Please reply to this and say why you are leaving River House. My reason for vacating is for rent, I will not pay $1,400 (plus utilities) for a studio like this. I'll move across the street to the metropolitan at pentagon city apartments. At least I'll know I'm paying for actual luxury.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/30/2008
I thought it was a Kettler Building. Not Charles Smith
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/30/2008
I used to be a big fan of the RiverHouse - lived there from 2001-2005. I am truly sad to see it become a steaming heap of CharlesESmith. I ALMOST moved back this year, but I couldnt reach anyone in the rental office after 4 phone calls during the week in the middle of the day. The primary reason I wanted to come back? Locations Price Paid Utils. They have destroyed all of those reasons, apparently on purpose. What a mess.
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/31/2008
What bothers me the most is that they don't seem to realize that their competitors who charge individual utilities actually have individual utilities. They can turn on and off their heat or A/C and not freeze or chill to death. They don't get "leakage" of the heat / A/C when theirs is off and others is on, which leads to dry air in the winter. Their competitors with individual utilities also have in-unit washers and dryers. It might make sense not to have such energy-guzzling appliances not paid for each use when you have central utilities, but River House has moved away from that mentality. Now, you don't get the convenience of in-united washers and dryers, but you still pay for utilities.
From: marcet	Date: 02/01/2008
I am also moving out. The increase of the rent is too much, they are increasing the rent and also they are separating the utilities. The apartments do not have meters, and there are a lot of appartments in the bulding with 4 or three in One bedroom apt. So I bet the utilities will be increasing too much. The location is great but is an old building with a lot of problems, the elevators are another problem.......do not recommend
From: barb72	Date: 02/01/2008
We are looking to move and we've been here over 17 years. It's truly sad to us. We had made it our home. It had become a real neighborhood with young and old. We loved the increase in children, but now see many families moving. The rent increases would be understandable had we been significantly below market, but we weren't. The utilities are absolutely ridiculous. We're not even sure how they are getting away with that and intend on calling the Arlington County Housing Department to find out if not-metering is even legal (probably is - Virginia loves landlords). We are very energy conscious and see other apartments with their lights left on, windows open in the winter and summer - why are we paying for that - are they kidding? Management has moved from slow and stupid to completely unresponsive. "Just because" and "I don't know" should be their mantras. Their pet costs are out of this world too. Oh, and great, they are allowing small, yapping dogs - like that park in front of The Potomac isn't unusable enough already from the other buildings' dogs pooping and peeing all over - its a urine pool. It's time to move even after so many years. We can buy even in this market for the prices they are charging.
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/08/2008
Caught in James BLDG. basement copied directly from Arlington County police crime report website http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/Police/crimereport/ViewDetail.asp?report_index=1205&report_date=2/4/2008 LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES)/RECOVERED STOLEN AUTO - ARRESTS, 2/1/2008, Various Addresses On February 1, at least 27 vehicles were broken into on S. Quebec Street, S. Arlington Mill Drive, S. Four Mile Run Drive, S. Wakefield Street, S. Chesterfield Road, S. George Mason Drive, S. 28th Road, S. 16th Street and S. 17th Street. GPS units, iPods and other electronic devices were taken. Witnesses reported seeing 2 men fleeing the area in a black Crown Victoria. A short time later, an Arlington Police Officer and a Sheriff???s Deputy spotted the car northbound on I-395. The suspect vehicle crashed into a guardrail on the highway and the suspects then fled on foot. They were found hiding inside an apartment building in the 1100 block of Army Navy Drive and taken into custody without incident. Officers recovered numerous electronic devices on the suspects and in their vehicle. The investigation is continuing.
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/08/2008
Hello. We WERE also huge fans of River House, having lived here for two separate stints. We actually moved out and bought a brand new condo, had NOTHING but hassles with the condo, sold it and moved BACK IN. We also considered River House "our home" as did the previous writer. I spoke to the central management office (in the Potomac Building) about the utility fees which CANNOT be measured to individual units and posed questions very similar to the comments mentioned above: are we now expected to pay for the excessive use of units full of students, or families, or of people with giant flat-screen TVs that suck energy, or people who take 60-minute hot showers? Etc. etc. etc. - the manager looked me right in the eye and said "Yes, that's what's expected of you. I don't necessarily agree with this new philosophy, but my job and retirement are on the line. I can't say any more." The pet policy is absolutely UNREASONABLE. It is EXTORTION. There are units housing numerous young students and others with young children - FAR more damage and wear and tear is happening in those units than would ever happen with a small dog or a cat! A pet tends to chew the RESIDENT'S BELONGINGS anyway - they don't tear holes in the LANDLORD'S walls, for God's sake! When I was being shown sample units before I moved back in, I was shown some units rented by groups of guys -- they had given their notice but hadn't yet moved out -- and these units were ATROCIOUS. Worse than garbarage dumps - I don't exaggerate. Management spent FAR MORE cleaning those up than they will ever have to spend because a someone has a small pet. I was also just told by the chief engineer in my building that he is quitting next week because Vornado/Charles E. Smith will not tell the Cafritz building employees if they're going to be kept on or not, so the ones who can find other employment are doing so. And the CHEAP LOOKING "LEASE!" signs that now appear on the grounds on weekends - those look like the kinds of signs someone might put up if they wanted to haul dirt or autumn leaves away! Complete without class -- for a property that now charges very classy rent. SIGNS HAVE *NEVER* been necessary to maintain high occupancy rates -- the property was kept full by word of mouth from satisfied tenants. GEE - ALL OF A SUDDEN VORNADO NEEDS TO ADVERTISE -- what a surprise!! Curses on Vornado. Why don't they just dynamite the whole property - they seem bent on its destruction.
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/13/2008
"Curses on Vornado. Why don't they just dynamite the whole property - they seem bent on its destruction." No doubt they will. Once the buildings are empty, of course.
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/14/2008
Yes, I'm leaving too. I've been here almost four years. When I moved here, it was the best value for the money. I didn't mind giving up certain things like washer and dryer in unit because the price was better and the location was great. Now, I tell people that my one bedroom will soon cost in the mid 1600s and they can't believe it. It's really not worth that money, and I just strenously disagree with paying utilities on a square footage basis. I'm moving a good distance further from DC, but I'm going to a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom place that is about 5 years old and directly across from a metro station. For about $200 a month more than a crappy one bedroom in RH with no washer/dryer, antiquated heating/cooling system, and peeling paint. It was not really a hard decision. I do feel bad for people who can't move as quickly and easily as I, a single person, can. And for the people who have been here for so many years that they are attached to the place.
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/21/2008
My wife and I have lived in RH for over 4 years, and we used to enjoy living there, despite some small quality of life issues (old infrastructure, generally poor quality unit hardware, occasional pot smoke in the halls, noises at night). The location really made up for the small problems. But now, we are busy working hard to get out as soon as we can. They really jammed us hard on the rent, including a $150 a month charge for being month-to-month. Plus, we just got a $170 bill for submetering, which is a huge scam where we are paying for other tenants' utility usage. So the cost to live there has really jumped with little or no increase in quality of life. We are now paying about the same as a mortgage in rent, so there is no more financial incentive to stay. And especially now that they seem to be looking to increase costs everywhere they can. RH used to be a place I would easily recommend, but now I would tell people to stay away. I might recommend it for the location if you are looking to stay for less than year.

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