Which area is good to live for me and my family (Reno: apartment complexes, leasing)

[DarthSkar]

Hello everyone. I am relocating to Reno from NY with my wife and 2 newborn twins and golden retriever. Of the apartments that take large dogs which of these 3 would u guys recommend as being safe and had a good reputation.
1. Montebello
2. Northtowne Summit
or 3. Marina Village in Sparks
I appreciate ur help.
P.S. I can't believe how nice people are in Reno compared to NY.
Thanks

[renoguy]

Hi there. Here’s my thoughts. Marina Village is in a weird location. I wouldn’t say the neighborhood is bad or anything just weird. Sparks is trying to turn the old Helms pit into a community park / lake etc. It’s working but the transformation is taking time. To me the whole area seems to be developing slowing and in a rather unorganized fashion. Overall though, I don’t think I’d run from it.

Northtowne Summit. Stay away. The apartments probably aren’t bad but they’re too close to a bad neighborhood. They’re right behind Wal-Mart on a bluff overlooking the hood. There is a lot of traffic trying to get into this place due to Wal-Mart and the WINCO foods up there.

Montebello. I actually had to look this one up. This place was previously known as Oasis Bluffs. This was one of Reno’s original upscale apartment complexes. I went through them when they were first built several years ago. They were quite nice then. They seem to be kept up well. They’re located in the Northwest near a Home Depot and some other shopping. I think I’d pick this location over the other two and definitely over Northtowne.

[2sleepy]

If you are going to rent an apartment in Reno check for parking first. I know alot of folks who rent apartments with 2 cars and only have one dedicated parking space and end up parking their second car outside of the complex and walking home. From what I have been told Reno only requires one parking space per apt.

[canonviewfinder]

Originally Posted by renoguy

Hi there. Here’s my thoughts. Marina Village is in a weird location. I wouldn’t say the neighborhood is bad or anything just weird. Sparks is trying to turn the old Helms pit into a community park / lake etc. It’s working but the transformation is taking time. To me the whole area seems to be developing slowing and in a rather unorganized fashion. Overall though, I don’t think I’d run from it.

Northtowne Summit. Stay away. The apartments probably aren’t bad but they’re too close to a bad neighborhood. They’re right behind Wal-Mart on a bluff overlooking the hood. There is a lot of traffic trying to get into this place due to Wal-Mart and the WINCO foods up there.

Montebello. I actually had to look this one up. This place was previously known as Oasis Bluffs. This was one of Reno’s original upscale apartment complexes. I went through them when they were first built several years ago. They were quite nice then. They seem to be kept up well. They’re located in the Northwest near a Home Depot and some other shopping. I think I’d pick this location over the other two and definitely over Northtowne.

I'm considering Marina Village..do you mind elaborating a bit more about the area it is located in sparks??

[renoguy]

It's somewhat of a mix. Interstate and a few houses to the South. Storage units and a neighborhood to the northwest. To the east is land to be developed and a giant apartment complex. There is an abundance of shopping at the intersection of Prayter and Sparks Blvd. Further to the west is Western Village Casino. It's a local's place that has two restaurants in it. If you look at Google Maps Satellite view it may help.

Overall, I wouldn't call it a bad neighborhood. I'd say there are a lot of apartments in the immediate area.

[mikki]

I would go to an apartment ratings site (Google Montebello) to get more info.

[canonviewfinder]

Originally Posted by renoguy

It's somewhat of a mix. Interstate and a few houses to the South. Storage units and a neighborhood to the northwest. To the east is land to be developed and a giant apartment complex. There is an abundance of shopping at the intersection of Prayter and Sparks Blvd. Further to the west is Western Village Casino. It's a local's place that has two restaurants in it. If you look at Google Maps Satellite view it may help.

Overall, I wouldn't call it a bad neighborhood. I'd say there are a lot of apartments in the immediate area.

would you say marina village is far enough away from the "bad areas" of sparks? as far as apartments go its the only one that we found that is gated and in our price range.

[vharensmithk]

From personal experience I would never lease an apartment from NorthTowne Summit again. We did a 3 month furniture only lease there while looking for a home to purchase. We moved out early with proper notice (and all rents paid in full for the time period), they then proceeded to wait an entire 30 days for my refund deposits and took all of it except for $4.71 (out of 240.00) for everything they could think about. The place was dirty when we moved in (no new paint, carpet cleaning, etc.) and I left it spotless. There were holes in the walls and burns all over the place. I am a smoker but not to the extent that they should have charged me $150.00 for smoke removal on a place that was never cleaned to begin with. They also stated during the exit walk-thru that it was in great shape, they were going to totally remodel it and make it a regular apartment instead of a corporate rental - go figure - guess I paid for the paint !!!! I am in the middle of taking up this issue with them, any suggestions anyone has would be welcome.

[Trim]

Since you are considering the Sparks marina, thought you would want to know about the construction site going on right next door.

If you go to Official Government Website - City of Sparks, Nevada (http://www.ci.sparks.nv.us/ - broken link) and look under the "quick links" tab for the Newsroom, you will see some articles describing the Legends mall they are building right next to the sparks marina. Entries made on 2/13/07, 1/3/07 and 12/11/06 tells of status.

Personally, I can't wait for it to open next spring, as they will have a "Dave & Busters"

[vharensmithk]

Well friends, it has now beeen almost a month and still no reply or return calls about my deposit refund. I would only suggest that you carefully consider NOT leasing from this complex as their customer service is lacking both in their maintenance areas and in reconciling any problems such as I experienced. I havae leased many apartments in my years and never had a worse or more expensive experience.