Dwell DeKalb Realty LLC - DeKalb, Illinois

John P.

When I moved into their apartments off of Barberry Court the apartment was disgusting. The cabinets were covered in grease, the shower was filthy, the blinds were coated in grime, the oven had burnt food in it, etc. My roommate and I cleaned twice a week and before moving out respectfully deep cleaned (scrubbing baseboards, cabinets, removing windows to clean both sides, steam cleaned the carpet, etc) in order to leave the apartment in better condition for the next renters. We never were late on any rent payments. When we did our check out appointment we were told that the apartment was in great condition and that there were no issues. Dwell however proceeded to steal almost all of our deposit (using it for regular maintenance such as burnt out light bulbs which we had already replaced with our own money before we left and that should be property owners responsibility regardless). We were charged for a water bill that the city of Dekalb gave to them but they never gave to us (charged extra for a late fee and service). Attached are photos to prove that this is not just a over the top rant. The lease forces renters to pay lawyer fees for the company so it is impossible to take them to court without losing money. At best this company is a group of scam artists.

Lex ?.

Perfect for college housing! They got a variety of options all within walking distance from Niu. Full disclosure, apartment was not cleaned properly before I moved. I took many pictures as proof for when they inevitably try to keep my security deposit, as every complex I've ever heard of does (at least in IL).

Jim is a great gut, easy to talk to. He's also very informative: knows lots of details about the units at the top of his head. Tyler is very efficient as the maintenance role and super friendly. The office is across the street from campus, which is very convenient for when I have any inquiries.

Overall, best apartments I've lived in! Though maybe I set the bar low; I grew up in the Schaumburg area where prices are double what you pay here, and people are overall quite rude and sick of their jobs. Did i mention the central AC, immediate hot water, and friendly neighbors? 🙂

Gavin R.

I have rented at Lucinda Oaks for a couple of years now and have had no complaints. The convenient location to campus, the friendly staff and their quickness to respond to service requests make this a great place to live for a college student/first time renter like myself! It is an older building so it is expected that things will sometimes break, but maintenance is always on top of things and the updates the landlord has made to the building are great for the price of living. I like that I can pay my rent online as well as make maintenance requests. It's super convenient and love that I can walk to all of my classes.

Ashutosh S.

It is really hard to get hold of the property manager. He will never answer the calls. There are so many clauses in the lease agreement that you will definitely lose a whole lot of money from your security deposit in the move out cost (No matter what condition you return the apartment in). They charge you for carpet cleaning fee not only for the bedrooms and living room but also for kitchen and bathrooms too lol where there is no carpet.
The property manager is not helpful at all to accommodate your requests. He will blame it on the landlord saying that he is pretty sure that landlord would never accept any of it.
They would do a full year lease only and would not allow you to break the lease without paying the rest of the rent for the year. So once you sign the lease, you have to pay for full year. There is no way to sublease the apartment to a approved person or break the lease.
The apartments are okay and are given in good condition but do not expect any customer service.

melody S.

Even under new managment, I still had a horrid experience living here. Lack luster property manager who doesn't return calls. The property maintenance men enter your apartment unannounced. I had a broken AC unit for 3 months during mid summer before they finally decided that they needed to replace most of the units in the building. The building's windows are so old that a tornado comes through the apartment whenever there's strong wind, even after using window sealant and a window cover. I had an internship which requires me to stay in the area a month longer than my lease agreed to, but they wouldn't offer me a lease extension after having been a paying tenant here for 2 years. Minimal paid parking and no parking options for guests nearby. I've had numerous maintenance issues including a broken garbage disposal and busted walls due to incompetent repair men. Fair warning, this place is made out to be a lot nicer than it is.

Annie A.

UPDATE: Lots of sneaky extra charges at move-out. It's not worth it to clean or repair anything when you go. They'll charge you for a professional cleaning even if you scrub every inch yourself, and will charge you for basic overhead they should cover, like replacing the fire extinguishers, etc. Unless you're willing to do battle for a long time, don't expect any security deposit returned. OLD REVIEW: I've been at a Dwell DeKalb property for a couple of years now. Some staff are friendlier or more professional than others, but overall they do pretty well. I haven't had any emergency repairs needed. They fixed the washer/dryer after a few days of being reported broken - so not right away, but not a million years. It would be helpful if they'd tell us in the building once it's ready to go. I haven't moved out yet, but no sneaky extra charges along the way, and they've always called ahead if they need access to anything. It's been a pretty good experience.

Shannon N.

I have never experienced problems living in Dwell apartments until this year. Allison was always so friendly and pleasant to speak with and then idk why but she left the company and they hired a woman named Kerry. Kerry is the most difficult person to communicate with and always says "I don't know" to any question I ask. It's like pulling teeth trying to get answers from her about anything. She is also very rude and short in regards to any topic of conversation. For example, I was locked out of the online portal which is where charges & payments are recorded as well where tenants pay bills online. I called the office and addressed that my account was deactivated and I just called to see if there was any outstanding balance on the account. I also had questions as to when/where the security deposit was going to be mailed (since our lease had ended 3 weeks ago) and she literally said
"I don't know" or "I have no idea" to everything. I asked if it was possible to look it up and she said she'll get back to me. I had called with questions multiple times this summer and she always said that she will have someone call me back and no one ever did so this time I asked when exactly I could expect to get a call back because I had already been told 3 times now that someone would call me back and no one ever did. Also in regards to the security deposit, Kerry told me that our place needed to be repainted and the carpets needed to be cleaned and that both charges were going to be taken out of our deposit. I told her that my grandfather is a landlord and that repainting and carpet cleaning has to be done every time a resident moves out so that can not be taken out of our deposit! Besides her rudeness and inability to give me any information, my rental also had quite a few maintenance problems. Our downstairs bathroom flooded twice due to the washer upstairs somehow unloading all its water directly through the ceiling. (It was literally pouring water through the light socket) (Message me for the video) My roommates and I had put in AT LEAST 5 work orders for our dish washer to be fixed and every single time someone came to "fix" it, they just started the cycle and once they saw that the cycle had started they just left without seeing through that the cycle was not running properly and our dishes were always left dirty.

Overall, every apartment has their maintenance issues but to hire someone who is a main contact for all calls to their office as rude and unpleasant as Kerry is is just unacceptable. She is literally useless at her job and the magnitude of attitude in her voice when she talks to tenants is unbelievable. I would not recommend renting with Dwell to anyone who doesn't want to pull teeth every time they call the office to get a simple question answered.

Adam V. B.

I had nothing but issues with my 2 years living in Dwell managed apartments. We had maintenance issues - furnace broke in the middle of the night, and wasn't fixed until late the next day when the temp inside was 45°. Floorboards were loose and breaking on or stairs for weeks. Ceiling tiles in the closet we're broken and never replaced. We had shots fired in our parking lot (I wish I was kidding). Management came into our apartment to show it to potential renters with no warning. Water bills are split per units in the apartment and not metered per apartment without warning in the lease agreement. And as a nice parting gift, most of our security deposit was kept for them to do "repairs" when we left the apartment in better shape that when we moved in.
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