My wife and I lived here for a little over three years. In our 10+ years of renting, this place was…read moreour favorite.
The guaranteed parking in a garage was great, but the first-come-first-serve parking was a problem after 5pm for our second car. If you prefer one car, it works great, otherwise we would sometimes end up parking on the other side of the complex. Also, the garages are small, my wife cannot park (though she tries!) and ended up hitting the side of the garage. We reported it and paid a pretty reasonable repair fee. I never had an issue with it, but be warned the garages are a little small.
The landscaping is absolutely amazing. I also have really bad seasonal allergies, so I had to be on a nasal spray the entire time I lived there because it seemed like there was always pollen in the air. But, opening the windows and looking out on the courtyard was such a treat it felt like a price worth paying. We lived right near the leasing office, and that's a wonderfully maintained area. Landscapers would come by quite frequently and it could be a little loud for an hour twice a week or so, but it was never a major nuisance.
For literally the only period of time in our renting lives, we never heard our neighbors. We were first floor, always had neighbors above and on the side, but we also had a corner unit so that was it. Even so, I never heard anyone, and never felt pressure to be quiet. The main exception was the pool gets used a lot on the weekends and we were right next to it, so having all our windows open in the summer would sometimes come with some added noise and foot traffic. It didn't bother us, but it might some others.
We didn't really meet our neighbors the entire time we were there, but it felt like the safest place in the world. Redwood Shores is generally pretty amazing for that. Obviously all shopping is done at the Nob Hill on RWS Pkwy, and that was fine. In terms of community I wouldn't say it's super friendly, it felt like nobody lived there most of the time, even though the place was full. But there was nothing unsavory about it. There were some interesting characters at the drinking establishments in the Nob Hill complex, but mostly just rich old drunks.
The main reason I say this was our best experience renting ever was the management. It changed hands while we were there but we never saw a markedly different policy. Our rent didn't go up too much while we were there, and often they would lag a few months on sending a renewal, so we'd go 14+ months at the same rate. Then when we got the renewal they would raise the rent, as expected, by about 5-6%, which at the time tracked behind bay area averages which were something like 15-20%. I would say it starts out expensive, but they were less aggressive about raising rent as other places we'd lived. I liked this a lot, I wasn't suckered in at a super low introductory rate only to be shocked later, which seems to be very much the norm around the bay. You'll pay, this place is expensive, but the cost remained pretty stable the entire time.
We also loved our unit. We were in E104, a corner unit on the first floor of the building, across from the pool and the leasing office. We had a ton of windows, it was nicely updated, and we had in-unit washer and dryer. Bathroom was alright, never any problems. Kitchen was decent, electric stove, and a new fridge and dishwasher. Lots of cabinet space.
Overall we really enjoyed our time there. The area as really nice, lots of trails and such for walking and biking. We loved our apartment, and the grounds are beautiful. Parking was an issue but it has never been great anywhere else we've lived in the bay area, so I'd call it par. We had to relocate to the south bay so we moved out, but otherwise we probably would have stayed there a long time. I still miss it, and it's a wonderful place. Highly recommended.
