GSL Properties GSL Properties, Bethany Meadows Apartments, Bethany Meadows Portland Beaverton READ - WORST COMPLEX EVER! GSL = SCAM COMPANY!!! Portland Oregon

A wolf in sheep's clothing....

First pulling in, it looks excellent. The trees, the Bethany Area, the location is no doubt superb. But don't be fooled, in the case of Bethany Meadows, it IS too good to be true!!

If you decide to live at the Bethany Meadows Apartments, you may very well regret it, and here's why:

Tenant and Clientele quality: During the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons, there are constant parties by younger tenants and tenant's visitors. The complex itself is set up in rows, so sound travels through the parking lots like your in a tunnel. You can hear a whisper 100 feet away if your windows are open. If your unfortunate enough to have to live in an upper-level unit , you must keep your windows open, as the buildings and units tend to get extremely warm probably due to poor insulation methods.

Even during winter months residual heat from all other tenants around you will keep your unit at a constant 80 'F. An air conditioner is a MUST HAVE during the summer and fall, and you will have to keep it running day and night to keep your unit around 75'F. Be ready for a large electric bill during the late Spring, Summer, and early fall months!

Tenants themselves are generally friendly, however they seem to not be of the highest quality. I witnessed a couple of fights, and in broad daylight a guy beating his girlfriend in the parking lot. Police activity is higher than most other complexes I've ever lived in or even seen. The parking lot in the summer is the typical hangout for teenagers, talking, smoking, drinking and leaning/sitting on other people's cars.

Bicycle and other transportation: Although Im not a cyclist, there is covered bike parking at the end of every garage building. However, the Shopping Carts from nearby Albertson's, Wallgreens, and QFC might make it difficult to find the space to lock up as they typically occupy these valuable unassigned spaces.

Management: The management at Bethany Meadows will flat-out IGNORE any and all tenants. Almost as if its company protocol. They will not respond to, or answer a call you make to them. They have caller ID and they use it! (I actually was talking to management one day in the office when the the phone rang on another desk, the girl working at that desk was busy text messaging on her cell phone as she looked at the office phone, and simply ignored it while it rang off the hook. Leaving a message will probably get you laughed at.)

Maintenance: Good luck having any repairs done, it may take months (no joke) to have a toilet plumbing problem fixed. It takes a call to the Corporate Office in Portland or a letter to the BBB to get any issues, including maintenance issues, resolved in any time frame less than a month. The construction of the buildings are generally poor. Water leaking into your unit from walls and window frames will be a common occurrence during spring/fall/winter time when it rains the most.

The carpets in the unit I lived in were obviously cleaned poorly and retained stains, dog urine and other biological samples could easily be seen everywhere with a black light. Just make sure you report all issues in your unit to GSL Property Management via a letter to the BBB and take photographs. Everything MUST be documented when dealing with Bethany Meadows or GSL. Otherwise you wont get a response, and repairs will not get made in a timely manner, resulting in HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS in repairs charged to you at the end of your lease term, a loss of your deposit, and a collection bill for the remainder.

Recreation and Facilities: The workout facility is not worth using, since its only open during business hours and is located right smack in the front of the office. If having an audience motivates your workout routine, this facility is perfect for you. The pool might as well be on lock-down constantly, as management is looking out for pool passes at all times.

If you have an ex spouse and kids, dont expect them to be allowed in the general area of the pool without "The Pool Pass", which is a yellow bracelet that must be worn at all times. Your only issued one. The pool is small and not very deep, its almost always filled with rowdy loud kids running around, splashing, and urinating inside of it. One time a kid actually defecated in the Hot Tub, and it wasnt floating, someone stepped in it at the bottom.

Parking Lot Areas: The parking lot is a tactical nightmare. If you have a visitor, dont expect to find a parking spot! Most tenants seem to have more than one vehicle, not running, occupying their primary assigned space, so they park in visitor spots. Tenants and their visitors like to blast through the parking lot at 30 MPH while blaring loud music regardless of the time of day. If you are elderly, have small children, or dont think you can physically handle diving out of the way of speeding cars, then serious injury or death will occur at the Bethany Meadows Apartments. You must be on high alert at all times in the parking lots. 

Waste and Recycle areas: The Trash dumpster and recycling areas are a constant disaster, and smell horrible. I've never lived at a place where the tenants seem to go out of their way to throw recyclable items in the trash. Just plain laziness. In these areas you will almost always find large CRT televisions on the ground broken, along with urine stained couches, mattresses and box-springs. Feral cats are also common, and in the spring time, they become violent while in heat.

The dumpsters themselves are always in their typical state of complete full-ness and overflowing, as if they never get emptied, resulting in a pile of trash far towering the walls of the dumpster areas with an appearance and stench similar to a landfill. However they do indeed get emptied, as whitnessed by the unusual methods in which management performs it:

They use a small green John Deer gas powered golf kart and go from dumpster stall to dumpster stall, hooking them up together, then they parade this Train-Like 100 foot line of dumpsters through the parking lots, going over speed bumps while trash is falling out, of course failing to stop and pick it up. This is a common occurrence, happening several times per week. You get pretty used to the sounds and sights of the "Dumpster Train" after about a month of living there.

The overall value and feel while at home is good at Bethany Meadows, however, this is quickly outweighed when you live here for more than 6 months. When the lease period expires, you will be charged a 30% increase in your monthly rental rate. 

While I'm sure others may have had positive experiences here and you may read positive reviews, its probably caused by the fact that they lived in a worst place before, and from where they came from: Bethany Meadows Apartments just Can't Get Any Better! (Or be any worse)