IAC? YUCK!

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Mazy_IHB

Mazy_IHB

New member
Dear Irvine RE gurus:



Since we haven't found our dream house (with un-nightmarish price) in Irvine yet and we have to move to OC for job in July anyway, we are looking for short-term lease in Irvine while still looking for a house. We found a few places willing to go month-to-month, but noticed that we can also sign up for regular 12-month lease from IAC and break it anytime with a 1-month notice and pay $2500 to leave without further ramifications as per IAC management. I checked out a few IAC places and Santa Maria and Park West have what we are looking for so far (3 BR apartment on first floor - we want everything on the same floor, so no townhouse).



Now, I'm back home surfing the web and I am absolutely shocked to see all these negative reviews on IAC rentals in apartmentratings.com and alike - stories of non-stop noise, paper-thin walls, drunken UCI students puking everywhere, shattered car windows, filthy pools and gyms, aliens invading parking spots, wandering headless towmen, giant ants, man-eating molds, you name it... (I know, I know, unhappy people are much more likely to speak up and leave a comment, but I'm still concerned and would like to hear about your experience and advice)



So are IAC apartments really that horrendous and are we out of luck hoping to find a safe, nice, quite, family-friendly place here in Irvine?
 
I can speak for both properties you are looking at because I used to live in Park West, or Park Watts as we used to call it in college, and my brother and sister in law live in Santa Maria.



Park West is a terrible community. My car was broken into there, there were loud parties and drunken college students all the time (I was one of them), and paper thin walls. We even had to move in the middle of our lease because our neighbors made so much noise. I would not rent here.



Santa Maria is a lot nicer. I can hear the neighbors upstairs stomping through the apartment all the time when I go visit my brother and sister in law. There are also a lot of families there and a lot of kids everywhere which could be a good or bad thing depending upon if you have children as well. For us being a young married couple with no kids I would not live here.



When it comes to IAC there are plenty of choices and all the ones I've lived in I've had a good experience except for Park Watts. Good luck!
 
Thanks guys. Yes, we are inclined toward Santa Maria so far. How about the Turtle Rock Vista? They seem to have the largest 3-BR units, and we're going to tour them today. Any first-hand experience living there? Also while in Irvine today, do you guys recommend any other IAC communities we check out?



Thanks!
 
IAC complexes really vary a lot. Some of them, esp near UCI, will have a lot of students so you obviously don't want that. Also, some of them have "affordable housing" so you'd probably want to skip those as well. IAC has a central renting center (I don't remember exactly what it's called, but I think it's on or near Harvard) where you can tell an IAC consultant what you want, and they can help you narrow down your options.



For what it's worth, I've heard good things about Solana and Shadow Oaks, but I haven't visited them personally. Good luck!
 
[quote author="Mazy" date=1245542769]Thanks guys. Yes, we are inclined toward Santa Maria so far. How about the Turtle Rock Vista? They seem to have the largest 3-BR units, and we're going to tour them today. Any first-hand experience living there? Also while in Irvine today, do you guys recommend any other IAC communities we check out?



Thanks!</blockquote>
I've been living in a IAC apartment since last October when I sold my condo. Their service is top notice, I had the icemaker breaker and they fixed it that day that I called by the time I got home. I also had the refrigerator go bad and they replaced it the same day. The grounds are kept very well and I enjoy the things it has to offer. I live over at Quail Meadows but I would not recommend Quail Meadows or Quail Ridge apartments for you as it isn't the best fit. There is an apartment complex in Woodbury called Woodbury Place (it'll also be a nice preview for you guys of what living in Woodbury would be like). I believe in this rental market the lease termination fee is probably flexible as well. I would tell IAC that you will not be willing to provide them with more than one month's worth of the rent for the lease termination fee. Also, please refer to craigslist to get the best pricing on the various IAC complexes that you guys are interested in.
 
[quote author="Mazy" date=1245542769]Thanks guys. Yes, we are inclined toward Santa Maria so far. How about the Turtle Rock Vista? They seem to have the largest 3-BR units, and we're going to tour them today. Any first-hand experience living there? Also while in Irvine today, do you guys recommend any other IAC communities we check out?



Thanks!</blockquote>


I used to live in the 3 bed townhome at San Carlo Villa (for 3 years). We really enjoyed our time there, it is a very nice community. Lots of young families, not too many party types (there are no 1 bedrooms at the community). Great central location, walking distance to all kinds of parks (including Bill Barber) and shopping. Also can easily walk to Westpark Elem and LePort School is right across the street.



Good luck.
 
I believe there are 56 IAC complexes in Irvine. With that many and a city this large, there are bound to be differences based on which one you choose. Overall, I would say IAC has the best property management of any of the other non-IACs I've lived in near this area in the past. I'm sure some of that has to do with factors such as the location and newness of the facility, but IAC seems to do a better job than most when it comes to issues such as maintenance and repair requests. Mine does have its share of parking issues but none of the man-eating mold, publicly-vomitting college kids or filthy pool issues as described in those reviews. There are so many to choose from. Good luck with your search.
 
We have lived in IAC for over 6 years. The maint. is good as someone else mentioned and the grounds are kept in really good shape. However, I would definitely go for one of the newer properties. Ours was remodeled about 2 years ago, and already the floorboards in the kitchen are coming up and the carpet is pulling away from the entry way into the kitchen. They came to "fix" the floorboard once by putting some putty or something underneath it and putting something heavy on top of it until it dried - worked for a couple of months, now there 2 more boards coming up along with that one. Also the vegetable washer attached to the sink in the kitchen broke right off. They fixed it too. but wow, that was just put in 2 years ago!



We have college students living below us, but other than the occasional door slam late at night and a loud party on a Monday night when they first moved in, they have generally been pretty good.
 
We have friends in Santa Maria. There are a TON of kids. Parking is a problem if you are a visitor, but I think that's the case for most places. My friends live downstairs, and they did have noise issues from someone upstairs. I imagine if you have a 3-bedroom, you won't have that problem as the larger units are 2 levels. But all in all, it's a very nice place.



When we moved from Chicago, we were in corporate housing (1-bed with 2 kids under 4 years old). We thought we were going to buy (and we did bid on 4 homes during that time but were always a back-up offer. I am so happy today those offers never went through!). The unit was off of Coronado- near Main and Harvard. I think the street was Giotto- it's right on Jamboree. Don't go there! It's very noisy- lots of students, parties, etc. It was horrible.



After paying $3000 a month for 8 months for that stupid furnished 1-bedroom, they had the nerve to charge me $40 for some towels I had accidentally turned pink when I did the laundry.
 
Take Park West off your list. I don't know how it is statistically but it really does seem like the greater majority of tenants are students. It's also one of the oldest communities in the IAC Irvine portfolio. That's why it does have some of the largest floorplans. It was built during a time when they were more concerned with giving each unit more living space rather than economizing the usable area to create more, smaller units.



Your 3 bedroom requirement will narrow down the list of IAC communities down quite a bit. IAC has a lot of 2 bedroom units; 3 are a little harder to come by. Call 800-422-5115 to speak with someone in the IAC Information Center. They will narrow down the list for you based on some info you give them. You can then view the abridged list next time you're in town. It's the easiest way to start looking.



Also, don't let apartmentratings.com weigh too heavily on your decision. The only people posting there have axes to grind. It's a useful site when you want to see the absolute worst experiences people have had. But the way it lets people anonymously post, you never know if it's a genuine resident who had a problem or someone who managed to get 10 friends to post equally disparaging comments. I've even heard competitors use it to beat down neighboring communities. Also, it skews more negatively toward the bigger communities. Compare the number of complaints and scores between, say shadow oaks (tiny) and villa siena (massive).



Finally, give Turtle Rock Canyon a visit. It's small and quiet. The 3 bed townhome is not huge, but the community is lovely. Just watch out for cell reception.
 
Thanks guys for all the helpful info. We are waiting to see if Santa Maria will have a vacancy available for us in the next day or two, but in the mean time, we have put a 3-BR apartment in TR Vista on hold as well. Again, we are not considering townhouses due to the 2-story lay-out.

I haven't heard many negatives on TR Vista. Do you guys recommend it, if we couldn't get into Santa Maria? The attached 2-car garage, inside laundry room, and the back court yard of the Santa Maria units are very appealing to us, but TR Vista units are larger and the neighborhood seems to be quieter (with less parking issue for a potential 3rd car of a nanny).



Thanks again!
 
I'd ask SM about the Mold issue. If I'm remembering correctly, I met a family who had been relocated from a SM unit to a local hotel for a little over a week while IAC cleaned it out. Ask a MANAGER how many mold remediations they've had to do in the past year to make sure it's not widespread.
 
[quote author="Mazy" date=1245731001]Thanks guys for all the helpful info. We are waiting to see if Santa Maria will have a vacancy available for us in the next day or two, but in the mean time, we have put a 3-BR apartment in TR Vista on hold as well. Again, we are not considering townhouses due to the 2-story lay-out.

I haven't heard many negatives on TR Vista. Do you guys recommend it, if we couldn't get into Santa Maria? The attached 2-car garage, inside laundry room, and the back court yard of the Santa Maria units are very appealing to us, but TR Vista units are larger and the neighborhood seems to be quieter (with less parking issue for a potential 3rd car of a nanny).



Thanks again!</blockquote>




My mother in law lived there for about 3 years in a small 1 br. It was really nice and I don't recall her ever complaining about it being noisy. The location is very pretty too.
 
I'm at my 2nd IAC community, my first was Santa Maria and now I live in Tustin Ranch. I have no major complaints. Walls are a bit thin, but you have to expect that in an apartment community and none of my neighbors have been unreasonable, and I try to do the same. This coming from a guy with an electric guitar (I use headphones 99% of the time, but sometimes in the afternoon I like to hear it come from the amp.)



My thoughts on Santa Maria - great community, lots of families. I definitely never saw drunk college students - my roommate and I were probably the heaviest drinkers in the community and that was only about a 12 pack a week. Management is nice and very, very on top of things. Maintenance requests were always taken care of ASAP - usually on the same day. No problems with mold in my apartment - we have the 3br 2ba + 1garage layout.



Parking is NOT good. You get 2 spots and the guest spots are taken 95% of the time. Friends will generally have to park across the street.
 
I lived in San Remo Apartments when I first got to Irvine 10 years ago. Enjoyed the property and the neighbors were fine. No college kids in 2 BR 8 plex building I was in. Property management was top notch and had no issues. Common areas were well kept up. Got my full deposit back on move out after 12 months. They have 3 BR plans as well.
 
If you go IAC there are ways out of the $2500 fee to break lease. You can put it up on craiglist and someone might take you up on taking over the lease.
 
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