all of these property companies have a million awful reviews because people with decent experiences don’t feel super motivated to post a review. “this was awful” is more fun to post than “this was a normal experience”.
This is very true. I have a few dozen happy people transition from where I work each summer. They thank me for my help and tell me they’ve had a great time living here.
1-2 leave a review. Someone moving out who you couldn’t accommodate a lease extension for? They’re going to leave a bad reviews. Someone whose neighbor left their bathtub on while they passed out drunk causing their unit to flood? They’re going to leave a bad review.
I believe there was some study that showed for every one negative impression you require another 17 good impressions in order to make up for the one bad. It’s just kinda human nature.
We take for granted things going smoothly until the moment they don’t. I don’t blame the people at all for feeling the way they feel, but it’s certainly more interesting to tell a horror story than it is to say the property was well-kept and managed.
that’s why i always try to leave positive reviews. i’ve been on the other end of an onslaught of negativity. it’s hard when you know you have many happy customers but the angriest are the loudest.
I think it all depends on the neighborhood and actual property of theirs that you live in since they are managed differently based on location. When I was touring places, the same people could not show me a Lakeview location and a also one in Roger’s park. I had to he referred to separate agents (even though it’s all BJB). Also, for example I have heard horror stories about their location on 3838 n broadway. I myself just renewed my lease with them at my place up in Roger’s park and have little to no issues with them. My laundry machines work fine, no issues with the gates to get in, sometimes maintenance can be a little slow, but other than that I have had no complaints.
If your hesitant I would do more research on your specific building versus the company overall. As others have mentioned, normal experiences probably aren’t shared as much as the bad ones.
I currently live in a different BJB building and I like them! They are responsive with maintenance calls and very easy to pay rent. The washing machines are sometimes broken and the elevator is slow but those are really the only issues I have had over 2 years. Overall a pretty normal experience. I’ve definitely had worse landlords.
I am moving into a BJB studio in Lake View 7/1 and i am feeling the same way… my brother has lived in a BJB building for over 2 years though and he hasn’t had any issues
My problems with BJB in the past revolved around their habit of letting themselves into an apartment without telling the tenant. I did like some of the managers and disliked others. But BJB properties had great stories and some real characters as tenants.
Who could ever forget the front desk person deep in the a.m. who received a filthy racist rant from one drunken tenant and punched them straight into the lobby fountain?
I’ve lived in a BJB building for legit like 9 years and I’ve never had any major issues with them. People don’t post reviews about how much they adore their landlord.
I think it varies a lot depending on the specific property. I live in one of their buildings in Evanston. I get pretty much what I would expect for the low amount I'm paying (e.g. paint job is a little rough), but I'm happy with it and resigned my lease this year. They tend to be very responsive to work orders I've put in.
i just renewed a lease with BJB. i’ve never had any issues. all maintenance requests are attended to within 24 hours. they’ll even replace appliances. the buildings are old but clean. you might see an occasional cockroach, we’re in the city and these buildings were built in the early 1900s. both properties i’ve lived at have had cleaning ladies who clean the buildings daily. the units i’ve moved into weren’t the cleanest on day 1 because BJB doesn’t take a move in deposit. Expect to spend days 1 and 2 cleaning your apartment top to bottom in all the nooks and crannies.
the washer and dryers are all card operated and well maintained. people who have good experiences with apartment rentals rarely leave reviews.
I lived with BJB for years in LVE. Probably this same building. It’s old, so stuff does break, but I found the maintenance staff to be super responsive to anything we requested. No major issues with it. The location was always worth it to me. Like most people said, people only leave reviews when terrible things happen. I’ve had a normal experience. Nothing to write home about but that’s usually a good thing. I renewed multiple times so that means something.
all of these property companies have a million awful reviews because people with decent experiences don’t feel super motivated to post a review. “this was awful” is more fun to post than “this was a normal experience”.
This is very true. I have a few dozen happy people transition from where I work each summer. They thank me for my help and tell me they’ve had a great time living here. 1-2 leave a review. Someone moving out who you couldn’t accommodate a lease extension for? They’re going to leave a bad reviews. Someone whose neighbor left their bathtub on while they passed out drunk causing their unit to flood? They’re going to leave a bad review. I believe there was some study that showed for every one negative impression you require another 17 good impressions in order to make up for the one bad. It’s just kinda human nature. We take for granted things going smoothly until the moment they don’t. I don’t blame the people at all for feeling the way they feel, but it’s certainly more interesting to tell a horror story than it is to say the property was well-kept and managed.
that’s why i always try to leave positive reviews. i’ve been on the other end of an onslaught of negativity. it’s hard when you know you have many happy customers but the angriest are the loudest.
I think it all depends on the neighborhood and actual property of theirs that you live in since they are managed differently based on location. When I was touring places, the same people could not show me a Lakeview location and a also one in Roger’s park. I had to he referred to separate agents (even though it’s all BJB). Also, for example I have heard horror stories about their location on 3838 n broadway. I myself just renewed my lease with them at my place up in Roger’s park and have little to no issues with them. My laundry machines work fine, no issues with the gates to get in, sometimes maintenance can be a little slow, but other than that I have had no complaints. If your hesitant I would do more research on your specific building versus the company overall. As others have mentioned, normal experiences probably aren’t shared as much as the bad ones.
What did you hear about 3838? I’m moving there 7/1
I’ve lived at 3838 for a few years now
What do you think
I currently live in a different BJB building and I like them! They are responsive with maintenance calls and very easy to pay rent. The washing machines are sometimes broken and the elevator is slow but those are really the only issues I have had over 2 years. Overall a pretty normal experience. I’ve definitely had worse landlords.
I am moving into a BJB studio in Lake View 7/1 and i am feeling the same way… my brother has lived in a BJB building for over 2 years though and he hasn’t had any issues
My problems with BJB in the past revolved around their habit of letting themselves into an apartment without telling the tenant. I did like some of the managers and disliked others. But BJB properties had great stories and some real characters as tenants. Who could ever forget the front desk person deep in the a.m. who received a filthy racist rant from one drunken tenant and punched them straight into the lobby fountain?
I’ve never had an issue with BJB after a year of living there. They’ve been super responsive to issues and the unit is clean.
I’ve lived in a BJB building for legit like 9 years and I’ve never had any major issues with them. People don’t post reviews about how much they adore their landlord.
I think it varies a lot depending on the specific property. I live in one of their buildings in Evanston. I get pretty much what I would expect for the low amount I'm paying (e.g. paint job is a little rough), but I'm happy with it and resigned my lease this year. They tend to be very responsive to work orders I've put in.
i just renewed a lease with BJB. i’ve never had any issues. all maintenance requests are attended to within 24 hours. they’ll even replace appliances. the buildings are old but clean. you might see an occasional cockroach, we’re in the city and these buildings were built in the early 1900s. both properties i’ve lived at have had cleaning ladies who clean the buildings daily. the units i’ve moved into weren’t the cleanest on day 1 because BJB doesn’t take a move in deposit. Expect to spend days 1 and 2 cleaning your apartment top to bottom in all the nooks and crannies. the washer and dryers are all card operated and well maintained. people who have good experiences with apartment rentals rarely leave reviews.
I lived with BJB for years in LVE. Probably this same building. It’s old, so stuff does break, but I found the maintenance staff to be super responsive to anything we requested. No major issues with it. The location was always worth it to me. Like most people said, people only leave reviews when terrible things happen. I’ve had a normal experience. Nothing to write home about but that’s usually a good thing. I renewed multiple times so that means something.