Avalon Bellevue

I have been living in Avalon Bellevue for 4 month now. I am not new to the Avalon Communities, I lived in other Avalon communities before.
My experience with Avalon Bellevue is positive from the get go. Jennifer and Maria (who are in the management) made my move in very smooth and easy, while providing help along the way.
I also had the chance to work with the servicemen to replace lightbulbs and what not. They usually come within the same day and do an excellent job.
The apartment itself is pretty decent and the living room is pretty spacious for a 650sqft apartment. As for the sound isolation, I am not bothered by the neighbors at all, so I am in peace most of the time.
Since it is just 4 floors, I started taking the stairs to exercise more often.
The gym is humble but have enough equipment to let you do your workout while saving you a membership from the more expensive gyms around.
The location of Avalon Bellevue apartment complex is excellent. If you love shopping and dining then it is a 15 minutes walk to downtown Bellevue and if you love a more educational environment then it is a one minute walk to the Bellevue Library (just across the street).
There’s a bus stop just across from the street with the 550 bus (that I am aware of) that takes you to Seattle.
As for the parking situation: there is plenty of parking and are very spacious. I love the fact that guests can park overnight in the guest parking w/​o having to pay anything. In other communities, the guest parking was metered.
I am happy I moved in.

I live in avalon bellevue park for about 3 month. Apartment has full size washer and dryer which is nice. However apartment felt smaller than most avalon apartment hallway is very narrow so is the parking space in the garage.
Also the building material is quite low quality many thing start to breaking apart (cabinet door fall down… Toilet won’t stop running, washer hose breaks and flood the whole apartment) however they did response and repair it quickly.
And the location is a little far from down town, overall I give it 3 star.

I lived here for 3 years — from 2011 to 2014. During the time we lived in this building we lived on the ground floor and the top floor.
Good points:
Good noise insulation from surrounding apartments — we almost never heard noise from the neighboring apartments.
Nice space — large apartments, walking distance to down town bellevue and directly across the road from the express bus stop to get into down town Seattle.
Nice and friendly management team– always prompt with repairs and great about taking in packages, etc.
Bad points:
Heating/​cooling isn’t great. We ended up purchasing a portable air conditioner for the summer and a heater for the winter.
Road noise — our apartment faced the bus stop so we couldn’t really have the windows open if we wanted to watch tv or talk on the phone.
Rent — over 3 years our rent went up over 30% — which I think is pretty steep!
Having read all the reviews I was really worried about the move out experience. We broke our lease — moving out several months before the end of the year. They told us that we were on the hook for the rent until they leased the apartment but there was no fee to terminate the lease. We gave them notice on a Wednesday — the following Monday I handed in my keys and they told us they’d already leased the apartment (in less than a week). We had a walk through inspection — and agreed to pay their ‘clean sweep’ fee (which was cheaper than our cleaning service quoted us for a move out clean), plus for them to fill and paint the holes where we hung our pictures. The whole staff was really friendly and helpful during the move out process.
About 2 weeks after we moved out we got our final invoice in the mail. It had no surprise charges and reflected exactly what we had agreed with them.

Avalon Bellevue gave us false information about an apartment which led us to sign a lease for that apartment. The false information was a printed layout that showed significantly bigger dimensions than the apartment actually had. Given their established brand, we trusted the printed layout and signed the lease. Within 2 weeks of signing the lease, we measured the apartment and found it to be smaller than what we were led to believe by Avalon Bellevue. As such, we cancelled the lease. While Avalon agreed to cancel the lease, they slapped us with 1 month of rent ($ 1990) as the cancellation fee.
At best, the lease was cancelled due to Avalon Bellevue’s failure to provide accurate information. At worst, they have committed a fraud. At a minimum, we want Avalon to not charge us anything for canceling the lease.
Avalon has turned a deaf ear to all of the facts above, and instead chosen to threaten us with putting our account in default.
Considering legal action. Stay tuned and beware of Avalon /​AvalonBay Communities.

STAY AWAY!!! — WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!
I lived there for a full year, Sept 2012 — Sept 2013.
Anecdotal:
1. Moving out was the worst experience I’ve ever had as a customer. We paid for the $ 225 «clean sweep» move-​out option. Avalon found a couple scuff marks on the wall and decided to withhold from deposit $ 200 to re-​paint the apartment — in addition to the clean sweep. I will be happy to upload photos — you will agree that a magic erasure would take it out like cake.
2. After moving out, it took me 4 calls and several emails for them to send me a complete financial breakdown — all I wanted was a full accounting of all the charges/​payments for the year.
3. When they offered to renew our lease, they hiked rent by $ 500 just to see if we’d bite (which was $ 2350/​mo for a 2bd 2ba (aka insanity)). We didn’t. It was extremely aggravating; it’s unjust; it’s not the way anyone should operate a business. When I talked to the staff onsite they said that they do that because most people are too lazy to move so they’ll just pay extra. They later decided to bring the price back down to $ 1850 — because they weren’t asking within market range. Keep in mind, those price tags don’t include utilities or $ 150 for parking for 2 cars.
4. Over the course of the year we gave them nearly $ 25,000 worth of business — not so much as a thank you. Instead we’ve received a giant slap in the face. I don’t understand how this company is still in business.
Other negatives:
— center stairwell smells like a nose infection
— center elevator added 5 full minutes to my commute
— blistering hot in the summer (we were 4^th floor)
— frigid in the winter — the heaters barely worked
— when you move out, they force you to deal with the corporate office only (aka call center goons, no one with decision-​making authority)
— one of our bathrooms had the washer/​dryer which gave off terrible condensation and heat and created gross stains and film on all the walls.
Positives:
— well, downtown Bellevue is nice. I enjoyed life while I lived there.
— obviously it’s on par with all the other mid-​range apartment buildings in the area — but why would you deal with Avalon if you don’t have to?
Other advice:
— we shopped around other downtown Bellevue apartments in August. By mid-​Sept the ones that had vacancies were desperate to get tenants. I would constantly get calls from leasing offices. If at all possible, don’t start shopping for apartments until Fall/​Winter. You will get the best prices. Get a stop-​gap somewhere cheap for summer if you have to.
— check out condos for rent by owner (great deals & no BS), check out 12 Central Square and The Park in Bellevue. We were considering those. Also Archstone on 110^th seemed keen to negotiate.

I’m a current resident, and not an angry one — manager Jennifer has been friendly and helpful, and the location and price are just fine — but I very much wish I hadn’t signed a lease here.
The trouble is heat. This is an especially warm, muggy summer, sure, but it is currently approximately as warm in my apartment at 1:30am as it is during the daylight hours. I can’t sleep in this and it’s making me miserable. I’m in a studio on the top floor. There is no AC, and with only one window, it’s difficult to move air through the apartment. I’ve got two Vornados trying their best for a good Amazon review, but even having used them in multiple configurations throughout the space, I haven’t been able to give them a fair test. The apartment traps heat and will let it go over, apparently, my dead body.
Dear reader, if you consider living here — and it’s not so bad, otherwise — regard a top-​floor studio as a deal-​breaker. Ask first.

Ever since the sweetest girl, Melanie, moved to a new location, I have decided that Avalon Bellevue is not a decent place to live in.
My previous review was basically dedicated to Melanie. I always dreaded going down to take my package and have small talks to the new guy, don’t know and don’t care about his name.
This place is a lie. When I moved out, I was given a clean sweep option that costs about $ 185.00 for a 500 sq foot studio and I agreed. However, several weeks before i moved out, the inspection guy told me I had to pay less, it’s just $ 10 but hey why not! I was happy to see my $ 175 stamped on the top of my Move out form.
After receiving my last statement, it seemed like I only had gotten $ 130 back. Why? They claimed I have not paid the utilities for the last TWO months I was there. Come on, now I have to look through my last bills to find prove that I have paid for the last two months’ utility bill since it is combined with my rent. I am now trying to dispute it with the head office. PLEASE KNOW YOUR TENANT RIGHTS THAT NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY BUT IT IS THE LANDLORD’S.
Ever since I moved out, I had contacted Jennifer wanting to get some help in trying to find my deposit and asking her what was charged, but no replies from her. I have been super nice to all of them, but it has not been appreciated.
I am definitely happy that I moved out of UNIT 105. It is the noisiest unit, which is next to the bus stop and next to the streets and definitely not worth the $ 1200 I am paying per month. Also, when the new gym was being renovated, my floor was literally shaking due to the construction and I had asked Jennifer why I had not received any notice or any sort. Still, she was really unhelpful in solving this matter, saying that I need to contact her head manager and sort it out. She is pretty reluctant to help and I often wonder to what extent they would help a tenant solve a problem.
SO SO SO GLAD I MOVED OUT.

Disgusting place. Doubled my rent when lease was due for renewal, charging 2K for a tiny 400sq studio. Avalon Bellevue is an inconsiderate and unsympathetic business. They are running a business to squeeze money out of people, they are not a community.

I was a resident close to 4 years at this place. The location is good (close to library and Bellevue downtown) and apartment is comfortable.
But, my move out experience with them was really awful and has left a really bad taste (which makes me write this review). I had done a good job of cleaning up the apartment and was surprised to see the charge they needed to clean up the place. To add to that, they tacked on damages to the bathroom which I am really surprised about… if it was visible to them during pre-​inspection (and I was home for the inspection), they could have pointed that out to me and I would have called the apartment maintenance to get that thing fixed while I was still there.
If you decide to go there… be careful with your move out inspection, keep a copy of what estimate they give you.
Despite the location, space in the apartment and all, I wouldn’t recommend this place.

LOOK ELSEWHERE!!!
I lived in this complex from 8÷1÷2010 to 5÷1÷2011 and as far as the actual facilities go, I would say it’s definitely appealing, but once you have to deal with the management/​staff, it’s not worth it. I had a terrible experience on move-​out that compares to the other reviews left on here so it looks like they take everyone through the ringer on move out.
Their website makes it sound so appealing by saying «From the moment you first step onto the community grounds you will see how they represent the best in downtown living, creating a new standard of class and luxury… Avalon Bellevue is a truly beautiful apartment community perfectly suited for a modern and comfortable lifestyle.» Even when you go to view the place, everyone is so friendly and it appears to fit the description. They were even advertising a move-​in special I took advantage, but be careful because they actually get this discount back in the long run. SCAM!
I was able to move into a new apartment on 4÷23÷2011 even though my lease was through 5÷18÷2011. I had asked if there was any chance my apartment could be rented out early and I could be released early from the lease but they weren’t too encouraging of this so I opted to just move out and pay the last month of rent. I don’t cook and am a very neat person so the apartment was always spotless so as you can imagine my move-​out clean was very thorough. On 4÷26÷2011 I did my initial inspection with Kevin from maintenance, and he was as nice as he could be. He seemed very helpful and told me that there were some minor things I needed to do but if I did them (clean off the lightbulbs, pull out the fridge and clean under it, etc.) then there would not be a charge at all for the cleaning and I would get my full deposit back. I went ahead and came back and did a second full cleaning and took care of the minor things Kevin told me to. He had also told me he needed to see carpet marks from the vacuum and smell pine sol in the apartment so I made sure that was done as well.
You can imagine my surprise when my final bill came back with a cleaning/​damages charge of $ 160.00.
Like I said, I am a very tidy person and the apartment was always clean. The oven was never used since I don’t cook, the carpets never had shoes worn on them, I never hung anything large on the walls– the only small things made pin size holes that I filled. They said they needed to paint because of that but never once told me that during the walk thru. If they had I would’ve painted myself rather than pay them 4 times as much to do it.
I called to discuss the bill and they asked if I could come over and meet with Jennifer and Kevin. Jennifer is the property manager and she was not able to explain any of my fees, including something called «accelerated rent» which couldn’t be explained but Jennifer was «sure it was right» whatever it was and a water bill charge I had already paid the company directly for and eventually ended up calling that company directly to try and get that credit back. On top of that Kevin’s attitude had completely changed and now I was stuck with these charges and he denied everything.
Bottom line, don’t rent from Avalon, and if you are in a lease, have pictures, and video of your walk-​through because they will find a way to get your deposit!

I lived there from 03/​23/​2010 to 03/​23/​2011. I lived in Apt 212. I don’t need to hide myself because I am just telling the truth. I have the copy of lease with me.
I had unhappy experience with them and that was why I am writing this review (research shows that reviews are usually biased and most of the time unhappy customers are more willing to go through the trouble to write reviews).
I have the following 3 things not happy about this complex (Avalon Bellevue at 11 000 NE 10^th St, Bellevue, WA):
1. the final bill for cleaning/​damage is much more than the estimate by the inspection
details:
there is a guy who went through two times of inspection (one on his own — called initial inspection, another one with me on the move out day — the final inspection)
the estimate fee for cleaning of the initial was already very high — (1) full apt clean — $ 125 (2) full painting — $ 160 + paint $ 26 (3) full carpet cleaning $ 60 (4) kitchen drip pan replacement — $ 24
I was unhappy that I don’t see there is any need for full painting — because I have no hang any pictures or TV on the wall — I did put in some pins (for a piece of paper etc) but the holes are so small you could not even see them. and btw, I need to pay full painting after I live there for 1 whole year? that does not sound reasonable.
second, I do not see why there is a need to do full carpet cleaning since I have been keeping the carpet dry and clean. not water spilled or anything spilled.
when we did the final inspection, the same guy was saying that it would not be as expensive as the initial estimate — everything would be cheaper — and no need full painting and no need full carpet cleaning — that was why he tricked me into signing on the move out checklist easily (without doing much arguments — since everything would be cheaper, why bother? right)
so when I left, he even did some calculation about the overall charge I will be paying — which is around $ 250. I was happy about that amount.
but turned out they sent me this final bill, which is $ 451.74 for the cleaning/​damage only
I went to the lease office to dispute, but he denied what he said and asked me to contact the customer care center.
2. the apartments was kind of noisy — because it is very crowded. the main reason I am moving out is that I could not stand the noise upstairs — I guess they had a pet and the pet is making some noise all night long till the morning
3. the lease office close on Sunday and Monday, so you could not get your package on those two days — also it opened 10 am and closed 6 pm on most of other days, so you have to find time to go there to pick up your packages between that time
I will not recommend this community to my friends.

We actually lived here for a few years — two different units — so here is my take on the place. The units are well insulated, but road noise could be a problem. We had a leak in our ground floor unit — the roof of patio/​excess water from above soaked through into carpet and damaged the sliding door area. They tried like crazy to fix it the first year — took them a lot of time and the drying machine was so noisy they gave us a gift of what I now know to have been a violation of our rights and their policies! but next year when it did it again — management shrugged. We griped — they shrugged. We said screw it, by this time nobody cared about the lousy carpet or patio ceiling and that inclueded us. Next year they raised the rent so much we just were giong to leave the building, but got sweet talked into another unit.
A west facing unit is going to bake you in the summer!!! A unit without an overhang above the windows is not going to allow opening a window for ventillation.
During the first year the garage door was broken for months — they fixed it and it lasted a while before they fixed it again and again and finally replaced it.
The location was so good for us, the neighborhood actually quieter than many downtown properties, more of a home like neighborhood feeling — — although not exactly friendly. *****They advertise it as a ‘secure building’ and there are some precautions, but when they prop the entrance doors open that prety much blows that out the window. They like to prop those doors open on nice days. Several times the entrance doors locks were broken and took weeks to repair.
Our electric bill was tiny, the water bill was not and there are only two of us and we were never here more than four days a week.
Management turnover = absurdity gone amuck!!! When we moved in we had great management and great maintenance. They changeoffice personnel completely at least once a year and never even have the courtesy to let tenants know that there are new managers — good grief — and nobody takes notes or passes along information to the next person. Maintenance the last couple of years went to absolute crap! Filthy hallway carpets, nasty everything.
We have lived in better and we have lived in worse — the main reason we stayed so long was the space was great, the location great and after the first lousy management turnover it was about a fifty fifty shot to get decent people in again — — they got worse and worse every year!
So if you rent here, be aware that whoever you rent from may not be there the next time you go down to the office and be sure to get copies of everything — they like to forget things.

I don’t usually do 3-​star ratings. 1 – 2 stars, I gotta warn you about something. 4 – 5 stars, it’s good enough that I want to tell you about it. 3 stars, that’s kinda like «Ho-​hum. Don’t care.» Thing is, choosing a place to live is a big commitment, so I’m writing this review to provide you with information that may help you in your decision.
Avalon Bellevue is not a bad place to live, at least short-​term (i, e, one year). There are a few long-​term tenants in the place, but most seem to be like me… Recent immigrants who need a place to stay for a year or so while they get their bearings, then move on and find a more permanent home.
I visited 5 – 6 apartment complexes around the Bellevue area before settling on Avalon Bellevue. Most had the same floorplan, referred to in these parts as the «roommate plan». A bedroom and bathroom on one side, a bedroom and bathroom on the other side, and a kitchen/​living room in the middle. Great if you have a roommate. A little strange for a couple with a dog. Avalon Bellevue has some unconventional, and frankly much more interesting layouts. Most units on the top floor have a loft overlooking the living room, and the use of floor space in the units is quite good.
We also found that sound insulation between the units was pretty good. We lived in two different apartments during our time there, and were satisfied with both. There are some other perks to living in this kind of complex… They had a pretty well-​decked-​out gym on the premises, and little details like having someone to receive UPS pacakges is great. Also, there is a day spa downstairs (Herban Therapies… see my review here on Unilocal).
What wasn’t so great? Avalon Bellevue went through three managers in the time we were there. All of them were good, but personally I prefer a little less turnover when I have to deal with these people. Also, the whole subject of climate control is an issue. Heating in the winter isn’t great (gas fireplace in every unit definitely helps), and cooling in the summer is nearly impossible, especially in those top-​floor lofts. Last summer we had 95 degrees at 7:00 am. There are some restrictions on air conditioners as well.
Read the details of the lease carefully before signing. Yes, there’s a lot to read there, but it’s your responsibility to know what you’re getting in to. There is a clause in there that says you can terminate your lease early «for a fee». The fee isn’t specified, and in fact Avalon Bellevue will refuse your early termination request outright if they aren’t able to re-​rent your apartment. Don’t get me wrong… This isn’t particularly unfair, you just need to know what you’re getting in to.
It’s worth mentioning that Avalon Bellevue is not particularly pet-​friendly. You will be charged an additional deposit and additional monthly rent if you have a pet, and there are some (in my opinion) unreasonable breed restrictions. Every staff member and several of the tenants think my dog is the sweetest pup they’ve ever seen, yet she (being a Boxer) is on the banned-​breeds list. Go figure.
Finally, location… It’s an easy hop to the Microsoft campus, and taking Bel-​Red you get almost no traffic. It’s also very close to hospitals and medical services. But it’s not *quite* close enough to downtown Bellevue. You *can* walk to the mall, grocery store, etc. but you probably won’t. It’s just a little too far to carry six shopping bags back home with you.
So there you have it. 3 stars. A great temporary home, but not someplace you’d want to retire to.