UPDATE: My car was broken into on New Years Day and my iPod was stolen. It had been parked in our gated garage and the break-in went unnoticed by the security company that patrols our complex. Apparently they come 3 times a night--once at 8pm then two more times randomly. When I went to tell the manager about the break in she was very unsympathetic and very rude. I'm moving as soon as I can, I hate this place.
I just moved into Walnut Park apartments in West Covina from Westwood, so I will try to remove the suburban shock out of my review of the actual apartment complex.
There is a pool and a jacuzzi, although I have never tried either. Behind that is a swingset which seems to always be occupied by unsupervised children.
I wouldn't say I felt 100% safe living in the complex--just a week after I moved in I received a notice on my door about some guy who had committed a breaking and entering on the premises. There is security present late at night (although I saw him playing solitaire on his computer when I walked by) and I have witnessed cops in the driveway several times as well.
The actual apartments are pretty spacious. The kitchen is fairly large (it's byof&m or Bring your own fridge and microwave) but my unit has a new oven and an old dishwasher. The cupboards are made of wood and have been painted, so chipping can be an issue. The light in my unit isn't great but can't really do much about that. The bathrooms are ancient, the tub extremely shallow and there is dry rot on my sink.
There is plenty of parking for people who live on the lease, visitor parking isn't too difficult to find either. They are very lenient on pets, they don't have weight restrictions just breed restrictions which was nice. The rent is reasonably priced and there are good move in deals.
Each unit comes with a very small patio, but if you are unfortunate enough to be on the lower floor (and have neighbors who are ALWAYS outside smoking) then you will have no privacy. Also, if you have directTV before you move in, make sure you look at a unit that has a CLEAR view of the south east sky, because they will NOT let you put a satellite dish on the roof, but are very keen to give you the number to the charter cable sales person from whom they receive commission.
There is a fitness room (always empty because it's useless, the machines are ancient) and fairly large laundry room. Laundry's a little pricey from what I'm used to.
My husband and I had originally decided to rent the place because it was close to my work and the manager seemed very nice. It was very soon after we moved in that we found out our manager wasn't so nice, kind of nosey and intrusive. When we had come to look at the apartment she had asked us where we had seen the rental. After visiting SO many rental sites we said we didn't know and she wrote down apartments.com. We had afterwards received an email from rent.com offering us a $100 if we found our apartment through them. We filled out the rebate figured, couldn't hurt right? Well at 8 a.m. on my way to work my manager stopped me to give me a hard time about it, saying "You didn't find us on rent.com sweetie, you found us on apartments.com." She seemed angry like I had tried to swindle her or something, but how was I supposed to know? In the end our bid was rejected from rent.com, I never really understood why it mattered.
There are very stringent rules for the complex, which I guess is a good thing considering the location and it's past tenants.
Overall I'd say the rental agreement, contract and etc. were all done very professionally which was nice but the atmosphere, quality of services and staff leave something to be desired. I am however, very happy with the price of the rent, pet policy. upkeep of the grounds and the fact that they let you paint. So it has it's ups and downs. Just a note: you have to pay your deposit and first months rent with cashiers check--which is kind of annoying. And move in is difficult, since the apartments are all facing inwards toward each other and are surrounding by the parking area. On top of all that the neighborhood is pretty awful. You have to drive a distance to go to the grocery store or video rental. PLUS you can't turn left on Valley or make a U-Turn anywhere--so you have to loop around any time you want to travel east.
I'm definitely moving out once my one year is up, but it's not AWFUL for a short term rental. read more