex.
I signed in April for a lease July. I loved the model and the area looked well kept and clean. I came back in July excited to move in, provided a check for over 600 dollars before I was given my keys and before I had seen the apartment, and was extremely disappointed to find that my unit looked nothing like the model apartment I was shown once I walked through my front door. There was no knockout window in the kitchen, making the space feel way more enclosed, there was a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling with no fixture, the apartment hadn’t been cleaned, there were dead bugs on the floor in the kitchen and the living room, the walls were uneven from many rounds of bad scaffolding, the wood on the windows were rotting, and the refrigerator had rust all along the inside and dents all along the outside.
I later figured out I was given the wrong layout for my apartment, but since the management company had switched between the time I signed my lease and the time I got my keys, they told me they didn’t KNOW what they had given me. I was told that they HADN’T SEEN the inside all of the apartments and the previous mangement hadn’t left an accurate map of the apartments interiors and it was always a surprise as to what they were going to find when they walked in somewhere. My question is why on earth you would rent an apartment to someone based on a model unit when you don’t even know if that’s the layout you’re renting out.
The one thing positive thing I can say is that the new manager Destiny was very understanding and kind and gave almost all of my money back to me. I had to find a new place to live within a week because I couldn’t be promised the next model available would be any better or different than the one I was given. I would avoid this place or MAKE SURE you ask to see your actual apartment before putting down a deposit.

Sadly my apartment complex was recently sold and the new management is horrible. During the first week the pool went green and was unusable for three days, grrrr. Now the laundry room in the yellow building has had a broken washing machine for two weeks! My partner and I have had numerous discussions with the leasing consultant who says she can’t do anything. These are card machines and owned by another company. How come this was never an issue before? The machine looks like it overflowed and for two weeks nobody has mopped the floor and it smells! The leasing consultant stated they cannot mop as it is proof that machine is broken. What the heck, isn’t the proof in the fact that, I don’t know, the machine is broken! The maintenance man, who you never see but we always saw Jeff, can’t even change the trash, my partner took it to the dumpster! We pay our rent on time, we are not noisy, we keep our apartment very clean all we want in return is the few amenities that are offered to be in working condition. Perhaps this is too tall of an order for this new management company and owners.

I’ve lived in four different states and have dealt with many different management companies running apartments in diverse neighborhoods and not one has provided me with the assistance that Devon has. I moved into my apartment sight unseen because I needed something quick and was coming from out of state. I needed a great deal of hand holding to say the least but Devon was honest about everything that I would see once I arrive, she even sent me photos once the previous tenants moved out.
My experience the past five months at Aura have not been 100% but I’m giving them 5 stars because no apartment complex is perfect. I live in apartments because I don’t want to fix things when they break, and they will break. I feel like a lot of people’s complaints come because they don’t understand «Apartments Living» There is a certain level of patience required when living in such close quarters, people are not always going to get along or have the same level of pride in their homes — we must adjust. I hate seeing when people don’t pick up their dog’s mess too but all I can do is make sure the I do my duty and set a good example.
I work in customer service and I understand how difficult (impossible) it is to keep everyone happy all of the time and for that I applaud Devon and the rest of the «Midtown» team.

I’m so excited to move into Aura. The place has this great 30 something feel with a great community. The retro modern look of the apts are by far the best in thr area. You can look other places but you’ll come back to Aura at midtown.

I don’t know why this place has bad reviews. Its an old apartment complex of course its gonna have a few minor issues, its old. I moved in here for the very fact its old, its got character and charm. Everything that has ever broken or needed to be fixed has been, the very day I ask for it to be. If you want a shiny brand new apt move into a shiny brand new apartment.
The floor plans are a great deal for the price. Utilities are low. And I have never had a problem washing my clothes. You knew when you moved in it had laundry rooms, sometimes you gotta wait or learn to do your laundry at less busy times. Not hard at all.
Devon in the office is awesome and she’s a wonderful property manager. You people try running a apartment office and listen to people bitch at you all day long. Its a tough job and she is doing it very well. Thank you Devon;)
I love living here and I will continue to do so for sometime.

Where do I start? I am just starting out the second year of my lease, and highly regretting having renewed it in the first place.
I originally moved in December 2011, the unit I was told I was getting and shown, was not the unit I ended up with and when I received my keys I opened the door to an apartment that had not been cleaned after the last tenant. The previous tenant had left trash, belongings, filth and even moldy food in the fridge. Honestly, at that point I should have asked that they shredded my lease and looked elsewhere. They took three days to clean the apartment that they had received a month’s notice I would be moving in to, and about three weeks of constant phone calls for basic maintenance requests — leaky faucets, a non-​functional oven, screwed up carpet, broken windows with no screens, non-​functioning heat, eventually non-​functioning cooling, and a refrigerator that wouldn’t close tightly. Many of those items to this day (January 2014) have not been addressed, and I am still constantly requesting maintenance work that never seems to get taken care of.
There have been several (four I think?) management company changes in the year that I have lived here, the most recent to Alliance Residential, which I thought would mean positive change as they are such a large company and perhaps had better financial backing and organization than the last few companies the property owner used. Was I ever wrong! This newest management change has been by far the worst; I at least felt like the group immediately previous to them actually cared about the tenants and was reachable. Alliance has simply replaced warm bodies in the office and on the maintenance staff, and the staff really treats this like their job — not our home. Maintenance requests require angry emails in order to be addressed, sometimes my rent payment goes through their website and sometimes it doesn’t — you can be sure though that I’ll get hit with the late fees if it’s not in by the first, the property is covered in animal feces from lazy dog owners and trash from the homeless people that seem to have free reign over the property, dogs running off leash and defecating on doorsteps, urinating all over the walkways with no one to clean it up, extraordinarily questionable neighbors who «take in homeless boys off the street’, and are admittedly unemployed, drunk neighbors stumbling around the property on a regular basis (after coming home at 10am with their daily case of Milwaukee’s Best), there is no security to speak of– even when complaints are made you are advised to make repeated police reports versus the management actually looking into constant issues, neighbors leave cat food everywhere to feed the feral cats that roam the neighborhood and are quickly multiplying because of this, and you’ll be lucky to be able to use one of 2 washers and dryers for 25 units (and the homeless that come bathe in the sinks and use the units themselves). The units are hastily remodeled, so looking at them is nice, but living in them is another story. At least one of the pools has not been properly cleaned since Alliance took over in July. There has been sediment in there since monsoon season. Even the maintenance staff has gone as far as to say that the owner just doesn’t want to put the money into his own property. Sadly, that’s obvious.
Overall, I would highly recommend against moving into this property. I only signed my lease again, as I intend to move out of state in December 2014 so the thought of moving into a new address for only a year seemed too much. Again, regretting that decision. If you rely on the website as a guide, you may think you are moving into a trendy central Phoenix property with hip, clean neighbors and maybe getting a community of people you are excited to live near or even become friends with. The reality is, this is quickly approaching Section 8 territory and the management doesn’t necessarily care to change any of that. What you are actually getting are many filthy, loud neighbors who care even less about where they live than the property managers do.

Just moved out on Sunday November 10^th.