Alright, as a former resident of the Avalon Silicon Valley, here is my two cents:

I lived here for a short period of time (8 months), due to a lay off and force of moment to So. Cal and YES I had to break my leasing contract which could have been a complete nightmare if it weren t for my new company that was willing to pay the $6,000 USD fine.

So here it is:

(1) Great location as far as freeway access and close to my work as well as lots of high tech Silicon Valley companies. However, since it is right next to the major freeways, you can here the cars not too bad until they start honking, or the sirens from police/ambulance/fire trucks start going off.
(2) My apartment was located is a pretty nice location, where I did get quite a bit of privacy for a first floor apartment, and far away enough from the pool areas where I never heard anything.
(3) You can barely here your neighbors (I say barely, because a few months after I moved in, I got a new neighbor upstairs, and I can hear the music blasting through the ceiling wasn t too bad, but I definitely could tell you what song was playing). Also, as a first floor resident, people walking by didn t bother me. However, the stairways located right outside of my living room wall was built very flimsy, those heavy footstep neighbors always shook my walls as if there was an earthquake.
(4) If you ever get to use the health spa which includes a Jacuzzi, wet sauna, dry sauna, showers, soap, shampoo, restrooms, it was great and quiet. However, seems as if the cleaning crew doesn t really clean the area or at least not that frequent.
(5) Large and pretty decent gym. However, several of the NONE operating equipments took months (even with a note on it) to be fixed.
(6) The electronic access key to enter the gates is very convenient, but doesn t mean that you get access into every gate within the community.
(7) Extra storage room that comes with the apartment comes in very handy; ours was a special model where it was INSIDE of our apartment (inside the bathroom). However, the door was facing the center of the storage, which means that you can t really fully utilize it, and can only store things to the right and left of the door.
(8) High ceilings, and large living room area for a one bedroom (and I was living in the smaller one bedrooms).
(9) Built-in desk was small, but a great addition for a small place so you don t have to worry about cramming in a desk into the apartment. However, mine was not straight, but that didn t bother me,
(10) Seems like there is lots of guest parking outside, but if you get home later than 8:00PM, you are going to have trouble finding a parking space, one bedroom apartments only come with one parking space in the garage.
(11) Our leasing consultant was GREAT, however, the rest of the staff seemed mean and unhelpful, especially when it came to breaking our lease, they will not try to work with you (yeah I know I committed to a lease), but they will not allow you to sublet, and the want the fine in casher s check/money order, and yes the fine for me for breaking it 4 months before it was up was $5,993 USD, and they didn t even suggest that since we are moving down south, we can do a transfer to another Avalon apartment.
(12) Oh and most of the time, including to see the apartment complex for the first time, you have to make an appointment, even when they do have leasing consultants there (this is such a joke, I lived in many apartments in the past, and none of them will turn you away and tell you to make an appointment).
(13) As far as security, I notice that they did change the patrol company after a couple of months of my stay there, but honestly, most people who want to come in who do not have access just waits by the gate for another car to go in or come out to enter, might as well get rid of the gate all together.
(14) The sensors to get out of the gate does suck, and requires some practice and skills.
(15) Even though Avalon of SV allows pets, I never heard any pet noise.
(16) I lived in one of the buildings that had no elevators, and since I was living on the first floor, you have to take the stairs to get from the garage to the apartment level.
(17) Moving was a hassle, because where you can sort of part the Uhal was so far away from the location of the apartment (Thank God my new apartment in So. Cal, not only has a private attached garage you can drive the Uhal truck right up to the apartment).
(18) The guest parking in the very back (the one that has the MOST guest parking) is such a bad design, it doesn t go in circles, and you have to drive to the very end to make a U turn, if you are not lucky to find a parking space in the beginning, and drive all the way out again.
(19) Setting up our phone was a hassle, because it wasn t automatically connected, and the fault wasn t the phone company, but the apartment (they had to locate some binding post number and turn it on correctly).
(20) If you have Cingular wireless phone service, at least for our location on the first floor SUCKS.
(21) The closet for the one bedroom I had was small, but the bathroom was large.
(22) I had a super large balcony due to being on the first floor, which was great.
(23) Storage space inside the apartment sucks, even though it does have a linen closet inside the bathroom which is of decent size. The shelf on top of the W/D was a joke, because the water line took up half the space. The kitchen seems to have very decent storage when I first went to see the place, but after moving in, you ll realize that the cabinets have such small width that some standard plates won t even fit.
(24) The carpet seems to pickup dirt very easily, even though I always take off my shoes before I enter, never wear shoes inside the apartment, and vacuum at least once a week probably just very cheap and poorly made.
(25) Sizes of the parking spaces are meant for MINI size cars (Thank GOD my new apartment doesn t have that problem).
(26) This is the first apartment complex that I lived in that wouldn t provide complimentary light bulb changing (how cheap, seeing how much rent I paid).
(27) The draining/plumbing in the apartment is very bad, had a backup problem almost every week and when I first moved into he apartment, I snaked through the bathtub and sink MYSELF, and pulled out tons of hair (Geeze I haven t even got the security deposit deduction part, and regret that I should have charged them for what I had to do myself that should have been their responsibility)
(28) The market located next to the leasing office which is part of the complex proof to be useful and handy for a quick snack, however, the closest all-American grocery store is quite a drive. I usually just shop at the New Yung Chinese Super market, because it s so much closer compare to the rest.
(29) Be prepared to loose your deposit I scrubbed, cleaned, washed, wiped and even asked for touch up paint (again, the first apartment complex that doesn t give any touch up paint as complementary), and still lost majority of the deposit (Wow, I am a super clean freak, and can only imagine what other tenants lost)
(30) Oh you have to also make an appointment to do a walk-thru when you leave the place, they really don t make it easy for the people who live here.
Well, there you have it, might have missed a few, but I think I am probably one of the few people who covered almost everything I can think of, now you ask if I would suggest this place to anyone' Well, that s up to you however will I ever live here again if I had the chance, not after comparing it to my new place.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/24/2007
Are you sure?? I lived there for three years and everytime I had a lightbulb out (that was there when I moved in), they provided it AND installed it Free of Charge. Also...when I wanted paint, they asked for a closeable container with my name on it and they delivered it to my apartment.
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/07/2007
I feel SORRY for your new Apartment Community. They should expect an outrageous NOVEL like above when you are no longer a resident there because your standards obviously out of this world. I have lived here for five years no matter how much the rent increases per market pricing. I love it here and all of the issues that you stated above are rediculous. You must have alot of time on your hands to write this type of critique about such a wonderful place. Your high expectations and pessamistic mentality has forced you to write such material that incorrectly depicts my home. And to think I came to this website to write a wonderful review about Silicon Valley. I hope I have done so by opposing to every negative opinion you have about Avalon Silicon Valley. Good luck in life.
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/30/2007
I apreciate the review, thanks.
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/13/2008
great review . Thanks
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/17/2008
I appreciate the detailed review. Thanks!
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/07/2009
Thank you for the well written detailed review. I appreciate the pros and cons you listed which indicates an accurate experience.

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