Cardinal Apartments, dekalb-il

During my one-year lease, the AC broke down three times and the heat failed once, a serious maintenance concern regardless of season. Before moving in, I’d strongly recommend inspecting under the toilet, as we discovered mold and mildew that had clearly been overlooked during their cleaning process. Our toilet also required constant maintenance visits due to a persistent flushing issue that was never fully resolved. The carpets contained a ludicrous amount of cleaning powder that took months of regular vacuuming to fully clear out. The shower floors were a separate issue entirely, the grout was deteriorating to the point where simply running water would release embedded dirt and buildup. This was not a cleanliness issue on our part; it was an infrastructure problem that should have been addressed before move-in. The sliding shower doors were equally neglected, packed with dirt, hair, and water buildup clearly left behind by previous tenants. It genuinely felt like we were inheriting years worth of grime from people we’d never met. The shared laundry facility is unreliable at best, with machines frequently out of service. Overall, the property feels severely outdated and poorly maintained. I’d encourage anyone considering this complex to tour thoroughly and ask detailed questions before signing

One of the slumlords of DeKalb. Pretty convenient location at Old Orchard, but you will pay for it in other ways. Mold grew in the master bedroom FIVE separate times from a dysfunctional air conditioner. Maintenance is very disorganized and took several calls to “fix” anything, which was to paint over it. No mold tests were ever administered. I was out of a bedroom several weeks at a time. I made the mistake of re-signing out of laziness, thinking the problem was finished. I was rewarded with the same issue twice. Look elsewhere. When I moved out, the window ac units had been there for two weeks in the middle of summer. Nothing got done until I called them multiple times. Extremely disorganized.

As a first time renter mason properties has been the best. Very helpfull with quick awnsers to any questions we have & very professional. Quick to accept out 4 ESA animals that we had when we first started the paperwork. Are quick to fix any problems on the mechanical side. Rent was reasonable we did have a 5 bedroom at old orchard with a 4 way split between roommates.

My roommates and I ended up staying at Old Orchard through Mason Properties for a year and our experience was honestly awful. There was a handful of things wrong with our stay at Mason Properties, but here's a couple of issues we had: 1.) They used our apartment as a tour unit, even though we did not opt in to do so. *Our apartment was toured around 10 separate times of us being there even though we didn't even opt in to use our apartment as a tour unit. We didn't mind at first but towards the end of our lease it became a bi-weekly thing (sometimes even more) where they would tour our unit and they usually gave us a 24 hour notice (or less!) *There was a day where we were given less than a 24 hour notice and we asked to cancel since none of us would be home since we all were working, they told us that since we are moving out soon we don't really have a choice to cancel the walk-in. So basically they schedule strangers to walk in to your unit even if you don't consent to it, which is incredibly uncomfortable and frustrating. We one time asked a group how much of a notice they got before their appointment and they said they knew a month in advance, why didn't we get that courtesy? 2.) We did not receive our security deposit back of $1,400 as well as having to pay an additional $990 for our carpets being dirty even though it was already in rough shape when we moved in, as well as other random things, such as painting for 8 hours (???) and cleaning for 13 hours (howwww???) *There's so many things with this that is frustrating, one being we didn't even hang anything up and had very minimal to no damage to the paint on the wall. Why did we get charged for 8 hours of painting? *We were charged $1,100 to replace our carpet, even though upon move in our carpet had stains, burn marks, and matted down spots from presumably not being replaced for awhile. We cleaned it as much as we could and vacuumed over it at least 3 times in each room, but I guess that wasn't enough due to previous damage (which is completely out of our control). *I'm also confused on why there is an additional 13 HOURS of cleaning. We meticulously cleaned our place for a full day before handing in our keys (even to the point of scrubbing walls for scuff marks and cleaning the wood trim), there is absolutely no reason it should take 13 hours for someone to clean our unit, especially with how clean we left it. I will say for the price you pay you get a comfortable amount of space for a somewhat affordable price, but I would never recommend anybody I know this place due to our experience here.

I’ve had no issue as a renter with them. And as I come down to the end of my lease, and three years of tenancy they always come out IMMEDIATELY to fix the problem, even you left your keys, somewhere. The ladies at the office front desk are always ready to great me by name, and have done nothing but support me and my own personal shortcoming in personality at times. Neighbors are all super friendly and accommodating…I should know, I spent 9 months of bed rest and sedatives from a severe leg injury during my tenancy, and all were willing to help me with things like helping me with groceries, shopping, taking out garbage…etc. I’m a three year tenant, and I was happy every interaction. Oh, and paying your bill is fast and easy, that I just wake up with an alarm a couple days before and pay rent online.