UPDATED Sept. 28 (ratings changes, text edits)

Might be an indicator of a trend. In fact, I actually do see one. And now that I'm here, I want to rebut it directly. Mind, even though I can't 100% recommend this complex, it's for different reasons than those stated.

I chose to move here for a couple of reasons. One was cost; my old place was $200 more a month for a two bedroom, no garage, horrible parking, horrible neighbors, you name it. I'd narrowed my options down to four places: Ventana, Archstone Escondido, Alta Vista in Escondido, and this one. Ventana decided it didn't want me as a tenant, since it would not accommodate my desired move-in date. Archstone...well, you can read my review on that one. Alta Vista didn't have the floor plan I wanted (I also didn't really want to live in Escondido again, though it's a nicer part of Escondido). That only left Carmel Summit.

I rented the place sight unseen; I'd seen the floor plans years ago but didn't remember. Serene(sp') was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, and got my paperwork done properly and efficiently. On move-in day though it was a different story, as I got another girl who was either very new or just not on the ball. The move-in day experience was not what I expected at all. They asked for paperwork I'd already submitted without checking for it first. They asked for renter's insurance without checking for that even though it was transmitted to them electronically weeks before. I was never offered an accent wall (I might have done it, once I saw the apartment and my desired layout of things). I had to ask THEM about BeConnected; it was not given or offered to me. Nothing was fully explained...but they did make it a point to make sure I got that recycle bag!!....yeah.

Now, to the apartment. This is where the majority of negatives come in. First and foremost...they advertise that they are a gated community, and yes they are...during the week the gates close at around 5pm so that you must have an access clicker. The problem is that the side walking gate has no chuck, meaning it's always open and unlocked for someone to just walk right in. There are quite a few convenient parking areas out on the streets near the residential housing up the hill; if someone really wanted to rob you it'd be a simple matter to park their car on the street and walk right in. Second, because the staff is not onsite and is instead disconnected down at Carmel Landing, there is a definite sense of abandonment. It's not easy to explain, but you feel as though you're second class to the Landing residents for some reason. I noticed the old Summit leasing office and often wonder why they don't just staff a couple of folks there during the day to handle walk-ins, rather than inconvenience tenants to walk down to Landing for basic needs, i.e. contact information changes. (ON a side note, I wish I could go into the old Summit leasing office just to see inside! Don't ask me why.)

Third, and a noticeable problem, are various pests that may take up shop. On move in there were a number of fairly large spiders, trails of ants in the bedroom, and even some small lizards on the floor. Assuming they reviewed the place before renting it to me this was surprising. How the lizards got in is even more mind boggling, since it appears as though there are ample door seals. But they managed. Fortunately I have the Ortho Defense Max and proceeded to go to work, spraying around the exterior of the building and along the door jams. The pest problem has decreased tremendously since I did that, with the exception of the ants, who required some RAID. And no, I'm not joking about the lizards. Mind you, this probably would only apply to ground floor units.

Some other minor details: the interior paint color was uninspired, a pale beige color, which does indeed brighten the interior, but also makes the place feel uninviting and sterile, like a hospital. White/offwhite would have been a better choice, and accent walls should be standard in each apartment, which might have helped to offset a bit. Each unit gets a garage, some of them direct access, but the garage doorway is almost two feet narrower than the actual garage, so it's a bit of a challenge actually getting your car in. Speaking of garages, I took note of the number of people using their garages for storage rather than actually parking cars there, as well as the staff member who drove right by three garages wide open with junk packed, and shook my head as I saw they did nothing about it. To me, that's a waste of valuable additional parking if they don't enforce this rule. You have a garage for cars, not storage. If you need storage, pay for it. The other negative on the garage, and it may be just mine, but when you close the garage there is an initial "clunk" that I'm quite sure must drive my upstairs neighbors quite insane. They're using the older style wooden doors and garage motors which is the reason for this. If they go to metal like Carmel Terrace, it would be a lot better, and I seem to remember two years ago being told that was an eventual plan. Looks like that plan fell through.

Other small negatives: They replaced the dryer with a newer model, but the washer is still the older model. It works, but it's mind boggling why they did not change it out anyway. I bet it's only the 1 bedrooms that had this issue. The stainless steel fridge makes a lot of random, curious noises, sounds like someone is knocking to get out at times. There is no icemaker in the fridge, looks like the fridge supports it but they took out the mechanical pieces. No icetray either. When I moved in the hallway light didn't work and the living room large window had no blinds whatsoever. Not good for someone who has expensive stuff. The front door designer window is cheap, unpainted plastic, and the thermostat is not an energy efficient model. Lastly, you can hear water pipe noise from your neighbors' bathroom usage and it's quite loud when you're in the dining room. This seems to be normal for apartments, but I would have hoped for something better here.

So what's good with this place' Well, I mentioned the garage, and I add that as a big plus, as long as people use them for cars. It means I have direct access to a door into my home, and I don't have to walk half a mile to get inside. It also means I can keep my car protected from not only the elements but other inconsiderate neighbors. I can also keep my car locked and safe in the rare occasions I have to leave town without it. The kitchen has been completely remodeled and is very nice looking (too bad the rest of the apartment is not as fortunate). There are a lot of high windows for sunlight which brightens the interior of the place (though it would have been nice to have some smaller blinds or drapes up there so residents could choose to have that light or not. Also, why there is not a high window in the kitchen, the darkest room in the apartment, is beyond me). The A/C operates very quietly, at least on the 1 bedroom, and nice fixtures were used in the kitchen and bathroom. Also, the complex is quite attractive looking and well kept all around; no trash thrown all over the place, the picture shown must have been a once-time deal, because I could find no such trash.

I want to now rebut something I saw common on other reviews: maintenance. I did the move in checklist and found three issues. The hallway light was out, as I mentioned, the missing blinds in the living room, and one of the gate clickers would not actually open the gate. The hallway light and the missing blinds were registered on Saturday, both fixed on Monday. I had gone onto BeConnected and registered the gate clicker issue myself, and left the clicker on my coffee table. I noticed it was gone on Monday, BeConnected was updated with a status of In Progress. Tuesday I came home to a summary of all three issues being resolved, with the clicker returned. I haven't tested it yet, but I don't really need it as the other clicker does work fine. But it boggles my mind that people were having issues with the maintenance, as so far it has been the best experience of all. It was done quickly and efficiently. They were minor issues, to be sure...but that level of attention to the small stuff gives me confidence in their ability to handle the larger stuff. We'll see.

So, in summary:

-= What Carmel Summit Does RIGHT =-
* The garage.
* The general complex appearance; resembles a small village, very well kept and attractive.
* The tenants are quiet and peaceful. I've had no exterior noise issues, parties, etc. Hope it stays that way.
* Gated access.
* Close proximity to shopping and the freeway.
* Carmel Mountain Ranch is a quiet area all around.
* If there are pets I certainly haven't heard any. Yes, this is a plus.
* Quiet air conditioner.
* High ceilings.
* Lots of natural lighting.
* Washer Dryer in the unit.
* Remodeled kitchen.
* Large patio - I mean LARGE.
* BeConnected is very convenient; electronic payments are a godsend.
* Little-to-no solicitation.

-= What Carmel Summit Does WRONG =-
* IMO rent is still too high. The largest floor plan is nearly a mortgage payment and it isn't even that much space.
* No onsite management; have to go to Landing.
* Garages are older style and make a lot of noise.
* Uninspired interior design (except the kitchen and bathroom(s); lease agreement prohibits you from altering the apartment at all, even if you intend to put it back when you leave.
* Walls and ceiling aren't paper thin but close enough. The high ceiling build makes upstairs noise echo down, sounding quite loud.
* Pest problem.
* People speed through here on occasion; there are turns and whatnot where you can't see what's coming and they nearly hit you.

Honestly, I passed this place up like two years ago because of the price. I felt that each floor plan was significantly overpriced and I still do. However, it's now one of the lower rents of the larger managed complexes considering what you get and that happened to be a winning factor for me. It's a smaller apartment than what I had before, but I'm getting more for the money than before. I'm giving this a 3 star rating, with a "Yes" on the recommendation, but it's not a glowing "Yes". It's a "compared to a lot of others this is decent" type of "Yes", if that makes sense.

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