FrontDoor, LLC

I can say overall my apartment is what I need. I appreciate the all inclusive bills and my own washer and dryer.
When it comes to my experience with the office staff majority of them are friendly and helpful. My only gripe is that on at least two occasions I had mail at the office for at least two days a piece and was never notified that it was there (although the claim is that tenants are suppose to receive a call if they have packages waiting).
When it comes to maintenance I have yet to have a positive experience. Due to this I’ve requested that I be called prior to their arrival and that we arrange for them to come when I am home. The calling ahead of time has been spotty, I can say the last time they came I was called; but the two times prior I was not. I have come home to my kitchen being covered in paint dust, my trash can being dirtied by paint, shoes on my counter, a flooded muddied bathroom, soaked rugs placed on dry rugs, my items moved from an area unrelated to the problem area etc.
I have lived in many places and know it is best to stay professional and polite or things will progress to hell. I am actually a pretty pleasant person, but I have finally lost my patience. If I have any more issues with maintenance for the remainder of my lease (nearly a yr left) I will definitely not resign my lease for the following year. Overall id rate this property at a 3 (more of a 3.5 for location and amenities, and office staff, but due to the above description I have to say 3).

UPDATE: Downgraded from 2 stars to 1.
The good: their buildings are generally nice. I like our apartment, its location and our neighbors. The price is pretty good for the space we have. There’s always someone to answer the phone and they’re typically responsive to your immediate need… which leads me to the bad.
The bad: Terrible follow through. It’s nice to have a secure place to send packages. It would be nicer if the office was actually staffed all day on the weekend. It’s great that a maintenance guy showed up when I had a leak in the roof, but it’s meaningless if, four days later when it rains again, the roof is still leaking.
The ugly: We have a small leak in our ceiling. A maintenance man has been in and out without really doing much and three weeks later, it still leaks when it rains. Absolutely ridiculous. This is bare minimum for a leasing company. Also, it took several months for them to completely fix the parking gate. Big cars had trouble pulling into the gated parking and thus chose to just park in the unsecured lot. Get your sh*t together, Front Door. You’re embarrassing yourselves!
Is there such thing as a good leasing company? I’m not sure. That’s not to say the people aren’t nice and try to make it up to you for some missteps. It’s just that certain missteps should never happen in the first place.
You’ll live here fine. You might like it. But you’ll pull your hair out when the time comes and, based on other reviews, they’ll unjustly take some of your security deposit. I don’t know. I still live here.

I’m really shocked by the negative reviews that others have written about Front Door on here. I’ve had a very different experience with the company.
I moved into my rented house in the Grove in June 2011 and have loved it ever since. The leasing process was very simple and they were flexible with the move-​in date as I was coming cross-​country. I have changed roommates a few times while living in the house, and the changes were made without any problems at all.
I have had a few issues with water leaking in the unfinished basement (to be expected in any house that is 50+ years old). Every time it has happened, maintenance promptly takes care of the issue. (Note: this leaking hasn’t happen in nearly a year as of 2÷13÷14)
I also had an issue with the fuse box and the power to one of the bedrooms upstairs. Given that this was an electrical issue, someone was sent over right away to look at it. The regular maintenance crew quickly realized that the issue was over their heads and called in an electrician. I think it says a lot when a company is willing to call in the right guy for the job and fix the issue properly.
I see from the other reviews that some people have had problems with maintenance, but I have had a completely different experience. The men are always polite, work quickly and clean up after any work is complete. They could do a little bit of a better job on calling before they come over.
Either way, I’m still living in my house and enjoying the space and the neighborhood, coming up on 3 years with FrontDoor.

This is my Public Service Announcement — please do not live here! I rented from Front Door for two years while in college and lived in two different buildings near SLU’s campus.
The management is unhelpful in resolving any issue whatsoever that you may have. And believe me, you will have issues. The leasing staff is downright rude and unhelpful. The apartments are old and cheaply constructed. The ventilation is also horrible — one year my neighbors smoked, and my bedroom, one closet, and the floor’s hallway literally reeked of cig smoke. The building’s maintenance manager only sent me snarky, zero-​action emails when I reached out for a possible resolution.
They will do anything they can to nickel and dime you once you have signed the lease. They only do 12-​month leases, and there is no way around it. Parking is extra and also extremely expensive (+$ 100/​month).
Since the building is mostly SLU college students, be prepared for the elevators/​hallways/​lobby to smell like stale beer and vomit regularly. Expect for the fire alarm to go off at 3am on the weekends once every few months. Don’t be surprised if you go to do laundry (and FYI, there’s ONE laundry room in the whole building w about 4 machines that you have to pay for) and someone’s puked in the machine. Ultra loud neighbors are a given, especially on the weekends — the walls are paper thin.
When I was getting ready to leave and trying to set a move out date and walk through inspection, the leasing office sent me sarcastic emails refusing to set a date because they were «never letting me go.» Hello, way too creepy!
Long post short, do yourself a favor and do not rent with Front Door. If it was possible to give zero stars, I would.

Absolutely awful company to rent from. They will nickel and dime the living daylights out of you and are rude to boot. Find a private owner or a reputable company. This place does not deserve your money or your time.
Students beware!!! I fought all of their ridiculous policies and charges and did pretty well. I think they are really used to taking advantage of students and first time renters.
I’m pretty much a forgive and move-​on type of girl, but several years later thinking about this place still elevates my heart rate and makes my skin crawl.
Bottom line– they are completely unreasonable in every sense of the word. I’ve never been treated like that before by a landlord or management company.

Frontdoor is a great leasing company! Maintenance responds FAST and the office staff is very responsive through email and by phone unlike other leasing companies around STL where you never can seem to get hold of them (this is a major plus).
They have beautiful updated apartments all over the city and prices are more than reasonable for the eclectic neighborhoods you can choose from.
I would recommend them, especially to students and young professionals. Lots of units in trendy neighborhoods!

I can’t even think of a good way to start this review because there simply is nothing good to say about them.
I have rented from Front Door for about 2 years now. I used to live on their «Lindell Strip.»
Let me highlight some of the positives and (mostly negatives) and you be the judge of whether or not you want to give these people your money (or if you’re a SLU student, probably more likely your parents’ money.)
Pros:
— Close to SLU’s campus, so very convenient, duh.
— Gated and covered parking with a *fairly* safe garage with many cameras in it
— Somewhat prompt (and super nice) maintenance staff and night staff who will fix problems most of the time
— Swimming pool and workout room are convenient even though the equipment breaks down and they don’t fix or replace or there is no pool furniture out there
— Key card access means relatively safe apartments and minimal (if any) break-​ins.
— Utilities included so you can go crazy with long, hot showers and usage of electricity, if that’s your thing
Cons:
— Year-​long leases only! So if you wanted to stay one extra month while you’re looking to buy a house or something, well, fuck you, you can’t.
— Rude leasing office staff. I always paid my rent on time but any time they make a tiny mistake it’s somehow my fault and they try to charge me more money!
— Leasing office staff lost my rent check. What the hell?
— Limited package pick-​up hours. You can’t pick up a package during weekdays between the hours of 1pm-​6pm. Even when their leasing office is basically dead, you can’t get one. I’d been repeatedly denied packages with MEDICINE I needed in them, also packages containing shoes (which to a fashion-​conscious woman is like denying her medicine…)
— Even if you got a convenient parking spot in the garage, chances are someone will steal it when you’re out of your spot. I noticed this happens a lot during the summer especially when every person and their brother is inviting some friend over. They are ASSIGNED spots for a reason!
— Faulty mailbox keys. I received a key that was capable of opening every. single. mailbox. in the entire mail-​room! what if someone else had a key like that? They’d steal my mail!
— Various robberies have occurred in front of my apartment and in front of the Coronado.
— Internet connection BLOWS. It’s pretty much almost as bad as 56k. I am not even joking. I did an internet speed test and took a screen shot and submitted it to the leasing office and they did nothing.
— My car was vandalized right in front of the Coronado, right in front of my face and all they offered to do was rat out the stupid fratboys who did it to their parents. Oh well, at least I can sleep well knowing that they had their bank accounts cut for a few weekends! WINNING!
— Key cards sometimes DO NOT work or the leasing office will decide to reset them randomly without even telling you! REALLY annoying especially when you’re walking in the back door with arms full of groceries!
— Loud fratboys and sorority bimbos party hard all night long on Fridays and Saturday nights so be prepared for lack of sleep if you live on or near one of the top floors where the balcony thing is located.
— Swipe cards don’t always work. Oh and if you get locked out prepare to shell out $ 25 for a new key card.
— Oven in my stove was perpetually broken and they never once offered to fix it or bring me a new one.
— Rent is ASTRONOMICALLY HIGH. Like, higher than the moon. I’m talking Earth to Mars, 400 million km aphelion! I was paying $ 1050/​month for a freakin’ ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT plus $ 75/​month for covered parking which they tried to increase on me after living there for a year even though my contract stated $ 75/​month. Yes, utilities are included, but Jesus. It’s a trade off, I guess. Still, when I was looking to buy a house, some of my mortgage options were CHEAPER than my rent here, even WITH utilities and insurance and stuff!!! wtf?
— Leasing office staff *seems* all nice and friendly but as soon as they have your money, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.
So yeah. The choice is yours, kids (and parents!)
Oh yeah, and notice how there’s only 1 review besides mine for front door that made it through the filter? I have a feeling these crooks are paying off Unilocal corporate to hide the crappy reviews, even from people who are legit Unilocalers who have other reviews besides the ones for F.D. Shady business practices, no doubt. I am sure they will attempt to post a counter review to this and deny everything. Instead of doing that, I hope that if they post anything it’s a promise to changes their ways. An ignorable suggestion at best.

This is a terrible, terrible company. If at all possible, AVOID like the plague!
I was really excited to find this company online. I was looking for a place in the city (Tower Grove, So Grand) or University City /​Wash U area and delighted at how most of their properties looked. We chose the top floor of a duplex they had just purchased, so repairs needed to be done before we could move in. I was assured by Lindsey that it would be done in time for us to move in on a certain date. She also gave me a printed list of the repairs that were to be completed. Lo and behold, it’s not finished, but money-​wise I had to move in.
On move in day, they only had one key (for a two bedroom apartment… so my roomie and I are supposed to share 1 key?!) And then they gave us a run around and it was nearly a week before we got another key, which I had to go pick up.) Most of the repairs weren’t done and we made Lindsey sign a checklist that they would be completed in one month (yep you guessed it, most of them never got done.) We didn’t have countertops in the kitchen for 3 weeks.
The apartment was filthy, there was paint splattered all over the floor, sawdust everywhere, etc. All the renovations look like they were done by 12 year olds, not a professional maintenance team. They refused to give us a basement key for the reason of «security» even though we have back door access that leads directly to the basement, so really it’s just an inconvenience.
We were told we could have our own laundry machines because there are two separate hookups for each apartment (it’s a duplex.) Then the downstairs neighbors move in and Front Door gets all upset because we won’t let the neighbors use our machines and our utilities for free… all the while refusing to just put coin op machines on the other set of hook ups. Same thing happened AGAIN a year later when new tenants moved in downstairs and the PROPERTY MANAGER, Jen, didn’t even know there were two sets of hookups…
The basement floods every time there is a storm and I always have to call the emergency maintenance crew, sometimes they don’t arrive for hours. We’ve had water leaking into our kitchen through the walls and ceiling because they didn’t put any gutters on the roof. Us and the downstairs tenants had hundreds of dollars of food and possessions ruined because of this… and they just come and put a bucket under the leak and paint over the mold on the wall… and we have to keep calling them.
Sometimes they respond immediately to maintenance requests and sometimes they don’t come at all. Whenever I check «Call first» they never do, and sometimes they come into the apartment on their own without even calling first (and they always show up at 8 am when we’re sleeping.) When they do come in, they often don’t clean up the mess they made and walk around in their muddy work boots getting dirt and chunks of mud all over. Once I came home after the maintenance staff had been in the apartment and they left our front door wide open!
To top all this off, someone from the office emailed me while I was out of the country to tell me that they never got my rent check… so I had my boyfriend send a check to them. When I get back I checked my bank account and they did get a check from me, and they cashed it… so I paid them double rent and then I had to deal with that, make multiple calls to the bank and to Front Door. Their excuse was somebody credited it to the wrong ledger… thanks a lot!
By some miracle our building was sold to another company and we got our entire security deposit back from that company when we moved out (Savoy Properties — very pleasant.)
If you live in a Front Door property, I highly recommend you do not pay your last month’s rent. Tell them to use your deposit as your last month’s rent, and to send you a bill for the repairs or cleaning (and take meticulous photos and demand receipts.) Otherwise plan to be ripped off.
Sidenote to the people complaining about the neighborhoods: You. Pick. The. Neighborhood. If you don’t like it, don’t live there! Your land lord is not responsible for the quality of the neighborhood you chose to live in!

By the way — the apartment I ended up renting was infested with raccoons (and lady bugs), and management wouldn’t resolve the issue for more than a month (I called/​emailed/​wrote letters every day). Trying to sleep when a pack of raccoons kicks off mating season in your roof, and then tries to claw into your apartment via your closet wall is awesome. Finally I threatened to take additional action, and they sent out an incompetent repair man to put chicken wire on the gaping hole in my roof (never fixed) — he tried to get out of doing the simple repair, pleading with me «But sir — it’s winter — I will return in the Spring when it’s warmer and cover the hole, I promise.» Now that’s what I call service!
This place seriously ranks among the worst apartment companies in the US — so glad I moved out and now have an attentive, ethical landlord in San Francisco.

Front Door had, what seemed to be a steady stream of kick-​ass apartments. Too bad they turned out to be ghetto crap. The photos never showed you the most accurate views, just the most advantageous. And the neighborhood descriptions didn’t live up to reality either.
with real estate, the devil isn’t necessarily in the details, but more how you frame the conversation.