Grand Oaks

Bottom line up front: Only live at Grand Oaks Apartments if you are in dire straits. Like, you desperately need affordable housing due to a life crisis. I ended up buying-out of my lease early because of how much I hated living there.

PROS: Close proximity to shopping needs (Gurnee Mills, grocery shopping, restaurants, etc.) and the affordable price of the apartment.

CONS: Everything else. Here are the key items that got me to move out as quickly as I could. For reference, I had a one-bedroom… , first-floor apartment.

-There was a constant cigarette and marijuana smoke smell in my building and in my apartment's bathroom and bedroom. I chose Grand Oaks because of the no smoking policy inside of the apartments.

-Unreasonable pest control issues, including serious fly and earwig challenges. Residents like to prop open the front door, and thus many flies will enter the building. They'll swarm around the hallway lights and enter under the apartment doors/when the apartment doors are opened. When I was having issues with the earwigs, it took over a week to get any communication back from apartment staff, and I was informed I wasn't on the pest control list… a fee that I had been paying monthly. The earwigs were so bad over the spring/summer that I spent most of my time sleeping elsewhere.

-Long communication turn-around-time from staff. When you attempt to communicate with the Grand Oaks staff, you can expect either no response back, or a response back after 7+ days. Be prepared to send numerous follow up emails to them. After you move in (and after they bombard you with notifications to leave a review), the staff couldn’t care less about the residents.

-Although search sites like apartments.com will list that Grand Oaks has washers/dryers in-unit, there are only a couple units in the whole complex that have them. Odds are your unit will not, and you will have to go to the basement to use the communal washers/dryers. There is a significant lack of amenities at Grand Oaks, like washer/dryers, dishwashers, a complex swimming pool, etc.

There are other affordable apartments out there in the area. Save yourself time and DO NOT live at Grand Oaks. I was able to find an apartment at a different complex for around the same price, 2-bedrooms, and washer/dryer and dishwasher in-unit.

Best of luck! Read More