I lived at Heather Ridge five years. And that makes me one of the longest tenants there. Many leave after six or twelve months because the rent goes up, up, up! As for me, my first lease started at $1185 and went up! up!! up!!! to $1695 (call it $1700) in four short years. Same thing for everyone else. So nobody stays. Now about the actual apartment. The first thing is, the apartments have little or no insulation between the ceiling and floor of the upper apartment, meaning I listened to my neighbors urine hitting the toilet bowl every morning noon and night. So loud, I could tell if it was the mother or her son pissing. Also, I have nothing against people making babies, but to lay in bed and be forced to listen to people screwing over my head was below my standard of living. But being an understanding guy, I just turned on the radio, real loud. And the day I mentioned I could hear my neighbor's son bouncing a basketball on the floor, she said he didn't own a basketball, just a small handball, shows how thin the insulation is. If there's any. Now, about parking. One car per family? means people are constantly driving around after work desperately looking for a non-existent parking spot, with some leaving their car at the WinCo next door. At $1700 a month? again, it's below most people's standards. Now as far as the pests are concerned. After they fired their pest control man last year, I didn't dare walk through the kitchen without covering the plate with my hand because cockroaches would occasionally drop from the overhead light fixture on the plate! or me!! And if I happened to slam a cabinet door, long dark brown cockroaches would scurry across the floor or drop from the light fixture above. There are some mice and rats, they never got rid of, but did manage to close the children's play area for a month with deadly warnings not to walk on the dirt, and kill eight friendly squirrels with poison in the process. Jesus. Also, the double-pane windows in my bedroom and livingroom sliding glass door had so much mold growing inside I couldn't see out the window. I complained to management, twice, and twice they said they'd do something, but never did because the windows needed to be replaced. At $1695 a month, I expect better than to look out a filthy window so thick with disgusting mold it made me feel sick to my stomach. Like dog feces smeared on glass, it was disgusting!!! and it made me sick just to try and look outside. Also, when I signed my first lease with the manager at the time, Tony was suffering from some kind of "chemically" induced anxiety so distressing I refused to go back, afraid I'd see her suffering horrible psychological pain and anxiety again. So when I discovered the heater didn't work that first winter, I went out and bought two portable heaters instead. Since then, there have been other managers, all with some kind of anti-social problem. A drug addict, a domineering bitch and swindler. And when the garbage disposer began to leak, I called, only to have some totally bogus or inept "handyman" come by and remove ALL THE PLUMBING UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK! instead of just removing the disposer. Leaving me without a kitchen to eat, clean or cook in till he came back TWELVE DAYS LATER!!! And when I complained, too bad. No reduction in next months rent. Again, at $1695 a month, I expect better. Take it from me, if you don't want drug addicts handing your money, domineering bitches demanding a favor whenever you ask for a minor repair, or swindlers taking advantage of your innocent ways, don't rent an apartment at Heather Ridge in Orangevale California. The proof's in the pudding. And this is it. After five years, no one left. I watched them all go, upstairs, in back, up and down, across the street left and right, and across the alleyway up and down left and right, front and back, because the place is falling apart and the rent has gotten out of control. Moreover, you have to buy apartment insurance for $120 a year, which has a maximum reimbursement of only $1000, and you have to pay their utility management company another $58 a month for water and garbage. PG&E charges about $19 for gas and SMUD about $29 for electricity. $58 for water and garbage seems a lot. Moreover, the Owners are a group of young yuppy family members who inherited the property, who don't give a damn about you, only making more money. So they're raising the rent sky high to see where the top of the market will go. People who move in don't know that. And after only six or twelve months, they move out. In fact, four people rented my apartment the three years before me. I'm the only one who stayed.
My advice to you is this. Stay away from trouble. Run! don't walk away from renting an apartment at Heather Ridge. read more