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On another note, I'm not sure how many are in Orange County, but also stay way the heck away from BRE properties. I'd live back in Woodbridge Meadows before I'd live in a BRE property.
-Hey,
I will be moving to the Laguna/Irvine/Mission V. area for school this fall. I'm looking for nice, quiet, safe apartments/condos/townhouses/whatever! My budget is looking to be around 1500$ per month (though I can go over that)- I would like a 2brd so family has a place to stay when they visit. Any suggestions? Apartmentratings.com is scaring the crap out of me!!
Thanks!
There is a big difference between laguna and mv/irvine. Laguna is coastal (more expensive) and mv/irvine are inland. You'll have better luck looking at one of the inland cities from a price perspective. Also could look at lake forest, ladera, and aliso which are all inland as well.
Sadly, that's what is said (basically) about every apartment complex I've looked up so far, except for maybe Harbour Lights in HB, Alicante, Portola Place, and The Park at Irvine Spectrum Center. The Park is a bit more than I'd like to pay (I'd like to stay under 2,000)...and I must have looked at hundreds of places! Of course, everywhere looks nice when you're at their webpage. Do you have any places to recommend, even in the surrounding areas? No smoking, bugs, or violence please! Also, we have two cars, so....probably not covered for both, but having a place within the gate would be a plus
Sadly, that's what is said (basically) about every apartment complex I've looked up so far, except for maybe Harbour Lights in HB, Alicante, Portola Place, and The Park at Irvine Spectrum Center. The Park is a bit more than I'd like to pay (I'd like to stay under 2,000)...and I must have looked at hundreds of places! Of course, everywhere looks nice when you're at their webpage. Do you have any places to recommend, even in the surrounding areas? No smoking, bugs, or violence please! Also, we have two cars, so....probably not covered for both, but having a place within the gate would be a plus
That's the problem with apartments: Its luck of the draw. You could spend top dollar and still wind up living under people who practice their kickboxing at 3am. Same thing with smokers. Lack of parking is a common problem too. I was lucky enough to find a place with two assigned spots but I think those are pretty rare. Of course all management will tell you there's plenty of parking. But if there's plenty, why assign only one spot per unit?
actually, my place has 2 assigned spots for the 2br's, but then again it's a BRE community, so I'm waiting to hear from Veronika as to why she wouldn't recommend it. From my personal experience, it's been ok so far.
I know 3400 Ave of the Arts in Costa Mesa has 2 assigned spots, but the 2br's there run just around $2000.
We moved into a property in San Diego (was then called Reflections, is now called The Landing, I believe). We lived there from 2003-2007, because we just couldn't afford to move.
First, my dish washer did not wash dishes. It left this very weird residue *all* over anything in it (even when we ran it without soap). They came out 5 times and filled it with something called CLR remover. Finally, after 6 times, they relented and replaced the dishwasher (and we never had an issue with it again).
My garbage disposal kept backing up. It would back up if I put anything in it. The management told me that what I was putting in it was inappropriate (egg shells, small amounts of cooked pasta, mashed potatoes, etc.). The manager was extremely rude to me. I researched on line and provided all sorts of documentation of what could and couldn't be put in a garbage disposal. She got belligerent. I went over her head and provided the same information to BRE Corporate. They were rude and nasty to me, but finally relented to installing a new disposal (which never gave me problems again). The kicker of all this, is that I looked up the replacement disposal and it was $35 at Home Depot. They fought me that hard over a $35 disposal. And they were just really nasty to me.
After almost 3 years in the apartment the people who lived under our neighbors set the building on fire. Firemen cut through the roof (we were on the third floor), and into our apartment. There was a 4'x6' whole in our roof to the outside, there was extreme smoke damage. We had 2 cats at the time, and the apartment was completely uninhabitable. They tried to tell us the apartment was fine, and wanted us to sleep there that night. Red Cross came in and deemed the apartment uninhabitable and put us in a hotel for 2 nights.
After 2 nights in the hotel, the apartment complex said we could move back into the apartment (with a hole in the roof still). When we pointed out on our lease the section that said our apartment being uninhabitable made our lease null and void, they threatened to sue us (mind you, I still have PTSD from the incident, because the fire alarms did not go off, and our neighbors basically saved us, and then when the fire alarms did go off, we were trying to get our cats out of the apartment, and they fought us so hard that my husband actually had to be seen by paramedics. Not to mention that my neighbors completely lost their apartment). It was very traumatic, and I was barely functional. When I had an attorney contact them, they offered us a different apartment in the complex, but still said if we didn't sign a new 12 month lease with them starting from that day, and if we tried to move, they'd sue us. They then offered us a smaller apartment, in a worse location, for $200/month more. Because I was basically catatonic, we took their offer, because how do you fight against a corporation like that?
And then finally, one day I'm in the apartment and my neighbor comes running up. He and 4 friends watched a maintenance guy park a maintenance golf cart on an incline and not set the brake. The cart rolled into my husband's BRAND NEW car.
The guy then proceeded to jump into his golf cart and try to drive off, but one of the 4 witnesses stopped him, until the neighbor came and got me.
I came down, and demanded to see the manager. The maintenance guy disappeared, and I waited and waited for a manager to come. I got one on the phone, and they basically tried to tell me they weren't responsible for the actions of the maintenance guy. I then called the police, who said they couldn't actually do anything because a golf cart isn't a real vehicle, but they came out to try to help intimidate the manager. When that didn't work, I called my insurance company. I was on my cell phone with them when the manager finally pulled up. She asked my husband in horror, "Who is she talking to??" And my husband told her the insurance company. The manager went white and told him to tell me to get off the phone immediately, that we didn't need to involve the insurance company.
Luckily a claims adjuster came out immediately, spoke to the 4 witnesses, but the maintenance guy had disappeared. BRE told them the next day that he'd been fired, and they had no contact information for him. BRE refused to pay my insurance company, and we were left paying a $500 deductible to fix our damaged car. To my knowledge BRE is still refusing to pay over 3 years later, even though they were obviously at fault.
When we moved out, they kept our entire security deposit and sent us a bill for over $1,000 more claiming that we'd stayed in the apartment a week longer than we were supposed to (when we actually moved out of state a week earlier than when our lease was up (and we'd given them 45 days written notice)). They dropped all of that once I provided them with detailed paperwork (copies of my written notice, which I made the manager sign when I presented it, because I knew they were untrustworthy, photo documentation of the apartment's condition (I hired professional cleaners to clean it after we moved out), a signed final walk-through inspection paper).
I will NEVER live in a BRE property again. Maybe they're okay if you never have an issue with your apartment, but they were the most unscrupulous company I've ever dealt with.
V. =)
Last edited by VeronikaW; 06-16-2010 at 04:40 PM..
yikes, and I thought it was just going to be a security deposit issue like what my co-worker had when he lived here (I think they tried to charge him $1000 for cleaning expenses at move-out). I'll probably be here for a while, but I hope it doesn't turn out to be against my better judgment. I don't think I've heard one good story about dealing with the corporate office of any residential property company
yikes, and I thought it was just going to be a security deposit issue like what my co-worker had when he lived here (I think they tried to charge him $1000 for cleaning expenses at move-out). I'll probably be here for a while, but I hope it doesn't turn out to be against my better judgment. I don't think I've heard one good story about dealing with the corporate office of any residential property company
Hopefully your apartment won't have any issues. I think as long as you don't have any issues, you'll be okay. The whole situation was a nightmare. We were so glad to be out of there!
On another note, I've had really good experiences with Avalon and Essex (both in WA, though, not CA).
Heh- I've lived in WA as well... =) and had great experiences. Is there any complexes anyone could recommend, some that are ok to take a look at? Obviously I'll be looking at many during my trip over, but it'd be nice to have some nice places that locals recommend rather than the ones I think "oh that looks nice from their website"...
A space for two cars would be wonderful...but I haven't seen that often. Usually it's just for one car.
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