I genuinely wanted to love living here…read more
I lived at Anacapa for 15 months, and I'm writing this because I wish I had known what the resident experience was actually like before signing my lease.
When I moved in, I loved the location, neighborhood, and townhome-style feel so much that I genuinely thought I would stay for 3-5+ years.
Instead, I moved out after 15 months feeling incredibly relieved to leave.
**COMMUNICATION**
This was hands down the biggest frustration and disappointment.
Getting a response from the leasing office was unnecessarily difficult. I would call, email, text, and follow up multiple times, and sometimes still had to physically go into the office just to get an answer. Waiting 7-12 days for a response often felt like their "normal."
When you're paying $3,000+ every month, you shouldn't have to repeatedly chase the front office for basic communication.
Unfortunately, some of my most frustrating interactions were with Tommy Le, Senior Community Relations Rep.
While discussing my lease renewal, Tommy and I were communicating through email when he stopped responding for more than a week and a half despite multiple follow-ups. I eventually received help from another team member who was HAPPY to step in.
Tommy never acknowledged the ghosting, nor did he apologize.
I also dealt with Tommy during a billing situation. I had overpaid a previous month and called multiple times to confirm my account was paid and in good standing, only to later discover there was still a balance after a notice was left on my door while I was out of the country.
I completely understand that paying the balance was my responsibility. My frustration was that I had specifically contacted the office multiple times beforehand to make sure everything was paid and was told I was "all set."
When I tried explaining this to Tommy in person, his responses included, "These things happen" and "We're all human." Even after clarifying that I was simply explaining what happened, I received another dismissive "These things happen."
After 15 months of consistently paying thousands of dollars in rent, I wasn't asking for special treatment. I expected basic understanding, accountability, and professionalism, especially from someone in a senior-level role.
**MAINTENANCE & PESTS**
Communication wasn't my only frustration.
I scheduled pest control more times than I can count because of recurring large spiders, roaches, and other bugs inside my apartment. I keep my home extremely clean and take my trash out daily, yet the issues continued.
Ironically, the day after returning my keys, I saw a Ring conversation about pest issues at Anacapa, which confirmed I wasn't the only resident experiencing them.
The day before the Fourth of July, my garage door broke with my car trapped inside, forcing me to cancel my plans. The lack of urgency from leasing and maintenance made an already frustrating situation even worse.
The front gate also regularly breaks and can remain open for extended periods, allowing people who don't live in the community to enter and access areas like the dumpsters.
For the amount residents pay, I expected these types of maintenance and security concerns to be handled with more urgency.
**PRICE VS. EXPERIENCE**
Anacapa is in a great location, yes.
However, I was paying $3,000+ for an unrenovated one-bedroom apartment and low to zero front office support.
During my lease renewal, it was frustrating to see available renovated one-bedroom units with similar floor plans priced even lower than the unrenovated unit I was already living in.
At that price, I don't expect perfection.
But I do expect emails to be answered, calls to be returned, reasonable urgency when my vehicle is trapped inside my garage, and residents to feel like their concerns actually matter.
Unfortunately, that was not my experience.
This review isn't the result of one bad interaction. It reflects 15 months of repeated frustrations that eventually outweighed everything I initially loved about living here.
Anacapa has the bones of a great community, which is exactly why my experience was so disappointing. I genuinely wanted to stay long-term.
If you're considering moving here, I would encourage you to look beyond the location and appearance and consider the level of communication and resident support you expect for the price you're paying.
I moved into Anacapa thinking I had found somewhere I could call home for years. I moved out 15 months later relieved that I no longer have to deal with these issues.
And for management, there's really no need for the generic "We're so sorry you experienced this" response.
After 15 months, I have very little confidence anything will change until there is a serious look at the people representing your front office.
No apology needed whatsoever.
I am simply relieved to no longer call Anacapa home.