Bothell Ridge

I moved here from NY 3 months ago. I initially did not know what to expect from the area. The staff here are very helpful and go out of their way to help you. The grounds are very well-​kept and any issues I have encountered have been reconciled almost immediately. Best rent price in town, as I was moved here by my company and they hooked me up with a relocating firm that helped me do my research. Only negative is the kitchens need a bit updating, but I can live with this. Staff is awesome and friendly and get the job done. Neighbors have been friendly as well, no complaints whatsoever. Move here, you won’t regret it.

I recently moved out of Bothell Ridge because I wanted to move back to the east coast where I’m from. I have to say I had a very pleasant experience with Bothell Ridge. I lived there for a little under 1 ½ years. For the review mentioning loud people there, I had a loud neighbor in the beginning of my lease there, but for whatever reason that person moved out. As far as the the people there, I found them to be pleasant and relatively quiet. There’s quite a number of children there who enjoy playing on the grass, so it’s a good place to consider whether you’re single or have a family. I also felt quite safe there as well as in the area Bothell Ridge is in.
I was very happy with my apartment and maintenance took care of any issues I had in a timely manner. I can’t imagine reviewers who’d say otherwise. The maintenance lady was very nice and even let me borrow her extension cord a few times when I needed it for vacuuming my car. At the office, Joanna was the person I had the most interaction with and I can only say nice things about her. She’s always been very professional, helpful, and pleasant to speak with.
When I moved out, I also got the $ 70 carpet cleaning fee like another review stated. I didn’t agree with the $ 105 apartment cleaning fee I got, but I left before my contract was up, so I was just happy Joanna and the management team worked with me to where I didn’t have to pay more than I did. I’ve lived in apartments since 2005 and those move out fees were not that much higher than the other places I’ve lived.
All in all I was very pleased with my experience at Bothell Ridge. I highly recommend you take a tour of this apartment complex if you’re looking for an apartment in the Bothell area.

We just recently moved out and it is time I write this review. I am going to be as honest and factual as possible.
We just received our move out fee list and holy crap I am shocked at how fair this was. I was expecting to most likely owe a few hundred in bullcrap charges but no… a $ 70 dollar carpet cleaning fee and that was IT. They could have dinged us on a few things that they had every right to ding us on… but didn’t. (Awesome!)
We lived in the top floor of a 2^nd floor corner apartment on the north end of the complex. No neighbor noise ever came through the walls and I imagine a lot of that is because of our location. We were probably the ones being noisy! (Sorry downstairs neighbor, I hate working early too!!!) The community was pretty quiet most of the time and we never worried about safety. There is a dog/​cat boarding business just north of the property near the creek and the dogs get loud in the morning if you have your windows open. With the windows closed you can tune it out since the newer windows kept the noise to a minimum.
We left for a few reasons, one of which being laundry. As a single guy, I didn’t care about having to walk to one of the TWO laundry rooms. They each had 4 washers and 4 dryers and I never found any machine out of service or dirty/​nasty. They were clean but you just have to avoid the rush (wash) hour where everybody and their twin sister is doing laundry. This varies throughout the year. My miniature girlfriend moved in and our laundry situation required a new plan of attack… namely one inside the unit. Only a few select units at this complex are without the washer and dryer inside.
I am not proud to admit this, but upon move in 2012, I was still getting used to the older appliances and set fire to a pizza. The appliances in my unit were used back when the Romans were dominating the world with their chariot races and gladiator battles in the Colosseum but despite their obvious age… all worked just fine.
This is an older complex. The strange circular vents dazzled/​baffled my friends with their string pull-​to-​open ways. My place got musty. And the cabinets were older, but I never had mold. Not once. We were religious to the point of insanity when it came to using a squeegee after EVERY shower and venting the unit. Even without that, mold shouldn’t have been an issue. Now, this was specific to my unit but there was a weird offgassing smell in the bathroom that I reported to maintenance BEFORE Equity bought the place from BRE. My concerns about the nasty smell were brushed off as «Shampoo and soaps stored under the cabinet.» I gave up after that, but the smell did get worse and no… shampoo and soaps don’t smell like that! This was one factor in us moving out, along with the laundry situation. I am BEYOND sure that if I had mentioned this issue to the new management, they would have been on top of it since they were pretty helpful to my other many requests. I would still be there at this same complex if they had a 1 bedroom available with the W/​D.
They held packages for me, they helped with adding a girlfriend with the most non-​existent credit on to the lease, they held a post dated check for me despite policy saying no… and helped me look for a one bedroom with laundry in the complex as soon as one would pop up… (none did before we relocated). The staff was never rude, annoyed or bothered by any of my issues.
Location… the little creek through this place was AWESOME. I loved the view, the seasonal changes out my cool living room 3 windows was great and was a HUGE reason why I enjoyed it so much. I miss that view even after I left despite a cool woodsy view at the new digs. I moved 1 mile south and this helps me avoid that cursed hwy ⁵²⁷⁄₅₂₄ intersection. I save 12 minutes on my commute with this one mile when coming from the I-​405 highway menace. You are across from the Rock Woodfired Pizza joint which was fantastic if you needed to wander over for a beer after work. Bus access was easy/​close from what I have heard from the miniature GF.
Overall, I would still be there if I had pressed the issue of the bathroom smelling weird and had I laundry. But with all things in life, the girl wanted laundry inside our place and by GOD she was going to have it. Ultimately of the 10 complexes I’ve lived in, this one ranks up there despite it’s age because its good qualities found a way to outshine. Parking? Just suck it up and pay for the carport if you value your car. Because damn. Those uncovered spaces are SMALL! My smaller Cruze sedan was pushing the limits of the paint stripes. The place isn’t perfect but I don’t have a negative impression of the place after all is said and done, and I am sure you won’t either.
I am a professional in the aviation/​tech industry and I commuted to work in Redmond in mostly reasonable time so your mileage may vary. Good luck with the apartment hunt and Joanna was fantastic to work

The Bothell Ridge Apartments looks nice on the outside. Make sure that you tour the unit prior to signing anything.
The appliances are very outdated and old. Although, you’ll get a fresh coat of paint and new carpeting within the unit prior to moving it, everything else is pretty standard. The layout is incredibly obnoxious due to the stairs being inside the breezeway. If you end up on the ground floor, beware that you’ll hear lots of stomping from the people above you and people walking up and down the stairs daily. After a while, you just get numb to the noise (I talked to management about this and nothing was done, of course).
Parking is atrocious, and although optional, they do have under covered parking for $ 35 extra a month.
There are two laundry facilities on the property that are 24 hour access but to charge your laundry card you’ll have to get that done during business hours. The laundry recharge station is located within the main office.
Late fees are very expensive here so I recommend you pay rent on time. It’s $ 75.00 plus after 24 hours they put a 3 day eviction notice on your door and that costs you $ 25 for them to do that. Plus its $ 5 dollars a day every additional day that you’re late. My personal experience on the late fee, I was late 12 hours and they billed me additional $ 75 plus the 3 day eviction notice. I am unsure if apartments can evict you within three days of you not paying rent. A simple phone call saying, «hey, you’re late on rent.» would’ve been nice. But they are quick to evict you if you’re late. To add to that, the attitude from them is they want you to be late on rent and when you’re apologetic and ask that they waive the late fee, they give you attitude and say things like, «welcome to real life.» or «be on time next time.» It’s really cold-​hearted. Most people, like myself, aren’t purposely late and aren’t trying to cause problems. I work 60 hours a week and sometimes getting bills paid on time doesn’t happen.
Also on late fees, sometimes you’ll get the eviction notice and sometimes not. I guess it all depends on who’s working that day. I had an issue with the front office girl, Erin regarding a late fee. I put in my 20 day notice and one of the front office personnel told me the PUD bill and the pro-​rated rent (since I’d only be renting for 12 days in October) would come out of the deposit so I wouldn’t owe any rent for the month of October. Come to find out after seven days of not paying Octobers rent, Erin was trying to evict me. She left a very unprofessional message on my phone.
Erin is the most unprofessional person I’ve ever had to deal with. After an argument over the late fee ensued I asked that she contact her supervisor and send me his or her contact information so I could talk to someone more professional about this matter. Erin refused to send me her supervisors information. She was very rude over the phone and her «it’s not my problem» attitude was very uncalled for. I’m not sure who hires these people to run the main office. Clearly, they need to interview better.
Erin also told me if I don’t pay the late fee she would just take it out of the deposit when I move out. She said, «either way, you’re paying the late fee, Whatever is easiest for you.» I told her since it was a miscommunication I should not be penalized for being late. When I went to the office to talk about the issue more and get her supervisors info, she told me she «reached out» to them. What kind of company leaves their employees unsupervised and doesn’t have any immediate contact information readily on hand??! I also left a message on the main office message machine for someone to call me back TODAY and that has yet to happen.
Essex Company seems to be a company that is very hard up for these late fees. It makes me wonder where all this money is going since the inside of the units don’t look all that great.
Since I put my 20 day notice in I have seen a drastic decline in customer service from this apartment complex. I suppose since I’m not longer a cash cow for them I no longer need to be treated like a human being. At least that’s the impression I’m getting from the people in the main office.
If you’re looking to rent in Bothell, stay away from this apartment complex.

The people who live in these apartments are extremely loud and obnoxious. I lived in the G building on the ground floor and the renters above me were very noisy. The walls are very thin and I heard garbage disposals, doors slamming, people walking very loudly, kids screaming and running around and people yelling at each other. Typical apartment living, I suppose.
The appliances are very outdated and the maintenance is piss-​poor. The dishwasher destroyed more of my plastic Tupperware than I can recall due to it being very old. The heating ring at the bottom of the dishwasher literally melted any plastic that fell down into the bottom of the appliance. The fridge was very loud and didn’t keep the food cold enough. When I brought these issues up to management, they just smiled and laughed. What a joke. They’re more concerned about what the outside of the units look like then the inside.
Parking is ridiculous. The parking stalls are extremely small. My car now has more door dings and dents than before I moved into this place. I talked to management about it and again they just smiled at me and said they couldn’t do anything about it. Car ports are $ 35 dollars extra on top of rent.
Make sure you are not late on rent. Rent is due by the 3^rd of every month and if you are late they will charge you $ 75 plus a $ 25 processing fee for the $ 75 late fee.
There is literally one wash room for laundry in the entire complex. The pay station is inside the main office which has hours of 9am-​6pm on weekdays and is closed on all major holidays so make sure you charge your laundry card before key dates. There is a laundro-​mat across the street in case you don’t have enough on your card.
Be cautious when renting here. The complex is full of those Indians from Pakistan and some of the breezeways literally stink of body odor and curry. Also, the male Indians gawk and stare at white girls who sit out by the pool. It’s really disturbing.