When we were looking for a place, we were trying to decide between Bordeaux in Newport Beach and Turtle Ridge in Irvine because of the proximity of both to my husband's work. We finally decided on Turtle Ridge because the rent was more reasonable for a virtually identical property. My husband and I could not be more satisified with our decision to live here. Here is my honest assessment of the community.

Parking: I rent a townhome, and I have a garage & driveway so parking is never an issue. After years of renting in various communities throughout the country, we knew that guaranteed parking is something we could not do without which is one of the reasons that we chose the townhome. In terms of guest parking, our guests have never had a difficult time finding a space. There are tons of spaces available curbside across from the townhomes always.

Noise: There is traffic noise behind the townhomes, and yes, you can hear it even with the windows closed. It doesn't bother me but it does bother some people. On the whole, however, it becomes white noise and I only hear it when I try to. My neighbors are quiet, I have never heard a peep from either side of me. There is noise from the pool when the kids are there in the afternoon. You can hear people chatting at the spa some nights, but that goes away at 10 when the pool closes. I chalk that up to people living here. People talk, kids play. There aren't loud radios, parties, cars, people being obnoxious...So, there is minimal noise considering there are people actually living here.

Grounds: If you wake up early in the morning on any morning, you will find that there are people hard at work maintaining the grounds. I see lawns being mowed, hedges being trimmed, sidewalks being swept, grills being scrubbed. If I were to translate my four stars to a 10 point scale, I would say that the grounds are 8.5 out of 10. Because they allow dogs here, there are dead patches on the grass and you will find occasional doggie poop (maybe 3-5 times I have seen unpicked up poo but it is gone the next day) and on the whole people take great care to pick up after their pets. I have never seen any trash laying around. The pool is beautiful, the spa is beautiful, trash is picked up from dumpsters regularly.

Safety: Gated community. I feel very safe here. It is a safe area but, I take normal precations such as locking my door and my car. I feel completely safe walking around here late at night, I have never seen anyone I felt uncomfortable with having on the property.

Construction: On the whole, I think the quality of construction is quite good. On my apartment hunt, I visited The Village in Irvine and thought that the quality there was about a 3 so in comparison, I would give the quality here about a 6 or 7. On the whole, walls are solid and level, cabinets are beautiful in the kitchen and bathrooms, windows are nice, carpet is higher quality than a lot of other rentals. The appliances are so-so...new and pretty but clearly the lower end of the price spectrum, fridge is quite small. The air-conditioning is frigid and works well to cool the entire home. Shower gets hot and I love the roman style tubs. Like I said, I haven't heard my neighbors but that doesn't mean they haven't heard me. I think I would have noticed by now, though, if the walls were thin.

Maintenance & Staff: If you are nice, they are nice. Well, kind of. Carlos is a little "unresponsive" but I think that is more from lack of personality than overt rudeness. Everyone else is pretty nice and we had a couple of minor things here and there that needed fixing when we moved in and the guy came within a matter of hours to correct the issues. Since then, whenever we have had a request for anything, no matter how minor, it has been done by the end of the day.

Overall: I have lived in several communities in several cities across the country and for the location, the amenities, the quality, Turtle Ridge is pretty nice.

It seems that some people think that for two thousand some odd dollars, every single day of their life should go perfectly smoothly without a single hassle. That just isn't reality, in fact, it isn't reality at any price point. Living anywhere is going to be precisely what you make of it.
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User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/15/2007
I agree with you that that one rater is off base with some of his or her comments, but I absolutely agree with that other rater who posts just complaining about the parking situation on the right side of the complex (to the right of the main gate when entering). I urge you (and everyone) to patrol the complex very late at night...every night. You will find illegally parked cars. Cars parked either in red zones or parked in front of their closed garage door. Turtle Ridge has never enforced the parking rules here. Never. They never ticket. They never tow. I agree with you that there is always parking available at the main office (one does not have to park at the church). But many people over the years are too lazy to walk, so they illegally park. I am not exaggerating...and I have even submitted pictures of the illegally parked cars over the years. The staff does nothing except passing out the occasional warning letter.
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/15/2007
the parking is cool, we would all have hell to pay if they made us get guest passes tciketed and stuff like that. However this place is cool for one year then you learn you live in hell when they bump the rent and you have to move and you don't get your deposit back. However there is a new manager who may just be alright. 1600 for a one bedroom and 1800 for a two is the max this place is worth.
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/18/2007
is this a fake review posted by the management staff because this exact same review was posted a few months ago
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/02/2007
I am the poster and no I am not a member of the staff--if my review resembles a review of someone else it might just be because we have picked up on the same things about the community.
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/15/2007
my guess is that the last few postings have been written by employees. i believe they do this to "jack up" their ratings when they start going down. look back on the "Yes" I would recommend, and the numeral ratings. when they run low, here come the good ratings! good one, turtle ridge employees, good one...

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