From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
1/18/2008
Years at this apartment:
2006
-
2007
2 responses
I have very mixed feelings about Palm Valley Apartments. On one hand, as several people pointed out, Santa Palmia is beautiful. I enjoyed very much showing guests around the complex. I also enjoyed using the facilities - the gym, the spas (though there were extended periods when some or all were not working, and they could be cleaned more often). The staff were always courteous to me, though not always efficient. When things broke, they fixed them. The walls are thin, but I chose a quiet apartment (in terms of where it's located) and did not have a problem with noise. I can see why people who do not pick their location in the complex carefully - especially the side close to 85 - would. And having a washer and drier in the apartment was wonderful. The dishwasher and microwave worked. Moving in was smooth, and moving out ok. There's ton of street parking and other parking. On the other hand, very soon after we got there, mail I sent out or mail that was supposed to come in disappeared. When talking to the front desk, they basically said it's my problem. I stopped sending mail from there and directed most of my mail to work. They have a weird pet policy - they allow cats but only in a very narrow subset of apartments, and they don't allow you to have your litterbox in the balcony (an issue in a one bedroom), and if you read it, they also don't want the cat in the balcony. The staff changes quickly, and several times I had to remind them four or five times of something that need fixing before anything happened. They're polite, but don't always know what they're saying. There also is very little community atmosphere, but that's really not the management's fault - they do try and have organized some really nice community events when we were there. Also, we got security people knocking on our door even though we did not make any noise, as they acknowledged, and that was very unpleasant (a guard at 11pm when we're both asleep). The worst problems we had were towards the end of our first year. First, as commented, they raised the rent substantially in their offer letter. We told them we weren't staying, but nonetheless, a week later, we got another offer letter that had an even higher rent. Worse, even though we left the apartment very clean and there was only one point where the paint came off, and they confirmed that the apartment was clean, they charged us for full cleaning, full repainting of the place, and full carpet cleaning. The only reason we didn't file a complaint with the better business bureau is because we made the mistake of taking only pictures of the problems when we moved in - so we couldn't prove the apartment was as clean as when we got it, though it was. But it's an ugly practice. If you're moving in, take pictures! Like many big managements, they seem more interested in profit than in good, stable tenants, and hike the price substantially from one year to the next. We wanted a place to stay for a long stretch, until we're ready to buy - four or five years - and I don't think Palm Valley was a good place for us to do that, with these hike increases. However, it's a nice place to live short term, and most big management complexes seem to get you on the deposit, so they're no worse than the others.
Recommended: YES
Overall Rating
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User Responses
From:
ScaredofRent
Date:
04/25/2008
I agree with you on how the management seems to care only of making money rather than keeping good tenants. And even though they will throw some parties every now and then....they do not try to "get to know you" either. But maybe that is because there are "new" people in the office everytime you go in there.
I was also looking for a nice complex to settle in- but I am not sure a $400 raise in rent can be justified. That's not even good business. It's just greedy.
And for such a huge increase in rent- you would think you could get some customer service there like having competent staff, cleaning the hot tubs, and a good security service. Have you seen our security guards? Enough said.
From:
Anonymous
Date:
04/29/2008
It seems like most of our neighbors are at Santa Palmia short term. There are moving trucks every week-end. The neighbors in my hall turn over quickly as well. i can only imagine what the rent increases have been. Luckily- we sign 1 year leases so we still have a ways to go before our next shocker. If the increase brings our 2 bedroom to $2100 then we will be moving because that will be a $450 increase.
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