Paragon at Columbia Overlook

I would recommend the place if you are a huge Costco shopper, but beyond that there is little going for this place. The location seems ideal, till you see how crowded your 1 entrance/​exit gets from daily shoppers (most of who are lost and drive insane). The sidewalks in the area only go about a half mile in any direction and abruptly end. You cannot walk anywhere beyond the shopping strip across the street; though walking you have to dodge all the dog poop on the Paragon sidewalks. It is pretty shameful. The grass around all the entrances to the buildings are dead or dying due to dogs trying to out pee each other.
The Management has tried to police the dogs in the method of angry emails to all residents threatening to fine anyone they catch. This is a common theme, so expect to be treated like you are in College again with someone always upset in the Dorms. The Management stopped delivering packages to buildings and though they are getting the packages in their office they don’t always notify residents when the packages arrive. Want an Amazon package in 2 days? It will either be in the office that closes around 550 or left outside your building’s door for anyone to nab. Come Xmas; the amount of whining emails from how overburdened the Management is will come streaming in and they will demand you get boxes or they will ship them back. Festive…
As for the buildings themselves. They are rated as «Green», but I am not sure what that actually means. First winter in my 2B apartment I had an absurd power bill. I questioned the building rating and was told this power bill was totally normal for a 1000sqft place with the heat at 67 °F. I later put coverings on the giant windows (you could feel the cold through the windows from 5 feet away) and put a blanket by the shoddy rear door and thus my power bill the following month was cut in half. Al Gore would be proud!
Back to this ‘green’ stuff. Try putting in curtains. The drywall is approximately an inch thick before you hit a metal frame. Getting drywall anchors to mount your curtains are usually an inch and a half or inch and a quarter. So they are too long to properly mount into the wall, you will just carve a fantastic hole. Use regular screws and hope it can hold the weight of the curtains. Good luck finding a stud.
Well, this is also if the walls aren’t already cracking under their own weight. My new apartment had a large bulge and a huge crack where the wall met the ceiling. This was common throughout the building. The Mail Room area was usually heavily damaged. I often wondered if my upstairs neighbors were going to abruptly come visit one day. I knew I had neighbors as I could easily hear them and their occasional domestic disputes either on their balcony or through the walls/​floors. I couldn’t hear the ones below me though… anyone there?
There were no ceiling fans in my place, but I was encouraged to install some. Heh… no. So since there were no lights installed, most of your light switches do nothing.
The garbage collection point was a little room with a tiny door on a heavy hinge. I had difficulty with the hinge as it would close quickly or was tough to keep open. On Fridays or Saturdays it was usually jammed full of stuff and folks would just put their trash in the recycle bin instead. Classy.
But come if you miss the College feel of dorms… these are the nicest Dorm rooms you’ve ever seen!

I spent a little over a year here and enjoyed my stay. I recommend a high floor as I feel that made my stay much more enjoyable. I moved into building 4 just as it had been completed so I was one of the first tenants in the building. My apartment had relatively few problems but were quickly addressed by maintenance. The trash room is very convenient as you don’t have to go outside to take out the trash. The location was very convenient to the highway but the shopping center traffic made it very challenging to turn left. I recommend to all residents to always turn right and just deal with the extra 30 seconds of commute to wherever you are going. My utility bill never exceeded $ 95 and averaged around $ 70 a month. I regularly kept the heat on at 74 in the winter and maintained 72 in the summer with the AC on. Overall I would rent here again if i was in the rental market as the options in the area are pretty limited.

I’ve lived here for about 8 months and so far it has been good. The apartment has alot to offer that you don’t get at any other apartments I’ve been in such as a saltwater pool, greenhouse, free storage for your bikes, single bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms, dog park, and adventure center. There has always been ample open parking where you don’t have to worry about figuring out where your visitors should park. Since I’ve been here, I’ve actually had both my kitchen and bathroom sink leak, but maintenance has always been very responsive and will quickly deal with the problem. So why did I leave out a star? Seriously, the few times I walked into the leasing office, if the specialist does not know me I do not get a single greeting. I have actually had one just stare at me blankly for awhile when I was waiting for her to at least say, «Hi, how can I help you?», which she never did. Seriously, I felt unwelcomed. No matter what, they should be greeting every single person that enters their door. This is probably not how they treat everyone but I notice it alot happening to me. Anyhow, being in service industry in retail and food in the past, I usually notice these small nuances and it is a big pet peeve of mine because I know exactly what type of service I should be getting. On a side note, the leasing specialist, Nicole, who did help me get my lease signed is the best out here. She’s very personable, friendly, and has been responsive to my concerns.

Recently moved into a new apartment.
The Good: The leasing staff have been friendly and responsive to our concerns. Building feels new and clean. Parking seems spacious and plentiful. Neighbors seem friendly. They hold community events. Elevators move fairly quickly. Mail rooms are nice. No smoking policy for anyone on the property which is awesome. Close to a bunch of great food/​shopping places. Close to BWI airport. Seem to have great move in specials. Access pads to get into the building let your guests search for your name or enter your apartment code instead of thumbing through a huge list of names until they find yours like a previous place we lived at. Trash shoots are inside and on your level. Windows are not drafty, and seal well.
The not so good: You are right next to Costco (the loading/​tire center), and they have a number of noisy fans on their roof. Costco apparently gets all their shipments in every morning around 5−6am, so expect to hear truck beeping and some slamming during that time. There is a spot light which best buy has on the other side of the mall which is suppose to shine on their sign, however the two spotlights come over the entire mall area and right into any apartment that is above the second floor. Expect your apartment to be extremely bright during the evenings and be sure to close your blinds. The airplanes have a path very close, so sometimes you will hear those. Appliances like the refrigerator, heating/​cooling, and bathroom fans seem noisier than other apartments we have lived in. Also, the bathroom fans are automatic, meaning if they sense «moisture» they turn on, regardless of whether the switch is on or off. So you can always turn it on, but not always off. Very strange to have fans randomly turning on and off throughout the day/​evening. They require you as part of the lease to cover 80% of the wood laminate floor in the living/​kitchen area. I’m not sure why they didn’t just put more carpet down, maybe they have a deal with local carpet companies? Counters seem quite low in the bathrooms, also the tubs feel smaller than previous places we have rented. Bedroom/​bathroom feel small in our two bedroom two bath apartment from a previous one we lived in. When it is windy, you can hear the vents in the bathroom, and over the stove rattle pretty hard, hard enough for our cat to go looking for what made the noise. Windows also rattle a bit from it.
The indifferent: There is only one entrance and exit to the property, which eliminates people trying to cut through to get somewhere. However, this also means you are often waiting at a stop sign which is off of the main mall road to get in and out of the entrance.
All and all, it is a decent place to live, though the not so good things drive the rating down a bit even though there isn’t much management can do about some of them, or they say there isn’t anything they can do to help. Pretty nice, but a little pricey after you get use to the surroundings and noises.

I have lived here for a few months and feel like this place is great. I had none of the issues the previous reviewer had. We even signed our lease a few months prior to our move in date and everything was smooth sailing from there. Everything was done electronically for us, the application, the lease signing, and all of the paperwork back and forth. All we had to do on move in day was provide a cashier’s check and provide a signature for the key fob.
As for the apartment, I love it. It is a quiet and well kept property that has a neighborly feel with the different activities set up by the front office staff. We had a great brunch one Saturday where I got the chance to meet some really cool neighbors. There is a greenhouse, small dog park area, and lots of green space for my son to play. We are excited to be able to use the pool in the summer and look forward to living her for a while.
I think this is a great place to live and is in a great location. I have walked to the Trader Joe’s and Costco on a few occasions and feel it is a convenient spot that right in the center of everything. No complaints here.

Who tries to lease an apartment to 2 different prospects? Paragon/​WPM Real Estate Management does! Who has a prospect drive 25 miles, 4 times in a week to see an apartment that is already leased to someone else WITHOUT informing them it’s not available? Paragon/​WPM Real Estate Management does! On the day you’re actually ready to sign the lease, get a cashiers check and look at your new apartment, who finally realizes ‘wait…some one just moved in’, Paragon/​WPM Real Estate Management does!
I walked into the office today with a friend who was ready to sign a lease. The sale consultant knew we were coming and was about to start the lease process.(note: it was afternoon. so ALL day no red flags appeared over there) He pulls out his notebook (Yes…i said notebook. Paper in plastic sleeves. In 2014… paper notebook) to retrieve the apartment number & get the keys. Still no snags. In his paper notebook, her name is listed as the person leasing the apartment. Checks his computer and confirms i’m in. Apparently they input the information in the computer. (technology.finally.) «Wait…what apartment did you say?», says another sales consultant. «That one is already leased. The guy moved in today», she confirms. She reviews her notebook (yes…an entirely different notebook… in 2014… the age of technology). «Yes it say here that the apartment is for someone else». Check the computer you say? Apparently, their computer did list 2 people signing up for the same property either. Bad software too?!
Not against paper notebooks/​computer integration, but maybe, just maybe in the last month since the guy signed the leased, someone should have updated the «paper notebook» and/​or the computer. Cross referenced the records. Something! I’m not sure what type of business they are running over there. But be very cautious of a business that uses paper binders, faulty computer management software and sales consultants who apparently don’t communicate. I see big problems ahead here.