Looking for a quiet, inexpensive and well-maintained apartment' I strongly urge you to look elsewhere.

As you search for an apartment in Arlington, no easy feat I know, there are a number of things you should know about River House before you sign the lease:

1) It is under new ownership. So ignore every review that predates 2007, as they are all antiquated and, in my mind, inaccurate now.

2) It is expensive. River House used to be a reasonable choice, especially for people who worked in DC but didn't want to shell out DC-market rent prices, because it offered people (like me) who were willing to sacrifice apartment amenities, like laundry machines and good maintenance, for a smaller rent payment. Sadly, through a series of hidden fee increases, like a new monthly parking fee, and a sudden increase in rent, River House is no longer a reasonable choice. It now offers a strange mix of poor amenities AND market rent prices.

3) The new ownership is worrisome. As others have noted, a strange thing happened recently: management drastically, and without warning, increased the price of rent (to DC-market levels) without increasing the quality of our apartments to that of the surrounding area. It's not quite clear, in other words, what we are paying for or how they justify this rent increase. I am certainly concerned that if I do choose to stay here that I will not be treated very kindly in the future.

4) The building is loud. If you live on the rear of the building you will be barraged with loud trucks early in the morning and sometimes (although rarely) at night. Every morning between 7-9 am extremely loud refuse vehicles pick up the trash -- for those of us living in the rear of the building it is a very nettlesome wake-up. This also happens every Saturday morning. I cannot begin to describe how frustrating it is to be woken up every Saturday morning at 8am.

5) The maintenance is not good. My apartment, although recently remodeled, has suffered from a number of problems. Most notably, I have had several water leaks that have damaged the ceiling and walls (from the apartment above) and one surprise radiator leak that corroded a piece of wood furniture. The toilet has spewed water from the rear basin, despite having been fixed 4-5 times, that has spilled into my bathroom. It is pretty gross to discover toilet water pooling in your bathroom. It is pretty frustrating to have this happen 4-5 times.

6) The building feels like a dorm. It is so large and unwieldy, and houses so many people, that it feels like I'm back in college. There have been several late-night false-alarm fire alarms that have forced everyone to evacuate the building at 11pm. Again, this is reminiscent of college life.

7) Safety is a question mark. Last year a resident was robbed at gun point after parking his car in the community lot. I've heard that a number of cars have been broken into as well.

So that's the general flavor of River House.

If I could sum it all up for you in one phrase, it's this: River House is over-priced and under-whelming. Better values exist the area -- I know, because I'm now looking.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/21/2008
I second this review. The basic problem with RH today is the drastic increase in rent without any increase in quality of life. They used to be able to compete against the newest "luxury" apartments because of their value and location, but now they have no advantage in value. You are paying the same rent as a luxury apartment, but you are getting cheap and poor quality unit hardware. Plus they have a new submetering scam, where you are paying for the old and worn out infrastructure, as well as other tenants' utility usage. (Submetering advocates say it helps provide tenants incentive to conserve, but at RH the building itself is so old that you could conserve all day long and still get a huge bill for the terrible inefficiency of the ancient building infrastructure.) I am working hard to get out, and I would not recommend RH to anybody, especially when they can find a luxury apartment for just a little more.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/11/2008
how much was rent in 2007 versus rent for 2008? are the tenants friendly at river house? are there a lot of college students? what is it about this new management that you don't like, beside rent increase?

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