Mission Villa Apartments

We found this place tucked back a few blocks from our previous jobs. The complex seemed quiet and well maintained. We paid the deposit and got our first half month free or so we thought we did. Our first lease was 6 and a half months so they got their half month in the end. Within the first week the pipe under our dining room burst and flooded the apartment. Maintenance is not 24 hours here. We had to wait until 8am to get them to come by, by then the leak had soaked through the pad and soaked the entire dining room and parts of the living room. The maintenance men patched the pipe, put the old carpet pad back down after letting it dry out for a few hours and laid the damp carpet back down. Since then we've had a mold problem. This place also has a pest problem, we haven't seen any rodents but the complex is known for the cockroaches. We thankfully havent seen more than three in our apartment because we bomb regularly and set traps. The only major annoyance is we were told we were on the quiet side of them complex which is far from the truth. The side we live on is full of children some of which live in upstairs units. The worst of it is our upstairs neighbors are the noisiest group of people to ever have lived in an apartment and continuously threaten and try to intimidate us to move out. I'd have to say management has been doing their due diligence on the matter thus far however it did take them awhile to get on board. Parking and visitor parking is very limited for a two bedroom we got two parking permits but there is no assignment or guarantee you will get a spot. The parking lot needs to be repaved the pot holes and speed bumps are outrageous. The complex at least on our side gets flooded every time is rains for more than an hour. All in all its a decent first apartment, the size and price are great especially for being animal friendly however it is not a choice I'd make twice.

The Mission Villa Apartments were built back in the 70's. They aren't attractive but they get the job done. For being old the maintenance team keeps em working and updates them with newer features in between tenants and we just got new, more efficient laundry machines In our laundry room. The apartments are divided over 2 groups of 2 buildings each (so 4 buildings total). Each group of 2 faces each other and has a grass courtyard in between with a couple picnic tables and charcoal grills that get cleaned pretty regularly. The east group of buildings has a lot of families with young kids and teenagers around which means it's more noisy and the west buildings have fewer families and a little older tenants so it's not quite as lively. They are right on Mission Gorge Road so you're 2 min from the 52 freeway and walking distance to lots of businesses. There are a couple of nuisances. 1) there are only 8 visitor parking spots and your guests risk getting towed of they park in an empty tenant spot and there's really no other options for guests to park nearby as the strip mall next door threatens to tow as well if you're not a customer (my mom got a note threatening to tow her if she parked there again!) 2) This is mostly for families with kids, but the complex playground is dirt instead of sand so my girls always come home covered in dust and with dirty clothes when they play there. Other than that it's been a nice place to live for the last couple years. There's probably nicer apartments in Santee but these aren't bad considering their location and all the shade trees and I'm sure there a little cheaper than the new complexes around town as well. Hope that helps!