Here's a synopsis in case you don't want to read the whole thing: I've been happy here for a long time, but due to a lot of small issues and unreasonable rent hikes, I'm leaving. I can juuuust barely recommend South Valley Ranch if you don't mind the rents they are charging, now.

I have been here four years and I have never witnessed a single shooting, much less the "TWO" someone else claims to have seen. I saw one fight involving three teenagers that lasted about ten seconds. Also, I have never seen a monster house party ("75 kids in one apartment") here, either. This complex is fairly small and I find it very, very hard to believe that there are nightly handgun murders and epic keggers going on right outside my apartment without me knowing about them.

As for the person who said parking is tricky, that's just nuts. South Valley Ranch has BY FAR the most convenient parking I have ever seen in this city. Yes, each person gets only a single assigned spot (and the poles that hold up the canopy are a pain in the butt), but there are literally HUNDREDS of unassigned spots all over the parking lot. There has never, in four years, been a time when I could not easily find a spot anywhere in this complex that I felt like parking.

My own comments:

When my girlfriend and I first moved in, we felt like we were getting a great value. Our two-bedroom apartment is very spacious (> 1,100 square feet), with an enormous master bathroom, a laundry room with washer and dryer, central air and a small balcony. We were very happy to find this place at the last second and we've never regretted choosing to live here. The complex has always been reasonably quiet with only the occasional inconsiderate bass-thumping car or loud TV, our cars have never been molested (our neighbor's did get broken into once), and we've had decent neighbors the whole four years we've been here.

Are things perfect here' No. There was a problem that lasted for about a year where there was terrible flooding in the parking lot, apparently due to some nearby construction, and management was completely unresponsive to complaints. You have ankle-deep mud puddles in your parking space' Tough luck. There's an empty parking space you'd rather have' Too bad, you're stuck with the one we assigned you. The fitness equipment is turning to junk' Oh, well. Potholes are developing in the parking lot' Live with it.

Overall, I give the management company a C on dealing with big issues, but the day-to-day stuff gets handled pretty well. The grounds look nice, my air conditioning works, I got a new doorknob and lock when I needed one, etc. I did have a problem getting a new refrigerator when mine broke. Maintenance kept playing stupid games like leaving cups of water in my freezer to see if they would freeze, then leaving thermometers in there overnight after the water didn't freeze, not showing up in the morning when they said they would, etc. This went on for four days before I get fed up and went to the office. I told them I was tired of playing freezer games and I needed a new refrigerator; I had a new fridge within an hour.

So, although there have been things that ticked me off (the flooded parking lot being the worst), I've been pretty happy here the last four years. My lease ends in a week and I am leaving, but that's only because management is out of touch with what people are willing to pay to live here. Rent has skyrocketed every year since I've been here. This year alone, I am facing a hike of $140/month (with the new water fee) and I've had enough. For the first three-and-a-half years I lived here, there was NEVER an apartment in my building vacant for more than a week or two. People would leave frequently (that's common in Las Vegas), but the apartments were always filled immediately. Now, two of my three neighboring apartments have been empty for months and months. When I leave, 3/4 of the apartments in this building with be empty. The whole time I lived here, South Valley Ranch never had any special signs or advertising, now they have hired one of those guys to stand outside the complex with a sandwich board and sign. It's very obvious that they are having trouble getting people to live here now that several competitors have opened up along Boulder Highway but management is being obstinate and insisting on asking for rents people are obviously not willing to pay to live in this complex. We told them that's why we were leaving and the answer was, "Well, that's what everyone around here charges now," and that might be true but all of the other places opening around here are brand spanking new luxury buildings. South Valley Ranch figures it can charge more just because the neighbors are and that obviously is not true, as evidenced by the sudden rash of empty apartments and the guy on Boulder Highway with the sign. A year ago, these apartments sold themselves. Too bad the management company doesn't want to face reality. Instead of three empty apartments generating $0/month, they could have kept us as residents and continued to get our consistently on-time monthly rent checks.

If you don't mind the rent (which is higher than it says in most of the rental guides), go ahead and live here. My experience has been positive overall and I will be taking mostly fond memories with me when I leave.

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