Reviews of Macdonald Estates-Residential (Real Estate Agency)

J Jordon

I went to the building for a viewing that my partner had set up. We were really excited to look as from the listing it looked really promising. Beautiful amenities and the view would be wonderful. We get to the viewing and the woman who was showing the unit (Nancy) definitely did not make us feel welcome. We felt very rushed, she was very curt and rude. I feel like she had better things to do then show a potential renter a unit. She even rolled her eyes at us. Very unprofessional. At the end of the viewing she said that if we did get the unit we should say that someone name catiy referred us so that she could get $500 and that we would get $500. I feel like that is a little shady too do. I don’t know who this person is and I’m not going to attach my name to them. My partner and I make good money. Not interested. Needless to say we left and decided that even though the building/and unit was wonderful. We couldn’t deal with a landlord who acted the way that she did. It is for telling as to how she would actually be if we did move in. Nightmare. It’s really too bad. I think retraining your staff on how to talk to renters and basic etiquette might help. She drove away a couple with a combined income of 6 figures.

EY

I've experienced the same problem as to many other tenants, friendly staff, but lack of regular maintenance in laundry facility. They told us we're getting hardwood floors before we moved in, but on the day we got our keys they told us only carpet flooring was available. We love the location but its been a nightmare. The staff keep offering to spray our place but do nothing to find out where the bed bug is coming from.

Never Prohibited

Great location and very kind and helpful staff

Emma Rain

Macdonald Estates is run by an amazing management company. My boyfriend and I scheduled a viewing with them because we are in need of a new apartment to live in. The management was excellent. Super kind, caring and passionate. Sadly, it wasn't exactly what we were looking for but I would recommend for people to check it out. Beautiful affordably large apartments, includes a pool, gym and has a seemingly great community! It deserves 5 stars from us for sure.

Sugar Hung

Caught bed bugs here and lost alot because of their infestation. No water flow half an hour wait for hot or cold water. Ants in the bathroom. Definitely not worth the 1250 a month for a rough sleep at night and at a loss now having to replace everything in our move. We pretty much lost all our furniture due to bed bugs.

D L

LRT construction has moved on...the library is almost complete...noise is no longer an issue for me. Everything else with the apartment is great! Friendly staff and management will respond to any concerns in a fair and timely manner

Sandeep Adoni

Some of these reviews are a bit whiny and overly critical of little inconveniences. Here's my take. Lived here for 8 months now (I'll update later on). So far things have been pretty great. The staff are friendly and helpful with the move in and booking off elevators, etc. I got $200 as a move in bonus that I wasn't expecting so that was a nice surprise. Easy to move in. They painted and redid the floors to laminate-style hardwood at my request before moving in which was much appreciated, as the unit needed updating. No in-suite laundry, but every floor has its own washer/dryer so not a problem. The building has been recently renovated in hallways and lobby, so some of the older reviews concerning maintenance are out of date now. As well, the AC was fixed so it is very cool. In the winter, so long as you have the head and fan on its as warm as anyone would like and there is a thermostat in suite so it's adjustable. No sign of bed bugs thus far... Parking is $100/month which is a shame, as rent isn't overly cheap ($1150/month), however electricity is included so that's nice. The hot water works very well... sometimes too well in the shower, so it takes a bit to get the temperature set correctly in the morning. The gym, pool, sundeck, lounge, and bbq are great and well maintained! Plus how can you beat the river valley views! No other issues so far.

Alia Fritsen

Stayed at this place for 5+ years. Very convenient location, and there is nothing I want to complain about, the view, the amenity, the suites. Gotta give credit to the managers in the building, super nice to deal with, always quick to respond to repair/maintenance requests.

Sheldon McGuey

I thought the building and amenities where nice and well maintained, but the experience I had with Nancy during our viewing was enough for us to say NO!! Rude, degrading and made us to feel like we didnt belong or like she had something better to be doing. I came from out of province to view a few properties and was particularly excited about this place as it's very close to my new workplace. But I refuse to deal with someone that treats potential clients with her poor attitude. Without her, we definitely would've considered signing. Please review your staff and make the appropriate changes. I find it hard to believe we are the only ones with this experience.

Mariya Lipskaya

To sum up this place is amazing. They have amazing apartments, with a gorgeous Southern view. There is a lot I could rave about such as: The great Halloween decorations (Halloween is my favourite so I'm definitely a little biased), or at the open house how they had coffee and donuts, or the fact that they have a pool and an open sundeck. But my favourite part of the whole experience was definitely Nancy. if anyone , anybody or any place could have a selling feature it would be Nancy. Blessed with the gift of Gab, Nancy is the most fantastic person I have ever met. I have never in my life felt more welcome, more invited, or felt more valued then when I walked into the McDonald Estates. A huge selling factor for my friend (as it was not me moving) was simply Nancy. She is most definitely one amazing woman. She is definitely welcoming she made us both feel right at home. Nancy, is probably the coolest person I have ever met. She made me feel like my questions mattered and my opinion counted. I know in my heart of hearts I will never meet another person like Nancy. I really hope the McDonald Estates truly know how blessed they are to have a lady like Nancy as a live-in manager.

Karl Kitchen

Manager very nice n maintenance man

Lolly P

Best building I've ever lived at! The staff here have been incredible through the COVID pandemic. You always see them sanitising the building regularly. I can say as a resident that I recognize all the hard work the staff have been putting in; to keep the building running as smooth as possible. All the staff are still cheery and it's nice to see smiling faces during this crisis. Excited for when our pool and sundeck opens again for us to all enjoy the summer! Keep up the amazing work MacDonald Estates!

Winston Diaz

Other than having no heat in the dead of winter , while I have pets that neeed warmth is a huuuuuge issue , or it's not ever working properly.... Why???? It's allways a problem with the water being strickly cold whenever it is needed to be Hot... Why ??? . Other than that im very lucky to have not run into bed bugs. #1 possitive thing... Regardless the parking with an extra 100 $$ is ridiculous. Thus not insolated or air conditioned. So if you dont have a block heater or anything of the sort Good luck in winter conditions. Overall... This place should be a 600 $ rent NOT 880 +..... People are nice but smiles Don't fix problems. Im having to go to swimming pool shower because my place has no water pressure.

CaLLMeRisKTakER

Friendly staff and great location, but the gym is quite small and old

Tuo Zhou

Lived in the building for 1 1/2 yrs. Staff are friendly but don't manage the building well with no record keeping or accountability for issues brought up. Maintenance issues ongoing, with mould in the laundry room, ongoing bedbug infestation in the building, leaking windows, sloppy work done by trades. Not worth the rent.

Kaytee Kc

I’ve been a resident of 99 Jasper for a while. I would like to say big thank you to Nancy (property manager). She was so kind and caring from the very first day. I have the most warm feeling about this place thanks to her. Totally recommend this place for living! Great location, pool and staff members!

Okra Lover

The building has gone downhill very quickly and very badly the last few weeks. No one is ever in the office anymore, no one answers the office phone either. Might as well call after 8 so you can talk to security. Had to wait days on end for a repair request to be acknowledged and then completed. Building lobbies and hallways are now always dirty. No sanitizer in half the dispensers. Then I'm chatting with the Resident Manager, Guy, the other day and he proudly tells me he can't read me the sign in the elevator since he can't read at all. What kind of manager can't read?! I find that information a bit unsettling and concerning to say the least. In general the whole place runs worse then it has in years.

James Jackson

The staff who work here are lovely and great people, but we recently caught bed bugs from someone/someplace in the building (the laundry room had at least one crawling around). I don't think they do thorough check-ups to ensure all floors and rooms are pest free. Anyway, they are nice people but the building needs more oversight.

Kit L

Moved in here not long ago and so far I am very pleased. The staff are all great. Emerald in the office is very helpful and friendly. The building has nice extras like a swimming pool. Glad to call this place my home

Karsen Mitchell

Noise Noise Noise!! LRT construction...24 hours a day...enjoy!!

James Yin

Been in the building for over 8 years and have been pretty happy thous far, due to the age of the building there is normal issues that get dealt with in a timely manor. I have seen a lot of different faces over the years and have enjoyed most of them. like any apartment building there is not much that can be done regarding bedbugs unit they are found. I myself have had my unit sprayed a few times.

Gail Kam

Cockroach infested and managers lie about maintenance such as pest removal. Suspected illegal entry into suites as well.

Ashley Ann Hope

Great building! Even better staff, has a swimming pool and fitness center here too which is awesome. Happy I made the choice to live here!

peiyue Wang

When you live there, you may not really pay attention to the hassles. Overall speaking, the location is really good and staff is nice. BUT, ..... 1. The building is too old, so many maintenance undergoing within a year. Just this year, the swimming pool was shut down almost half a year. first, system maintenance and repairs in the winter, then painting, now the roof has severe leaking issue. It's a nice amenity, you pay for it but just can't enjoy it. 2. Because of the location, they have low vacancy. Hence, they will even lease you a unit that is not fully ready. The unit I moved in has no central AC and furnace. They said the shipping of AC should arrive soon. I lived there w/o air conditioning for months in the summer, until I requested a portable one. Later they installed the furnace of my unit, but it's not installed properly. I have submitted several maintenance request to get it resolved. There was a crazy cold weekend in late October, I have to stay cold because of the office is not open and I can't get any instant support. 3. If anything can be fixed, they wouldn't replace for you. e.g.I submitted three time maintenance request to fix the kitchen faucet, specifically requesting them to replace a new one, but each time they just came in to fix it. Everything inside the bldg is so dated. 4. You have to pay for the laundry. Probably $4 for one time washing and drying. The machines will sometimes deduct your money without washing. 5. The fitness room closes at 10pm which is not convenient at all. Sometimes it's so busy in the evening and you don't get a chance to use the only elliptical machine. The building is so old. it's being renovated constantly, but those are not major reno. Emergency situations like boiler breakdown, garbage shoot shutdown, heating issue are so common. Last but not the least, when you move out, you better have somebody to deep clean the unit, otherwise you may be charged of some sort of "damage" fee. It turns out it's the cleaning charge . And the amount they charge is also unreasonably high. I don't wanna say I did a throughout cleaning. But at least, I did the basics, vacuuming, mopping the floor, cleaning the countertop, cabinet and bathtub, etc. They still call it "dirty". They have such high cleanness standard. To be noticed, when I first moved, the unit was also dirty as well. I used the swiffer wet mopping cloths to clean the floor. The cloths are black after mopping. I also need to clean all the cabinet surface. In this scenario, should they also deduct something from my rent and repay me back? Just wanna let you know some facts of the building. Don't only look at the location and amenities. The place is good, but not as good as you consider.

B SW

Love this building! I've lived in alot of apartment buildings before, and this is by far my favorite place. The swimming pool is so nice, and I love the sundeck in the summer! The staff are all awesome here. I have to give major kudos to the new girl, Emerald. She is so quick to respond to resident concerns and she evens helps with fixing stuff! She goes way above and beyond to make you feel like your concerns are heard and addressed appropriately! Bonus points because my cat likes her too!

15Aijay

One of, if not the worst place I’ve ever lived. The staff are friendly, and the views are nice. But it stops there. We had bedbugs in our apartment that came from one of our neighbours, and how it was dealt with was absolutely deplorable. Nobody should have to live for months with an infestation and constantly be told “we’re working on it” when nothing is actually getting done. Aside from this, the hot water is constantly shut off, the elevators are broken more often than necessary, the garbage chute always gets clogged, and the parkade is a dump. I could go on! Lastly, their attempt to rebrand some of the newer units as “luxurious downtown living” makes me sick. I wouldn’t wish living here on my worst enemy.

Michelle Woite

I have lived here for 15 years and that was definitely not the original plan. I only planned to stay here for a few years to finish up school and move on. However, MacDonald Estates was such a great place to live that it ended up being 15 years until today when I finally moved out (bought a place). The location is perfect. Central downtown with easy access to LRT and all the downtown amenities close by. Building itself was great, suite had no problems and management are friendly and top notch. If you drive, there is heated secure parking (extra) attached to the building as well, which is a great perk especially during the winter. Rent is affordable and power is included which makes a huge difference. I highly recommend MacDonald Estates if you are looking for a nice place to rent downtown.

Th J

Amazing place to live. It is close to downtown, has a great view of the city, and even has a pool. The staff are very nice. Nancy and Jarvis are always available to help and address concerns. They're amazing. I would recommend this apartment building to anyone who would like to live downtown.

Eric Bell

Friendly staff and convenient location

Rena S

Lived here for a few years now. Noticed a huge improvement as of late. The lobbies are cleaner, my work requests are completed promptly. The new manager couple are very nice, approachable and listen to concerns and seem to make an effort to address them. My heat is working properly for the first time in years! The new girl came and changed my thermostat and now it works great! Thanks Realstar!

Pokey Pole

As a resident in the building for five years, I would say this is a very decent place to live in given the location and the facility they offer for the price point. However, the reason why I gave it only two stars is because of the new management team. The new building manager, Shawna treats the tenants with an absolutely horrible attitude. Her behaviour Is extremely unprofessional, constantly makes careless mistakes and she shows no effort to be friendly to her tenants whatsoever. The move out process with her was miserable and she tried to rush the paperwork without providing proper details and explanations.

tottimanitou

Super happy living here. Get to enjoy a sweet view of the river valley. Free pool and gym. Great, friendly staff. Clean and well kept building, the laundry can be a pain sometimes. But every building has there minor problems. Overall a really great value for downtown living!

Rj Dayo

Great management ????

Ron N

The new management is unprofessional. You bring a concern to their attention and they dismiss it like it’s your fault. The old management used to be considerate and you always felt like your concerns were addressed. I’ve been here over 5 years and I have never experienced this . Who ever brought in the new management please switch or reconsider … sincerely your longer term tenant