Sunrise Fountains Apartments

A great apartment, not such a great condo From: DisneyRes Date posted: 8/8/2006 Years at this apartment: 2005 - 2006   First of all, here are my impressions of Sunrise Fountains as an apartment. I moved in just before the condo conversion announcement. I was delighted to find a reasonably priced, well-maintained 2 bedroom apartment with a washer/dryer hookup and snapped it up. Upon moving in, I was very impressed. The apartment was in better condition that I expected all carpet, and tile were new, all appliances (range, dishwasher) replaced, the entire place had a fresh coat of paint and new switchplates, towel bars etc. Very very nice! I have lived in many apartments over the year (including several "luxury" complexes) and I feel Sunrise Fountains went above and beyond to turn this apartment. My experience with the management has been positive. All maintenance concerns have been addressed in record time. The main downside to Sunrise Fountains as an apartment complex is the impending condo conversion. When I moved in, I should have known that something was up when there was no 1 year lease option. In fact, the recommended lease time was 6 months. It really was too good to be true. I am very sad that I will be forced to move out eventually due to this conversion. When I moved in, I had planned to stay for several years. As a condo, I would not recommend this place as an investment. While the fixtures, paint, and floor coverings are nice, those are all cosmetic elements. There are some serious problems with the "bones" of these buildings. For example, the plumbing in general is very sub-standard and must have been cheaply done. In both of my showers, the hot and cold water are plumbed backwards, both toilets have a tendency to run and one leaks intermittently. While I was on vacation, I had a pipe break in the wall behind my sink in the bathroom. (The maintenance staff did fix this as soon as reported, but breaking pipes in 90's construction is concerning). In the laundry room, the drain for the washer is shared with the apartment behind me. When I very first moved here, I could not hook up my washer because my neighborâs drain hose was taking up the whole drain. It has not happened to me, but I wonder what happens if both apartments are doing laundry at the same time' Do the washer drains back up' Several times my kitchen sink has backed up (once while I was on vacation) leading me to believe that the kitchen drains may be shared as well. This brings me to the bathrooms. They basically need to be gutted and re-done. The shower/tub enclosures are in very ill repair for a place built in the 90s. Both bathroom counters are of faux-"marble" finishes which in my apartment have curling iron burns in them attesting to their non-durability. Both toilets very easily stain and seem to have lost the enamel from the inside of their basins. In addition to these concerns, I have heard from 2 of my neighbors that their roofs leak (though I live on the top floor and it has not happened to me). I also noticed that around the fire sprinkler in my living room, the ceiling has been patched (has that thing gone off'!) If it did, everything in the apartment would be ruined. Upon moving in, we were required to sign the requisite California asbestos warning, and the manager pointed out that due to the young age of the building those materials most likely do not exist here, however, I wonder if that is 100% true since it was emphasized that we **absolutely must not** pierce the ceilings (coincidentally they have popcorn covering which is notorious for asbestos content). I also wonder what would happen to this place in an earthquake (knock on stucco). It is built on top of the parking garage.. a great space-saving design, but I noticed there are many cracks in the walls down there... Finally, considering that the largest units here are under 1000 sq feet, and the only units with washer/dryer hookups are the upstairs 2 bedrooms, I cannot imagine shelling out upwards of 400K to buy a place like this. In summary, a great apartment, but not such a great condo.

Recommended: NO Overall Rating

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