San Mateo Forest

I like the price and the location. The trail near the APT takes you to the White Rock Lake and local venues. The management is prompt with repairs and responses, and the staff is friendly. Called about my AC air not being cold and they literally came out 10 minutes later to add more freon There are residents that don't pick up their dog poop which I find it very disturbing and annoying.

Place is a pretty decent size but that's all it had going for it. The walls are thin so you can hear what your neighbors are doing. If they open a drawer or flush the toilet you can hear it. The renovations they're talking about is literally peel off sticker decor they slapped on the walls. The first day we moved in someone stole towel rack and a mirror we had. The place feels and looks very depressing. The mail boxes are unsafe so I would have most of my important mail forwarded to a family members house. Honestly do not move in. Worst year of my life!

Just run, run as far and as fast as you can from this property. I worked in property management myself for nearly 3O years, and still cannot believe what they did to us. Imagine the sort of management that would evict a disabled resident with a 12 year perfect payment history, a former employee, and no complaints against us, because I allowed my boyfriend to smoke cigarettes in my own home. Of course, the real reason was because our unit was one of the few remaining that had not yet been remodeled, and they couldn’t wait 3 more months for our lease to expire before they pitched us out so they could remodel and rent the unit for more money. Per the lease, they are only required to give you 3O days notice (but you are expected to give 6O days notice to vacate or be charged over $5OO in early termination fees). And that’s how our twelve year residency at San Mateo ended, our reward for putting up with revolving door office staff, performing and paying for most of our own maintenance, taking my trash down to the corner shopping center’s dumpsters because the two non-compliant dumpsters San Mateo provides for over 2OO units were made inaccessible, the office allowing workmen use my handicap parking space for a loading dock, watching them paint the entire property penitentiary gray and dump crushed stone (our prison rock pile) anywhere a blade of grass might grow and need to be cut, rapidly escalating rents to pay for remodeling other people’s apartments, ten plus year failure to properly sub-meter water and provide any documentation supporting the excessive fee charged, water running out of the bathroom electrical outlet, can’t fix the fluorescent light fixture in the kitchen all summer long, and neighbors who live in a consequence free world where it is acceptable to party the plaster off our ceiling or have so many domestic violence complaints the police don’t even respond anymore. Setting aside your personal feelings about smoking, as that was merely the excuse proffered here, know that if at any time you should stand between San Mateo and an extra nickel’s profit, it is nothing to them to unlawfully terminate your lease and evict you from your home.

Of course it is very easy to cut-n-paste a good game on the internet, but you should never interpret that as being any reflection of the real situation in the office. Anyone can go on-line and find all kinds of catchy, award winning customer service phrases and buzzwords. Certainly if you come to them with something that is unquestionably their responsibility, like a clogged sink, dead rats, or broken A/C (the latter will happen frequently during the summer) they will get around to maintaining their own property about average, why wouldn't they? You could reasonably expect that at any property. But it has been our consistent experience that anything requiring an ounce of concern or effort is met with the brush-off. When we have been persistent, we've been referred to the owners, who are on-site but the employees in that office tell us the owners do not speak to their residents. All I will say about the photographs here is that they are certainly not pictures of our apartment, nor any of our neighbors that we've ever seen. This is an old property, in fairly good shape for its age but quite steeply priced, and with a notably unenthusiastic office staff dedicated to the bare minimum of acceptable service. You would imagine that property managers would wish to avoid the additional work, added expense, and loss of revenue involved in resident turnover, but if this is the case we don't see them making any connection between that and the relatively easy effort it would require to keep people here. We seem to have new neighbors every time we turn around, but I suppose variety is the spice of life.

The apartments are very old which means that they are much larger than the newer apartments. My apartment faces the creek which I love since I get to see all the birds. We have new management who seem to be very helpful and honest. Unlike other apartments, I have seen families with as many as 3 pets, that were welcomed here. There's a park at the end of our street that everyone goes to...it always has a lot of people playing basketball or swinging. Many people walk in our neighborhood. Lots of children live at this apartment complex. The local recreation center is just around the corner from us. Grocery stores are all directions but only 7 to 10 minutes away. There is a swimming pool that is open during the summertime. It is in walking distance from Lakewood Shopping Center which includes Gingerman & Upstairs Lounge. San Mateo Forest Apartments are currently under renovation.

The property looks like the projects (lite) and need to be better kept with a power wash to the building for starters. The owner cares about money not tenants. 4 office managers in 3 years. The water is BROWN, and when the water first comes on it stinks through the faucets AND the vents. They half fix apartment issues. Raccoons are everywhere even in the daytime, but the plethora of stray cats, I don't mind. ALL appliances are old & LITERALLY killing my electricty bills & groceries which they wouldn't replace the 1st; 2nd; OR 3rd time the refrigeratorS went out. Car break ins, flat tires, minimal shootings, of course the property cameras are fake!!! Little grey haired white lady is security :-/ one way out and one way in, over the terribly uneven roads and ginormous potholes.

If you don't mind an older apartment complex that has a thriving nightlife for the local cats and raccoons, it's a good place for the price. The complex has been upgrading its units recently, so even though the outside may look shabby, the interior gives you the confidence to invite guests over. Great location, being surrounded by a safe and quiet suburb, and only a walking distance to a family friendly park and the trails taking you to White Rock Lake. If you are interested in a place here, I would recommend going into the leasing office to talk to a representative. Most of the apartment layouts are unique, so looking at the floor plans online doesnt give you an accurate picture of where you could be living.

Decent sized for the price. In lakewood area. Close to biking, running trails. Some a/c issues not advertised. Not well insulated.