Dorchester House

Breem

This pace is not a bad place at all. From reading some of the reviews I was a bit nervous about living here. The owner is quite but is willing to answer questions that you might have for her. The Manager is pretty new to the place but will do her best to help you find answers to your questions about the place and rules. I was a bit confused when I was quoted a price that was more than what I was told when we put our deposit down. Along with other hidden costs. So make sure you get everything in writing before you put your nonrefundable deposit down. Yes even knowing what I do now I would still move into this place. It is clean and they are trying to get the place fixed up. And it is in a great location. The people who live here seem to be very nice. There are movie night and cards everyone is invited. They also put on a very nice independence day BBQ. Rooms are very small no oven small refrigerator. But you can make it work.

Former Resident-Glad to be gone

The Dorchester House is an apartment house for residents who are 58 or older. Rent includes electricity, water and sewer, garbage, a bar refrigerator, a microwave, a cooktop with two burners, access to a shared laundry and basic cable television. Residents must provide their own furnishings. Pets are accepted with a deposit. Weekly housekeeping is available for a fee. Residents with medical issues must provide their own system to notify emergency personnel for medical assistance. Residents must make arrangements for and be financially responsible for personal telephone service and expanded cable television.

HonestOpine

The Good: They accept pets, paid cable, water/electric/ laundry included in rent, historical landmark The Bad: Management is cheap and turns a ' blind eye' to what's going on there because they're lazy and don't want to deal with issues and waste your time. The Ugly: When you're taken on a tour to see a room, you're told such wonderful things and how guests love living there. During the showing, the tour guide did joke and called it a "Bates Motel" which was a red flag to me and found out later that he was right. Despite it being a historical hotel, there were some (creepy} characters living there. As long as you don't complain everything is fine. But when you do complain, the management tries to pacify you by talking to you and act like they're concerned, yet they do very little, if anything to fix the problem. When you complain about the same issue, they tag you as a 'problem' and can ignore you. They can even be intimidating and defensive if you do complain and then they turn your legitimate complaint into your 'personal problem' which is condescending for them to do which is unprofessional. The managers fail at actually managing and doing their job effectively and make you feel like you are 'the problem' .. I guess they're too busy decorating the place for the holidays which ends up looking cheesy. overdone, and cheap.. This 'overdone' decorating is simply to put on a show for advertising purposes for outsiders and little money is put into making the place/rooms nicer for paying residents. At times, I found only the front doors are locked at night, but some nights the courtyard door and back door is unlocked because they're so over-painted that they stick and it seems like it's locked unless you pull hard , so basically anyone off the street can walk in. I suppose when a women there gets raped and sues the owner and managers, then they may get their act together and run the property like professionals. Back parking lot is unsafe and not lit well so walking from your car to the building can be dangerous. There's no security video cameras anywhere according to management . Windows in the rooms are old, outdated, almost frozen, and should have been replaced decades ago so anyone can break into your room. You can't leave windows open at night (unless you don't want someone breaking in) which can be very hot in the summer. Floors/ceiling is paper thin, yet walls are thicker. They even posted a long-winded page notice in the elevator about how they had the tap water there 'lead-tested' but failed to actually post an actual 3rd party company data results, so in my opinion they never tested the water and lied just to pacify everyone to think the water there is safe to drink. So, they're very cheap to say the least. They put a fountain outside near the front door/sidewalk to make the entrance look Zen, yet they couldn't spend a little more to put a fountain in the courtyard for actual paying residents to enjoy. Bottom line, profit margin is more important to the owner as well as curb appeal to drag potential residents onto the property. They brag to get you about the placer to sign the lease, but it's not really worth dealing with the management. Some rooms don't have reasonable kitchen space/cabinets, etc and if you want a kitchen cabinet you have to pay for it and then they will install it for you. I guess when the manager says its like a 'Bates Motel' during a showing, then I should've listened to my intuition and not signed the lease in the first place.

Mary258743

My brother is very happy at Dorchester House. They have studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms. The fee includes the electricity, water, and the garbage. They have beautiful grounds with nice landscaping and lots of activities. Food is not included in the fee because he has his own kitchen in his studio room, but I wish he had more space in his room. The place is very nice because they kept the old fireplaces and the chandeliers. There's a river that runs behind the place, and it's just a mile from the ocean.

Jackiebeans

I was surprised to learn Dorchester House no longer serves meals.The high.way is dangerous for residents to cross .I do not know how they expect people to eat well on a hot plate and microwave and thas after they manage to go to the store to get food and bring it back.No way to clean up well either.Shame on them.