You get what you pay for. The apartment itself is nice, lots of open space for the money, but you will get the cons of "affordable family" housing.

Pros:

1) Grounds- Yeah, the places that visitors and potential buyers can see are pretty. Well-kept flowers abound, if you really like that stuff. Of course, it ends by the time you get to where you live... especially if you're in the projects*oops*700's.

2) Space- Two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Three or four bathroom hogs to an apartment' Not a problem! There's a lot of open space here, and a big enough kitchen for a small family. Much better than many other places around here.

3) Utilities- Well, heat and hot water are included. Electricity, internet, TV, and phone you'll have to cover. Basically, it's no better or worse than most other places.

4) The Staff- Great people who will help you out any way they can. I can't emphasize that enough; this review is not meant to bash them, and most of the problems here have to do with dumb residents.

Cons:

1) Unintelligent college students: I had late-night partying college students below me, shaking the floor with their subwoofers at night and complaining about a daytime workout session up here. I'd call the "office" at night (24-hour service running out of God knows where) and they'd tell me that they can't call security, because there were no security guards that night... probably just because it's not the weekend. Stupid idea. *edit-the 24-hour service was lying, there are security guards on duty, they just don't freakin' know it* Prepare to make a lot of calls to the Amherst Police Department, because these Reggaeton-fanatic idiots will never care about your health or work schedule enough to stop their precious music. By the way, the poor sound insulation doesn't help a bit.

2) Dumb families, and large groups of unsupervised children: Apparently, parenting around here consists of abandoning one's children for the majority of the day. Leave at least five minutes earlier than you normally would to get to work, as giant gangs of unsupervised children will walk as slowly as possible in the middle of the
street at any time of day. There was one time where a kid thought it'd be a great idea to paint our hallway walls with dog feces. The feces stayed on the walls for weeks, and the chunk he threw on the ceiling stayed for nearly a year. Also, I don't think it's a great idea to knock the hallway window out and/or hold the door open in the summer, day or night, especially since hornets basically use Mill Valley as their Amherst HQ. However, the families of 12 that live in these apartments don't really mind. Oh, and speaking of these families:

3) Those @#$%ing unleashed dogs: Last year, it was common to walk outside and find an unleashed dog barking and running at you. Whether or not he gnawed on your ankle was up to the dog's upbringing and the luck of the draw. The only reason that there aren't any unleashed dogs right now is because that family moved out. Wear shin guards and ankle pads, and get ready to do your walking or running elsewhere.

4) Apartment bugs: Besides the bugs that get in from the doorways, there are bugs that just kinda enter your apartment from various other places, such as bathroom vents. We had a big family of Daddy-Long-Legs that couldn't wait to come scope out our place, and they surely weren't small enough to fit through our front door. And yes, there are silverfish, and they're creepy. Also, no matter how many times you get a screen replaced, the bugs come in through the screens, so get ready to use your AC a little more than usual, unless you want to live in a bug house.

5) Office schedule and inconsistency: I love the people at the office. They're nice people, and they're glad to help with any problems you may have. They also speak Spanish, so that's a plus with the Spanish-speaking population. Therefore, when I rag on the office, I'm not ragging on them, just the schedules they have and inconsistency. They're not there on weekends, and only have 10-5 office hours on the weekdays. Count out talking to anyone if you work during, what was that term again, oh yeah, business hours! When you call their office and they're not available, you get that god-awful 24 hour Pan-American service that I mentioned in "Unintelligent college kids" above.

The inconsistency in the office deals with paperwork and dispute resolution. Without getting into specifics, you can't fix a problem sometimes because of strict, binding, red-tape-esque paperwork, and then other times some very important thing is done by word-of-mouth! Retain 4 copies of your paperwork, be overly cautious, get an night job, and you'll be okay.

Maybe my review is biased because I lived in the fabled 700's and had a rough time, but I understand all the other bad reviews. I didn't get robbed (knock on wood), but it would be easy enough to be robbed here. Cars really are open to any vandalism by the crazy large groups of unsupervised biker kids. And yes, if you heard anything about their stupid plow schedule, and how it can be "delayed" or "moved" without notice, forcing surprise car removal on an unannounced plowing day, it's true. They obviously can't hire competent plowers, because their work is never finished after a day, and you're basically left oblivious to where to park your car. Most of the time, they won't pay for that surprise towing either. You will. Stash some cash for the tow truck. Also, use a laundromat. The washers work fine in the laundry room, but the dryers are basically the equivalent of a sauna- clothes always come out warm and wet.

I really hate to leave such a bad review, because the owners are so nice, but the people you live around, certain policies that govern the complex, the condition of the buildings, and the very limited access to the office have all greatly soured my taste for this place. I gave you all kinds of advice if you're going to live here, but here's my greatest tip: Don't.

User Responses
From: home_is_heart	Date: 04/19/2009
Thanks for being honest and descriptive.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates