I moved to this apartment complex because it seemed to be, at the time, the cheapest in Davis, which was appropriate given the tiny size of the apartments. Much to my annoyance the rent rose yearly until it was no longer a good deal. The rate of the increases also increased- my first rent increase was about 5% and the last about 10% (I moved out before that). Perhaps the management thought that their tenants wouldn?t notice; it would not surprise me given their generally patronizing attitude (lots of unctuously cute notices that seemed to be addressed to misbehaving grade schoolers). It is unimaginable to me that a place like Americana Arms could charge what it does in a housing market that was anything but miserably tight.


The building is old (by Davis standards), and like many old buildings suffers from cheap construction (thin walls) and vermin. Noise from neighbors may be a problem (not just noisy neighbors- moderate conversations are audible). The first year or so I was plagued by cockroaches in the kitchen area before I was able to eradicate them.


The place is VERY hot starting from late spring through early fall. This problem was compounded by the fact that the kitchen is in the living room (there is no separate space or partition), and that the air conditioner never worked adequately (a complaint to the management yielded the response that there was nothing wrong with it). So during the hottest months I found it nearly impossible to cook. The apartment also had no thermostat, which was inconvenient during the winter months. The bathroom was inadequetely ventilated which led to lots of mold and mildew.


The staff seems almost overly friendly at first, but they are really all business. The first time I was late with the rent (by one day) I found an eviction notice taped to the door. This was evidently common practice-- it happened to a couple of my friends who lived there (one of whom was quite upset-- he was a foreign student and thought he was going to be thrown out of his home). Upon moving out, despite spending two days scouring the place with the help of a friend, they still managed to find fault and withhold part of my deposit.


In short, I would only rent here again out of desperation. The place definitely has a low-rent sort of feel (the hallways are often dirty and smelly), but unfortunately, it is far from low rent. (I was astounded to see how much higher the rents had risen after only after one year-- I am now paying one hundred dollars less for an apartment that is 3 times the size!) It would seem that the management tries to mitigate this by applying rather cloying decorative touches all over the place, but the effect is more like a cheap greeting card than anything else.

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