Apartment Review for Archstone La Jolla Colony - San Diego, CA

I have lived at Archstone La Jolla Colony for one year. I moved here and needed to find a place quickly, and did not have the time I would have liked to do any in depth research. Archstone is a cookie cutter 1-3 bedroom complex. The outside looks nice, and the inside is very average; white paint on all the walls, beige carpet, white tile countertops. Overall, the complex is nothing special, but wasn’t bad for a quick fix. My thoughts are as follows: PROS: 1. There is a GIANT grass field adjacent to the complex about the size of a football field that is very nice to play sports or let your kids and pets play. 2. Directly across the street is a small fenced dog park that allows unleashed pets to play (the rest of La Jolla Colony requires dogs be leashed at all times.) 3. It is very close to the major highways. 4. If you are an Asian college student, this place is for you. I’d guess 90% of the tenants are Asian College students. The rest are old people. 5. The office/business center, website and welcome aboard package is very flashy. They’ll make you think you’re going to be living in a luxury resort. 6. The maintenance staff is awesome, and very friendly. Probably the best part of living here. CONS: 1. Price: Archstone is pricey for what you get. My 2 bed/2 bath was $1730 per month. It’s not terrible, but if you do your research you can find MUCH nicer places for the price. (I’m moving to a 2/2 condo that is bigger, nicer, with a 2-car garage that allows pets with no deposit or fees, for a lower price.) Just look around. 2. Water bill: The amount you will pay for water each month is divided between everyone in the entire Archstone complex= you don’t pay for the amount of water you personally use. You could live in a 1-bedroom apartment and be on vacation or business for a month, while a 3 bedroom apartment could take bubble baths and bathe their dog everyday, and the two would still pay the same water bill. It’s a little shady in my opinion. 3. Kitchen: The kitchens are tiny, and there is not enough nearly enough storage space. You’ll have to decide between dishes and appliances or storing food. If you’re a single person living here, you should be fine. The bathrooms and kitchen have white tile countertops, and they are a struggle to keep clean. If you don’t mind putting in the time keeping your place sanitary, it’ll be ok. 4. Yard maintenance: The lawn keeping service does not cut the grass enough- it will go 3-4 days past the day it should have been cut and looks unkempt. Further, the trees around the complex produce some sort of berries that fall everywhere on the sidewalk and street, which naturally get squashed by the tenants. These are rarely cleaned up, and it looks disgusting. 5. Morning maintenance: Starting at 9:00 am, the maintenance crew begins to use blowers outside. It will definitely wake you. If you have class or a job that gets you out of the house before then, you’ll be fine, but don’t plan to sleep in past 9. 6. Mold: No matter how hard you try to keep the place clean, Archstone has a terrible mold problem. Especially around the windows and in the bathtub, it is a pain to keep sanitary. You’ll notice yourself coughing and open the window and see it covered in mold. It’s unhealthy and disgusting. Plan to have sanitation supplies on hand and to spend a good deal of time cleaning this place. 7. Air conditioning: Archstone doesn’t have AC. (It has heat though.) Lack of AC makes it absolutely miserable in the summer, so plan on having some powerful fans because the ceiling fans aren’t strong enough. This doesn’t help the mold issue either. 8. Parking: It’s a chore to find parking in front of your apartment. Don’t expect to unless you come home early, otherwise you’ll have to park on the far side in the compact spots. The management staff parks in the prime parking spots to boot. In my opinion, the staff should park as far away as possible and leave these spots to the residents. Further, there is an underground garage available, however you are required to pay $50 for a remote. Also, there is street parking on Charmant Drive that is very dangerous- I’ve nearly hit someone at least 50 times, no exaggeration. You have to drive in the middle of the road to avoid this, because drivers in this area are terrible. I’m talking absolutely awful. 9. Sprinklers: If you work late, plan to be sprayed by the sprinkler systems. 10. Patios: The only things allowed on your patio are a table and chairs or plants. Decorations are not allowed. I had a decorative surfboard on my patio and received a letter directing me to remove it. (Yet multiple other residents leave bikes, ashtrays with cigarette butts strewn about, as well as other random items on their patios.) BBQ grills are prohibited on the patio as well. There are grills in the clubhouse area to use, but I had no intention of taking my raw meat down there to grill. So I had a grill on my patio that I kept covered up and used when the management staff had left for the night. There was also a tree covering up my patio that hid it. 11. Fitness center: It’s not much of a fitness center. There is a treadmill, elliptical and partial universal gym. If you are remotely serious about fitness, don’t bother. But for the casual user it’ll do the trick. 12. Rent increase: If you want to renew your lease, your rent will increase. Just plan for it. It may be worth it for you to pay the extra couple hundred a month to avoid moving. 13. Weed: As I write this, the smell of marijuana is filling my apartment. It’s really potent in the summer, such that we were forced to put a fan on our patio to blow the smoke back out. If you’re into this lifestyle, disregard. 14. Management staff: They are young and their inexperience is obvious. If you are looking for a strong, knowledgeable management staff that understands their job and the way things work, search elsewhere. This is a large part of the reason I am leaving Archstone. At the end of the day, Archstone is a corporation and they treat you as such. They don’t view you as a resident or a person, but as a number that gives them a rent check. I realize that every other apartment complex is a business as well, but it would have been nice to at least get the impression that they cared about the tenants as individuals. (Maintenance staff excluded; they are great.) 15. Recently something really odd happened- one of the apartments was occupied by at least 15 college students who brought in sleeping bags and food and stayed for the weekend. They played music late into the night and used the pool and field during the day. I don’t know if they worked out a deal to rent the place for only the weekend, or had a friend working here that allowed them to use it, but it was very annoying to have these transients keeping us awake and never to see them again. It was very creepy and made me feel uncomfortable. Please don’t confuse this review with others that claim, “Do not rent from Archstone under any circumstance!” My experience was not awful, I simply would advise anyone that is considering Archstone to search elsewhere. My recommendation is that for the price, quality and treatment, you can find a much better deal and experience somewhere else. It wasn’t bad for my first place in California, but had I done my research I would have been much happier. I knew after 2 months that I would be moving out as soon as I could. Happy hunting!