San Diego newbie: downtown, $2500/month rent, safe... where?

[rgb123]

I've read some horrifying reviews of downtown apartments where the pedicab drivers show up from Eastern Europe in the summer time, sometimes 20 to an apartment...bathing in the hot tub, in the pool, etc. Sounded absoultley terrible. Nice complex too in the marina district.

and there are plenty of college students on a free ride from mom and dad!

[tonyinsd]

You're going to get noise, period. If you live in the East Village, it's going to be the police station, with sirens as the cops respond to emergency situations. Or the fire station. Or the crowds for Petco 81 games a year. In Little Italy, it's airplane noise, the trolley and rail cars, and restaurants and bars.

Just expect it. Because if you don't, you are going to miserable.

As for Yelp, I take those reviews with not just a grain, but a whole mountain of salt. You're talking about dozens of complaints in an apartment complex with hundreds of apartments and you're talking multiple years. Could it be that the people complaining are the outliers?

I've been in Vantage Pointe many times to help take care of a friend's pets, and I've never heard any noise that I'd consider excessive. On top of that, you can always call security if people are being too loud, and they will make whoever is being noisy get quiet.

Originally Posted by KohPhiPhi

I realize that, no need to state the obvious... what I meant by "street noise" is bars, railways, airport corridor or highways nearby, etc...

Read the reviews on Yelp or many other forums. There are dozens of threads from people renting at complexes like Vantage Pointe and the such complaining that college kids are partying every second night, running around the building corridors, loud music till the wee hour, etc. Literally dozens of people complaining about the same thing, so there's got to be something about it...

[rgb123]

reviewers can be taken with a grain of salt unless they are all saying the same thing. The accounts of the pedicab drivers taking over this particular complex seemed too hard to have been made up and many supported it. I look for common threads in complaints. If they are just pissed they didn't get their security deposit back, well welcome to the world

I just signed my lease today (I'm starting out in Carlsbad as I know I need quiet and comfort to start with, maybe I'll move on after a year there to something more exciting, but I work from home). I'm quite excited but the complex didn't get stellar reviews, they are under new ownership though so I take it with a "somewhat" grain of salt and expect some of the things will annoy me as well, but that is also why I decided on a corner, top floor unit.

[tonyinsd]

I think that Carlsbad is a good place to be if you're looking for quiet. In fact, a lot of the people who I know that live there say that's what they like about it. That's great you found a place you like.

As for the annoying things, anyone who says they've found a place that's perfect is lying. You're going to have something. It can be the need to hop in a car to get anything, which is extremely annoying to me. Or homeless people who smell bad on the same block. Or the street noise. Or people with cars on cinder blocks who you're sure are cooking meth.

Even in La Jolla, you're going to have to put up with a former Presidential candidate who wants to raze his current home, build a new one, and who doesn't feel like you should be able to stop the construction if it obstructs the view of the ocean from your house. And those homes ain't cheap!

Originally Posted by rgb123

reviewers can be taken with a grain of salt unless they are all saying the same thing. The accounts of the pedicab drivers taking over this particular complex seemed too hard to have been made up and many supported it. I look for common threads in complaints. If they are just pissed they didn't get their security deposit back, well welcome to the world

I just signed my lease today (I'm starting out in Carlsbad as I know I need quiet and comfort to start with, maybe I'll move on after a year there to something more exciting, but I work from home). I'm quite excited but the complex didn't get stellar reviews, they are under new ownership though so I take it with a "somewhat" grain of salt and expect some of the things will annoy me as well, but that is also why I decided on a corner, top floor unit.