I've been a tenant at DM for a little over two years and I've been counting down my final weeks. I cannot wait for a day when I'll give my notice about moving out. In my first year, I had a 13 month lease, with the last month being free, but in the second year I didn't get any perks. However, soon after I found out that my neighbor above pays only $100 more, for one extra room. Not happy about that at all!
In the past year or so, this complex has seen a serious decline in number of rented out units, many tenants have moved out. But that has nothing to do with DM as much as with the overall economical situation. Regardless, the management still does not offer special deals.
I agree with comments that the management is rather slow, and needs a serious training on customer service skills. They have a new manager who joined the team last year, and he is trying to keep this place nice and clean. One thing I must admit is, every year they do something major. In '07 they painted the whole exterior of the building, replaced carpet floors in hallways and put tiles instead. This year they redid the pool and jacuzzi area... so they're trying, you can see that portion of the rent is going into repairs and upkeeping. Now, behind that whole facade is an old building, over 40 years old, that has some major plumbing problems. Old, rusty pipes, actually, I had major flooding in my kitchen two times, and almost daily I can see yellow, rusty water coming out of the pipes in my bath tub.
I asked the management if and how often they have pool water checked for water quality and they could not answer it. One of the ladies in the management office said that there is a sign at the pool area, indicating when it gets checked, but in all these months, I still can't locate it, it must be really tiny, or she's high making up things.
When it comes to tenants... there are a lot of older, single women who live here (not one of them), and a lot of european folks. When I was shown my place, I asked what kind of tenants they have, young vs. old, etc, but I was told that such information cannot be disclosed. I found it rather odd, but I didn't press for any different answer. By now I've learned that the crowd that moves in here is slightly different than what I've seen in some other nice parts of LA. People are rather laid back, which is what I like; again, a good portion of tenants are older folks. If you were to judge by cars in garage, most of them are medium income (by LA standards) crowd.
Being that the building is so old, the apartments are trully big. Good luck on finding anything of similar size anywhere else, especially if you're checking newer places! However, other than the fireplace, everything else uses electrical power, including your water heater, as well as the ceiling heater. These units don't have AC, which makes sense. You'd need it maybe up to a week per year.
I like that there is security, that checks in in late afternoons and patrols all night. These guys are maybe not the most fluent in English, but they will respond within 10-20 min. after you place a call. Not that many other buildings in Marina have the security crew! The other perk is a decent size pool, much bigger than, again, what other buildings have. It gets a lot of sun and it has a decent size deck.
The reason why I am looking forward to moving out is the noise issue. I cannot describe how many noise sources and problems we've had. Two most problematic tenants got evicted, but it took over six months of complaints to the management until they realized that it'll cost them less if they lose one problematic tenant, then if a few surrounding tenants end up moving out.
About half of the units, that don't face water, have problems with noise that echoes across the patios from other apartments. But I also heard that there are serious noise complaints coming from those who face water as well. There are boaters who live on their boats, there are boaters who throw parties at their boats... cars parking... and you cannot file a complaint against those folks.
I have noise issues with most of my neighbours, as they are folks who don't work anymore, or who don't have to work, in first place. They come late, they shut their entrance door loud, they have dogs that bark all day and night... and my unit faces the pool and jacuzzi area. I must say that I've seen it all and even too much, in past two years. There were couples having sex in jacuzzi; drunk people jumping the fence to get to the pool; people walking their dogs and letting them pee around... not to mention noise all day long from kids and adults who act like they've never been to a pool in their whole life. Nothing much you can do about it. As much as I loved the view from my apt, I soon realized that never in my life will I rent another pool-facing apt. That was a mistake!
There is also near by a party room, that the management likes to rent out to anyone, not just to tenants, as they make extra bucks from it. So, folks that don't live here, come and party, yell and lough, and I've seen groups of young asians throwing parties in their own way, black folks celebrating, latinas... it's an interesting "people-watching" event, for sure. But, after a hard-work day, I don't want to have to listen to rap or some ethno music, when I'm ready for a nap. I pay a top dollar rent, but I don't get an equal treatment.
Oh, and I read someone's comments about elevators. Yes, watch out for those elevators, as mine is out of service at least once every couple of months. Not long ago, someone got stuck... Also, washer and driers are refurbished, so they break frequently as well. Needless to say, it's hard to get your turn, and tenants often do their laundry even late at night, which echoes down the hallways, as there is no door to the laundry room. It's one washer/dryer per 12 units, so do your math what are your odds to grab a chance to do laundry.
I could go on and on and I think I know the tenant who said she lives here for 17 years. Those are rare, and rare are people who are happy with simple things in their life. I, on the other hand, believed I was going to get a better quality place for the amount of money I've been paying. As a matter of fact, there are less expensive and better apartments within half a mile and still next to water. Their management, actually their HQ needs a wake up call. DM is an old boat that's seen its better times and now it's just a matter of repainting it over and over, and trying to charge a lot for the ride. Because, that's all I got while living here.

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