Valora at Homewood

Lived here for 3yrs with my bf and it has been terrible, we were only 19 yrs old and excited to have an apartment but it has been a nightmare! They lack communication and management skills in general. The only upkeep they have is contractors mowing the lawn weekly. There is a roach and flea infestation in addition to water damage, uneven floor boards, cracks in baseboards, walls, countertops, and holes for roaches to travel between apartments. We were told we need to get on a waitlist for pest control but they never sprayed the whole time we've been here but are charged monthly. We clean daily but the stains we seen from move in day have yet to budge. They will tow your car if you don't move it every 2 days so don't think about taking a trip out of town, your car will be gone. You can't even walk outside without stepping in trash. This place is not safe there's shady people, my side mirror was stolen off my car. Everything is poorly made and maintenance doesn't do their job, my bf has had to fix everything from leaking toilets, broken thermostat, wall sockets being put on wrong, and so much more. This whole place is a fire hazard, a building burned down and management said nothing about it. If you live with a man you will be excluded from all communication even if you are on the lease. Stray cats and dogs barking 24/7. Police, ambulance, and fire trucks are here weekly. Our lease was up in March 2023, it's June and we still haven't renewed after visiting the office frequently and still paying rent. They have a police officer who patrols just to have people's car towed and put out eviction notices. We are moving ASAP. Our health and lifestyle has deteriorated significantly since moving here, it's not worth it.

Listen I’m never the type to complain but this isn’t a safe place to live! I told them about stuff wrong with the apartment including all the wall plugs being loose, our floor rotting under the carpet and the stove not being safe to use at all. Our apartment was burnt down as well as others due to electrical issues in the walls. They did nothing about it.

I wanted to give zero star if I could! First of all, I am not alone, at least two of my friends had issues with the management! As a summary of my review is although I notified them 75 days before my leasing end, they say I didn’t. I went to office and filled out a form but they didn’t give me a receipt or letter(I wish I took a copy of it but Unfortunately didn’t). After I moved out, they charged me two months rent fee as a penalty. They should have refund my deposit but instead they charged me a penalty even I did nothing wrong. Now, they gave me to a collector. I hate you Valora, God knows the truth even I can’t prove it!

I have Been living here for the past 3 years in the “newly renovated apartment”.. before the pandemic i had no issues and they kept the apartments up but it seems like the apartment complex is just going down hill. They do not keep up the area like it should be not only that this past summer i spent two months without air and they kept saying it was top priority and was getting fix but never did until two months passed.. and now i have a hole in my ceiling from water leak that i have had maintenance request in for since Aug and now it’s Dec and ceiling has came in. Don’t try calling the office because they will not answer you. This will be my last year here!!

I grew up in public housing. My first apartment had a rat problem. Yet neither are as bad as Valora at Homewood. Maintenance is lousy. Construction is horrible. Pest control is nonexistent. Property is not well maintained. Management is rude. Don’t waste your time and hard earned money on this complex.

Once they changed management the complex has become a better environment. The communication betwwen staff and tenants has become better and the maintenace team is better at responding. I believe for what the new team has walked into as a whole they have a alot of work on their hands but they are doing their best to fix old problems first.

I have lived here for about 7-8 months now, and it is not even a slight exaggeration to say this is the worst place I have ever lived. The entire complex is just covered in trash and litter and broken glass and pet filth. I have raised numerous complaints to management, who will smile and say of course we will handle this, and then never think another thought about it. My unit has had a plethora of issues, and maintenance takes months to show up, if at all. I have sank who knows how much of my own money into repairs because they would not do anything about it. If you are thinking of living here, please do yourself a favor and go anywhere else. Anybody who gives this anything other than 1 star is likely either A) an employee or B) trying to win a free rent raffle. If I could give it 0 stars, I would.

This place is absolutely garbage and so is the management. My apartment was not ready when I moved in. My walls was painted on the day I was moving in and my carpet was wet and my bathtub was painted so when I took a bath paint was coming off. The kitchen island had gaps in it then I had 3 air conditioning leaks and it took them a week each time to fix it while my carpet was soaked from it. I had spots where they did a bad job painting and I had marks all over my walls and door. A few weeks ago we had trash all over the ground by the trash can for like a month and even by the mail box . I told them I was moving out early because they wasn't cleaning up the area and maintenance was terrible. After I told them that they said I was going to pay my next month and the second month I didn't have to pay because you have a 60 days notice but turns out they send me something in the mail saying I have a payment that they added to my bill. They changed over to new leasing manger and changed water companys and made everyone pay 200$ deposit for that without telling them. The fitness room has no equipment and half of it doesn't work or got stolen and the pool was unavailable most of the summer I would definitely not live here and it not worth the price

If you are faced with the choice of living in your car, or even the local park in the winter months, choose those options over this place EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Management does not care about you or the upkeep of the complex. The lease you sign means positively nothing. The neighbors have no sense of community and you will be hotboxed in your own apartment nightly as well as woken up to couples arguing for hours in the parking lot or loud music blasting through the place. It is February and trash has not been picked up since roughly beginning of November. No one picks up after their dogs and you will walk in dog poop every day. The poop that is picked up piles up because despite a monthly maintenance charge, facilities and buildings are not maintained. Management (if you can even call them that) just drops their lack of doing their jobs on others. I assure you, you will regret every single day of your lease if you move here. DO NOT DO IT. I have lived in so many complexes as I was a student-athlete so teammates would move/rent would be raised/etc causing me to move and I have never, ever complained, wrote a negative review, nothing. I have never had such an atrocious living situation and felt like I am wasting money worse than I have living here. Pleaseeeeeee take your hard earned money somewhere where you will be valued, cared for, and heard.

Just like the other review, my A/C started leaking into my apartment around July 5th. I put in a request to get it fixed...still haven't happened yet. It's now July 22nd. I've even contacted management about it a few days ago and guess what, it still leaks. I can't leave it off and have my apartment to be 80 degrees in sweltering heat and if I turn it on there will be a puddle in my closet....on the carpet. Other than that I love the location and the rest of the apartment.

MY AC unit broke and I was left without AC for 3 days. Nice and convenient place but very bad management.

For the first 6 months, the apartment I was in continuously flooded every time it rained (PS - it was 921 Valley Ridge Dr, Apartment 101). Carpet soaked, kitchen COVERED in standing water, even going into my bathroom. This caused an extensive amount of mold to grow under my cabinets and turned the white baseboards on the walls a nasty yellow color. I brought it up to maintenance three or four times, and each time they said they would send out an outside contractor to look at the outside of my building. No one EVER showed up, except for one time they sent someone out just to vacuum up the water in the carpet (it was still soaked afterwards, though). I finally had to go to the leasing office and threaten to move out without paying the buy-out fee for my lease. There's absolutely NO WAY they didn't know that the apartment flooded. I shouldn't have to worry every time I see rain clouds coming to Birmingham. I brought up the mold and they told me, as it says in their lease, "Well, mold is everywhere." I asked if they had any other unit available for me to move into, and Laura at leasing told me they didn't. Suddenly a day or two later, Laura calls again saying that they DO have a unit available to move into (was it the threat of potential legal action that had this unit *suddenly* available?). I moved into that new unit and, luckily, it no longer floods. I know for a fact the mold was from the flooding because I've been living in this new unit for almost the same amount of time now and there is no visible mold under my cabinets as it was in my previous one. ALSO BEWARE OF THE UTILITY BILL! Trash, water, and sewer varies between $110-120 every month ($25 of which is always for valet trash that works 65% of the time). I live in a one bedroom, one bathroom, 725 sq. ft. apartment and definitely don't use that much water. I've called Conservice (aptly named "con" service), the utility company, and they told me they take the water and sewer from the ENTIRE COMPLEX and divide it by square footage. Not just your building. I've brought this up to other apartments I've been touring and they look shocked when I tell them this. I will say, too, that the walls are VERY thin. I can hear my upstairs neighbors talking, their screeching newborn child, and even their phones vibrating when they get a notification. The new unit I've moved into is nice and spacious, but overall, the complex leaves little to be desired and I will not be renewing my lease.

There is mold, flies and worms in my apartment. It is so bad I can’t live there. Management knows but hasn’t done anything.

We made a huge mistake moving into the Valora apartments. They dressed it up all pretty with their “renovations,” but it was just a mask. They are bugs, leaks, smells, and other problems, and though management has know about them almost since we’ve moved in, they have yet to fix anything. Our bathroom ceiling is leaking and does so every time someone above us uses the toilet or the shower. It’s dangerous, and now we have mold issues that they clearly just painted over previously. Our leasing agent did not disclose that the washer and dryer had to be stackable, rather she only told us that there was a hookup. The laundry facility is old, several washers and dryers are in disrepair, and you can not reload your card to do laundry unless you go to the office. Just one more inconvenience. The staff overall is rude. If they’re not rude, they’re indifferent and unknowledgeable. They don’t answer phones, and will hang up on you when they say you’re being put on hold. They make empty promises to get you out the door, but those things they say will get done, never do. Do not move here.

Spoke with Laura about a 2 bedroom townhome. She never mentioned the water bill would average about $140 a month because it includes multiple different fees. I don’t recommend due to dishonesty.

I have lived here for over a year and honestly form the beginning it was a rough experience. Getting ANYONE in the office to answer the phone, good luck. When my roommate and I were trying to get details like our future address/apartment number we were given the runaround literally until the day we moved in. We were given a completely different number and then had to RE-CHANGE all of our address for our mail/utilities/etc. Through our time there we've had multiple issues with maintenance. The main office has a habit of marking things completed when, in fact, they were not. There are still multiple issues that we are having that we have had for month's that were not addressed, and they'll probably still exist the day we move out. Also, if you do ever get someone on the phone they will more than likely have a super bad attitude. Your best bet is to go to the office and hope someone is actually available to assist you. Don't make the same mistake we did, trust the reviews. The apartments are cute and some are renovated, but trust that these "renovations" were obviously done quickly with underlying issues that were simply painted over. Do yourself a favor and pay a little more and avoid this complex.

!!!!!!!STAY AWAY FROM THIS APARTMENT COMPLEX!!!!!!!! IT'S THE WORSE COMPLEX IN THE WORLD. From roaches, to no AC/heat, to the creme de le creme.....THE WORST MANAGEMENT EVER. I could overlook the roaches and ac/heat problem etc, but I can not even begin to tell you how disappointed I am in how they manage the place. Their customer service is the worst. I have called them over and over to come fix the AC/Heat and no reply. When the water stopped working... NO REPLY until days later. The bug problem, I emailed them and they said they would bring people out every week to have the place sprayed. Did that ever happen? NO. To put the cherry on top, I recently went home (which is out of state and on the other side of the country) and I informed them before leaving that I will not be home for the summer. I received an email yesterday that informed me that they were repaving the parking lot. They requested that I move my car or get towed. I called them and they said that I have to move it, to fly back there to move it in by tomorrow. How can I find a flight that fast just to move a car? They kept saying that it wasn't their problem and that they had posted a note on the car already.... how was I supposed to see it if I was out of town? Again, wasn't their problem. When I called back later this afternoon (they wouldn't pick up, had to call about 20x), they told me that they already impounded the car... So much for giving me even a day to think about it. Now I have to pay lots of money just to get the car out all because they could not properly inform me ahead of time so that I could have sent the keys over to them. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STAY AWAY!!!!!!!! COULD NOT EMPHASIZE THS MORE!!!!!

This place is trash. The tenants do NOT CARE about people around them. They blast their music all hours of the day and night so loud it shakes the crappy walls. People stomp above you so loud that you think they are going to go through your ceiling. They leave their garbage sitting outside for 2 weeks and throw trash everywhere outside. THEN the management does NOTHING about it. I asked for a number to call 24 hour security if needed to come by and tell people to shut up during the night and the lady in the office gives me a card that has a number to call the office or maintenance. A few weeks ago I got a notice on my door that my lease would be terminated and the DEA called because people reported drugs in our complex. I go down to the office and ask why I got this and she tells me “oh it’s nothing we put it on every door.” It’s NOTHING? Did you even find out WHO?! They only five valet trash to the tenants that live in the buildings below the hill. Not all the tenants. Even though they claim online it’s for everyone. They don’t care. Take your money elsewhere that’s worth it.

The whole leasing company is more than unhelpful, they are just apathetic. My apartment is "newly renovated" with "all new appliances" and is supposedly the best building on the lot, but there are several things in here that are broken and my leasing agent refuses to help me get in contact with maintenance. I am fed up and I've only lived here a month and a half. I will definitely NOT be renewing my lease. The ONLY reason I chose Valora was because it's close to my school. I dread my next 10 and a half months here.

This place is an absolute dump. Management will treat you like an afterthought if you're lucky enough to get their attention. For example, when I moved in, my shower didn't even have hot water. It took an email, two visits to the leasing office, some awkward conversations, and a grand total of two weeks for a fifteen minute fix. The units are cheaply "renovated" with bug infestations. Honestly. The updated cabinetry was just them painting over old cabinets. The handles don't even fit properly. The walls are thin, the air smells like cigarettes, drugs are used in my building, and dodging a fight that broke out in front of my door is something I've actually had to do. If you're looking for one of the worst apartments in Birmingham, you found it.

This place and their moldy, broken, and unmaintained apartments with the biggest roaches I’ve ever seen is beyond repair. Please don’t make the mistake and lease from them. You might like from surface but this place is a dump and their lack of professionalism is a complete joke. They also do not care at all about their residents and will catch an attitude with you in a heartbeat. Give your money to people who deserve it. Our apartments ceiling fell in on the first night of our stay and they fought us to get out of the lease.

I would give this God-awful place negative stars if I could. Do NOT move in here, I’ve been here for less than a year, and the experience has been terrible. To show that all the issues with this place are with the management, I will say they I have had a fantastic experience with my roommates, friends who visit, living with them has been great, but the management couldn’t care less about their tenants. When we moved in, the first bedroom had a broken window. Literally smashed, we had to cover it with plastic. I immediately told management about this issue, and it wasn’t fixed until 1 and a half months later, and when the maintenance guy did come, he said he had no idea of this issue until the morning of when he showed up. Don’t get me wrong, the maintenance workers are not the issue. They help to the best of their ability, the management just fails to put work orders in and address serious issues. Now, less than two months before I move out, the power in our apartment has gone out frequently for the past two weeks. A guy came by a month ago and said they would be changing the breaker in our apartment because we have an old/faulty one, but no one has been by since. I have left numerous messages on the “24 hour Emergency” Maintenance line, and that was almost a week and a half ago. I’ve called Alabama Power and they said there’s nothing they can do because it’s not on their end, it’s the faulty breaker that needs to be fixed, even warned us and said that this issue of constant flickering lights and off-and-on again power is a severe fire hazard. And before you think, “Maybe management doesn’t know it’s dangerous?” Don’t worry, I’ve told them it’s a fire hazard, and yet still no help, still no fixes, not even a measly phone call to notify us that they’ve received the complaint. And to top it all off, after weeks of trying to get someone out here to fix this dangerous issue, the Valora phone number is ringing off the hook, no voicemail, no Emergency Maintenance extension, no nothing, just ringing and ringing until my phone says that the call has failed. Please, for the sake of a SAFE living space, do not, I repeat, do NOT even apply to live here, and this is coming from someone who has been in and out of apartments, at least they all had working power. Save yourself the stress, and please, look somewhere else.

I have lived at Valora for a year and a half now with another 7 months to complete my renewed lease. I find myself very frustrated with this company. I've held off on reviews simply because I understand Valora is currently experiencing turnovers and renovations. While the apt is a decent price (I am in one of the "newly renovated") and about the largest amount of space available for a 1bed1bath, I'm not sure if that trumps the rudeness of some of the staff members, the inability to pay rent, websites crashing/changing, "phone service is down because I forgot to turn it on", lack of amenities (pool doesn't open until memorial day, no gym when said), the random power outages (one that resulted in my fridge being turned off and my food spoiling for 3 long weeks; took me 3 months to get the rotting smell out), shoddy construction work (I'm sure whoever painted, did electrical work, and set up my appliances didn't care AT ALL), and the nightmare of bugs I've experienced. The maintenance staff, especially the maintenance supervisor, is kind, informative, and somewhat late but they get the job done with what they have. The initial staff I encountered was welcoming and I have a ton of space in my apt. I've not felt in danger particularly and there is privacy here which I appreciate. There are good things and bad things about this apt and this company. I will have lived with it for two years and I believe I will look for another place but who knows. I've had a fair experience but I do see quite a few areas that need improvement that prevent me from giving it a better rating. 2.5/5

The renovated apartments do look nice and like a place you could live within. The staff is also quite polite and helpful. But one week went by and on day 7 I was still without power to two main outlets in my living room leaving me with no outlets in the living room. No maintenance order was placed after I was told it would be. I also found a giant cockroach climbing my walls that I was able to catch and rid of. Neighbors also vocalize that the area is a bit sketchy and have had things broken and stolen while they have lived here within the past few years. Proceed with caution when leasing from Valora.

The new renovation looks good, but it's still an old apartment. When I first got here, I had to go two weeks with no hot water in the shower until the second trip to the office. Apparently there's been staff turnover since then so that could possibly be fixed. It's by no means an unlivable place, but it could benefit from a price drop.

About a few months after I moved in, I realized that they had put me in a unit in the middle of a drug/alcohol rehab program. While I’m glad these people are looking for help, Valora didn’t think I may need to know beforehand that all of my neighbors have struggles with substance abuse. When I moved in, one of the windows didn’t even have a lock on it to add to that. While the units are newly renovated, they’re still very old and it shows. Something breaks every month and maintanence will take forever until you threaten to leave. I had no hot water in my shower for two weeks, and it took two trips to the office of complaining before they’d fix anything. If this is your only option, it’ll work for a little bit. I would try to avoid this place.

I am so excited to move into my new home, my agent is amazing. He has taken care of my worries and me. If you are a first time renter, I would recommend this place. We love Valora at Homewood!

I've lived here over a year and have nothing but great things to say about the staff the property overall! They even gave me and my entire building a Christmas discount off rent, if that isn't great costumers service than idk what is. I Recommend all my friends and family here

I moved in right before Christmas 2016. I originally moved into an old apartment because they did not have any renovated apartments available at the time. I chose to take the old unit and then move to a renovated one when it became available because I really loved the area and school zone. My move from the old to new was easy and quick. The old apartments weren't bad they were just outdated and obviously were not taken care of by the previous companies. The new units are beautiful and modern. They have a nice grey and white color scheme and the townhomes are huge. The management is friendly and very helpful. I look forward to another year here.

I have been very unhappy with my stay here. They say they have all these features but none are available if you live on the wrong side if the road. Maintencene is trash and we had to wait a month and a half for them to fix our shower. Our A.C. has never been properly fixed. They only care about filling apartments. My building recently became a halfway house of sorts. I shouldn't have to have a lawyer on hand "just in case" I need to break lease if things go wrong. My new neighbors constantly argue in the breeze way and parking lot and try to enter my apartment. I shouldn't have my male roommate walk me to my car.

If you are a prospective resident, please keep looking. This apartment complex recently got under new management. It used to be called "The Overlook." The management is no better now than it was before. I and two other roommates tried to pursue living at Valora for the convenience of being close to UAB. We filled out an application two and a half months before our prospective move in date which was scheduled initially for August 1st. The apartment we were getting was going under renovations in "May", or so they said. First, we had several people tell us something different about which apartment we were to actually get. Secondly, the leasing agent called us on the spot saying we needed to pay a reservation fee because someone else was looking into getting the apartment we wanted. Keep in mind, all the 3 bedroom apartments used to be Section 8 Government apartments so half of them have no current residents and are all going under renovations; that was the second lie they told us. Then a couple days before August 1st, they called to tell us our move in date would be pushed back to August 4th because they were putting "finishing touches" on everything. Then they called at 6pm on Aug 3rd to tell us that there was a "plumbing" issue and our new move in date was August 16th!! (YES, 12 days later!!!!). Finally, after all the frustration, we all arrived there on August 16th with all of our furniture putting all problems behind us even though they were unacceptable. They had us waiting for 2 hours saying they had cleaning people in the apartment (keep in mind we waited from 4:45pm to almost 7pm). We finally walked down to the apartment to look inside hoping to see the cleaning people, and there were contractors EVERYWHERE. The front door, closet doors, and several walls were completely wet with fresh paint. The hall closet was missing a shelf. The master bedroom window had a huge hole in it. The carpet was not clean. The bathroom cabinets had white specs of paint on it. The contractors were still putting caulk on the door frames. The contractors were not "done" until 9:30pm that night expecting us to move in, in the dark. Our experience here was completely awful, and it could have been prevented. There are far better apartment complexes in the Birmingham area. This property is owned by Arlington properties so please stay away from any complex who is owned by them. They have careless and deceitful employees and very poor management.

I've lived here for 2 weeks and already my toilet stopped working, courtesy officer did not acknowledge the 3 calls I made in one night, maintenance has not called me back about my toilet, THE BATHTUB DOESNT HAVE A STOPPER AND I CANT TAKE A NICE RELAXING BATH, also the a/c doesn't reach the top floor of the town homes so I'm an actual rotesserie chicken at night when i sleep. praying for the next 12 months to fly by so i can move out.

Apparently whoever wrote a review that Valora was even good must have been management. "Don't be fooled by appearances" is absolutely correct. The day I moved in it has been one nightmare after the other. I was promised one thing and then offered another. The apartments must have been flooded at one time since most have water damage. Screens are missing from the porch doors. Roaches and fleas abound. The response time to maintenance is dismal at best. The only way to get anyone's attention is to show up at the office.

My stay at Valora has been fantastic. The upgrades look very nice and I truly love the color scheme. I have two dogs and I was so happy to find out that they have two dog parks that's fenced so they can have some play time.

I moved in earlier this year and have already broken my lease to move out. Arlington Properties consists of greedy, unfair, and deceitful employees. The building units where built in the 1950s and get band aid treatments in order for unsuspecting people to sign leases. All of the units are infested with cockroaches and insects. Water damage is everywhere behind the walls and building code violations abound. Upon moving in we uncovered a multitude of issues. Our A/C unit was broken upon moving and stayed out of commission for 9 business days during the 75 degree Christmas weather. Against U.S. standard building codes, all the dryer exhausts vented directly into the attic in our building. Half the electrical outlets ran hot and could have caused a fire. And the quality of tenants is poor to the say the least. A young mother of two was shot to death in her apartment in December 2016. Other tenants would urinate in the parking lot on their own car tires after exiting their vehicles. If you like bugs crawling on you and loud music blaring at all hours then this is the place for you!

I have being here as a resident at the overlook Apartments/ Valora now for 3 years now my first two years was offer, now being under new management the Valora is the best apartments to live in, Management is the best they are happy and appreciate our stay, management are more concern about your stay and your happiness and most of all provide the homes were you would enjoy your stay here,, Maintenance is always there to fix whatever needs to be done asp, and the property is always clean, here you are surrounding by homewood school system which is great , here is no crime here, thanks to homewood police the best . I will recommend the Valora for your next stay.. we have the best manger and management and cooridinators you can ever want,, thanks to Arlington and staffs for making my home a happy stay,,