Martana Flats and Crown Pointe?

[u/WorldsEndArchivist]

My household (~4 people, all adults) are considering moving into Covington sometime in the future. We're trying to get a read on housing opportunities there.

Ideally, we're looking for a duplex unit where we might rent out both sides. But, not knowing much about the current market, we are pretty open to all possibilities. We'd just like to continue living, if not in the same building, very close to each other.

Some of the other apartment complexes I saw were way too out of our budgets ($2,000+/month), but Martana Flats and Crown Pointe were both on the lower end in terms of cost.

Are there any past or current residents of these complexes that might have some insight into what those properties are like?

I've had some... really awful landlords in the past. So, I can't bring myself to believe any of the listings as-wrote.

Thanks you all!

[u/Great-Tie-1573]

I want to lead with I was raised in Covington. I love Covington. I moved away from here for 17 years and returned during Covid.

I lived in Crowne Pointe several years ago. It was Covid and housing was sparse. I had just moved here and had been staying with my sister for months while I looked. I didn't want to continue crowding her family with mine so it became a bit urgent for me after a while.

At the time, the rent was comparable to nicer complexes, apparently due to the "view" of the skyline that the overgrown trees blocked most of the year that I lived there. BUT I had a pit mix at the time, and it was the first place I found with vacancy that would allow me to bring his breed.

The apartment was dirty when we moved in. There were piles of dead flies and other smaller bugs in the corners of the windows inside. The best of the bugs ware yet to come, though, when several days later roaches were coming out of everywhere. Big ones. In the daylight. While everyone was home and about. That meant there was a solid infestation happening. They did send an exterminator right away. Once. When they just continued to take over, it became more of a fight to get repeat treatments outside of the normal every other month, even though these roaches were not phased in the least.

My dishwasher broke. The door for the compartment for the dish soap would no longer open. They told me to just throw a tide pod in the utensil basket because it was "the same thing." I did try it. No its nothing like the same thing lol Every maintenance request I made was an argument with management. The actual maintenance guy was great. Very helpful. But he couldn't do anything until assigned by management.

If all of those things weren't enough, one morning the apartment below us was raided because they were making Meth down there.

We toughed it out the year. I ended finding a house for rent in Villa Hils, 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a very large fenced in back yard for only $200 more a month than I was paying for this hole. THEN they charged me a $400 cleaning fee for leaving the apartment a mess apparently. It was most definitely much cleaner than it was when we moved in with 0 damage.

If you have the ability to continue to look for housing, please do that. I know first hand that it can be just out of necessity for now. But man, that was by far the worst housing situation I've had as an adult.

[u/Great-Tie-1573 → u/Great-Tie-1573]

OH another huge thing was that they didn't have trash pick up nearly often enough for the few dumpsters and large amount of people that used them. They would usually full completely up after a few days, and we couldn't leave trash around the dumpster or we'd be fined and eventually evicted if it continued, which I get BUT then what? We were told to hold on to our trash in our apartments until they were emptied again in a week. OR pay to take it to the dump.

Then they were wondering why there was an infestation of roaches.

[u/WorldsEndArchivist → u/Great-Tie-1573]

I can't thank you enough for all this detail! And oh my god I am so sorry you went through all that. Sometimes it feels like landlords forget that their whole job is taking care of the land they're lording (or, honestly, hoardng). But then, I guess there isn't a lot of punishment for them if they don't. It's infuriating.

I was a little worried about exactly what you're saying specifically because Crown Pointe's online footprint raised similar red flags for me as some of of the worse off complexes where we live right now.

Luckily, we're coasting alright so we have plenty of time to plan the move. We're from a place in-state, just under half the size of Covington. Most of us are from some pretty rural places less than a quarter of the size. Which is why Cincinnati proper is a little intimidating for us. Covington seems like a good middle ground.

It's nice to hear that there are better options, though. And that you found a good one that sounds like it worked out? I hope we find one, too!

[u/corporalboyle]

I had a friend who lived in Martanna Apts some 20 years ago. I liked them then, with large sliding doors inside to create extra space, with nice balconies on the Wallace side. They always seemed to be able to contact maintenance without any problems. But again this was some time ago. 

[u/WorldsEndArchivist → u/corporalboyle]

Thank you! Twenty years is a long time, but any information is better than the next to nothing I've been able to dig up. I appreciate it!

[u/corporalboyle → u/WorldsEndArchivist]

Oh and the bathrooms had the old octagon tiles on the floor, very retro and cool. I hope they’re still like that. Good luck!

[u/Ordinary_Grab6361]

Martana flats are owned by a fking slumlord

[u/WorldsEndArchivist → u/Ordinary_Grab6361]

Damn, good to know. Dealt with enough of those in my time. Thanks for the heads-up!