I lived here my first year in California (moved out in June 2008). Unfortunately, I didn't realize that renting in the 'burbs is quite different than renting in a city. Everywhere I lived before (NY, Toronto) and where I live now (LA) you're not embarrassed to live in a rental. But when I mentioned that I lived in an apartment in Redlands, I got looks. What gives, people?
RPA is an older complex (read: 1970s). It doesn't look as shnazzy as the gated communities on either side of it, but they've renovated the interiors so the inside space is actually pretty nice. Of course, the renos are of "apartment quality" so expect your new carpeting to be threadbare at the end of the year, and you'll soon realize that the "new tile" in the kitchen is just rolled linoleum. Still, the apartments are pretty spacious and well laid-out. You get one parking spot with each unit, but there's plenty of unassigned parking where you can park a second car, no problem.
The complex itself is okay. There's a pool that's only heated enough to use in the summertime. The clubhouse is pretty well kept, though good luck being able to watch TV in there. The "fitness room" has three machines and then one of those weight-lifting contraptions.
Unlike most of the surrounding apartments, these don't have in-unit washer/dryers because the apartments are too old to install hookups (or it would be too expensive to do so). There are two laundry rooms - one bigger than the other - that work okay, but some residents are just really inconsiderate and will hog all 10 machines at once. Which makes me wonder how many people live in said apartments, since there are only a small handful of 3-bedrooms on the property. They also switched machine service companies recently, and there were a few kinks in getting the washers/dryers to work... lots of money was eaten in the process. Also, you pay for all utilities (including water + trash)... and the water bill here gets high because of landscaping.
The apartment location itself is great - it's across the street from a strip mall with a Stater Brothers, AWESOME indie coffee shop, good sushi & thai restaurants, and some other food/retail stores. It's about a mile and a half from downtown, right off Alabama (if you need to get to the freeway), and right behind the historic homes on Olive Street. There's a AAA mechanic on the corner, plenty of churches/elementary schools, and a bus stop outside of the complex (the bus line that will take you to downtown & to Crafton College). So for location, it really can't be beat.
So, why would I fail to give this place a super rating? First off, when I moved in the place was a lot better than when I moved out. They experienced a lot of turnover with the economy (most of my neighbors went off and bought homes because of the opportunities that arose) and as a result they dropped the rents mucho. Maybe I'm a bit bitter about that. More though, the place got a little more, erm, ghetto. Not ghetto, ghetto... but being one of the ungated complexes, randos started coming by in the middle of the night to dump their trash so that they wouldn't have to pay for trash overages on their homes. Others were dumpster diving - and the dumpsters are right next to apartment entrances. My quiet neighbors were replaced by people who fought all the time and I soon learned that the walls were thin. I heard these complaints from others too... more domestic issues/parties/etc.
Also, the management was far from stellar. Unfortunately, it seems like the management sucks in all Redlands apartments, at least based off of apartmentratings.com. So maybe this is better than most. However, having a live-in manager makes no sense if she mentions that she's "off the clock" if you say hi to her at 6pm. And, like any old building, this had some maintenance problems, yet it would take FOREVER to get them fixed. Having moved to a place with a great manager, I realize that it's not unreasonable for a major plumbing issue to be fixed by calling a plumber within a day - rather than trying to caulk a bathtub six times before realizing that it's a pipe problem (um, we had all realized this well before). And, once that giant hole is in your ceiling, it's not unreasonable for it to get fixed in less than a month. Yet the manager had no sense of urgency or of any responsibility, and her maintenance lackey was no better. Since she wasn't usually there to answer the phones, the calls of anger got passed onto the other office worker, who was really pleasant. This alone raised my blood pressure over the course of the year.
Well, now they have rent specials, I'm sure, so you can probably get decently cheap digs in a great spot. But just don't live by one of the dumpsters, try to have as few walls touching your neighbors, and be prepared to shell out $$ for plumbing unless you want to wait a while to get your stuff fixed. read more