Let me preface this by stating that I have no axes to grind with Essex Management. I want to provide and honest assessment for anyone thinking of moving to Cedar Terrace.

When my girlfriend and I moved here in 2002 this place was great under the old management. The entire staff was friendly and accomodating. We should have seen the writing on the wall when Essex took over in 2004 with three days advance notice. We have steadily witnessed all aspects of the property decline. First and foremost, the management staff seemed to turnover every three months. Every Essex manager and staff person was condescending and rude. They acted like they were doing you a favor. When we moved here we were treated like a people. Now you're treated like a number. Like you're an inconvenience to them. I don't know how to describe it but it's depressing. You were lucky to catch them in the office for help or to pick up a your mail. They seemed too busy smoking outside the mail room. They have a new manager (Danika) that seems nicer and more knowledgable but based upon Essex's history I doubt she'll be here in four months. She has her work cut out for her. It'll be interesting to see what she can do with the place if anything.

The building structures, landscaping, parking lots and workout facility has all gone downhill. Upkeep doesn't seem like a priority. I wonder if they've ever heard of pressure washing' The place used to look great in 2002-2004. It looks absolutely shabby now. They have this awful tacky sandwich board on the leasing office roof that can be seen from the freeway. Then they made it look worse by tying huge ugly balloons onto it. I understand promotion but it's so tacky. You'll see if you come here.

The other comments regarding the quality of residents is absolutely true. It used to be quiet with couples/singles in their 30's - 50's (we were only 23 when we moved in but enjoyed the older crowd). I hate sounding like a snob but it really is a bunch of loud college kids, white trash, screaming kids and generally unsavory looking individuals. We moved here to get away from these people. The walls and floors ARE VERY THIN. I can hear the neighbors taking a pee unstairs from my bed. When they listen to music I can follow the lyrics, not just the bass. LOTS of people are too lazy to take out their trash and leave it outside their front doors where squirrels and/or raccoons get into it and spread it around. The quality of residents is really what has lessened our opinion the most.

The parking situation is pretty bad too. We have a carport for my GF but I often have to walk five minutes to get home. They are awful about enforcing rules as well. People parking in the fire lanes are a real issue. This issue caused a truck to hit our car's rear bumper in our carport just last week in the middle of the night due to lack of space. They were so kind to not leave a note either. We love our new scratched up bumper.

The ONLY nice thing I can say about this place is the lead maintenace tech Paul is awesome. Paul came on board in 2004 and has been great We're on a first name basis and he always takes care of us. Really nice guy. I honestly will miss him when we move.

Despite all of this, the rents are raising like crazy. We just renewed with a 15% INCREASE. We are going to sign on one more year and swear this is our last time. To be honest, we haven't liked this place for four years now. It's just such a pain to move. We'll be buying a home when we leave. We are finally fed up with this place and Essex.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/16/2008
I have lived here for around two years and I agree with the statements above. The only other problem I have had is with Dog doo. Every time we have to walk up to the building there is the overwhelming scent of dog doo. They don't seem to be able to get one of my neighbors to pick up their dogs big piles of it. Sometimes it is even left on the path/ sidewalk area. Gross!

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