Sterling Alvarado

It’s unfortunate that 4 months ago I wrote a review stating how much I loved living here. Since then new management has been put in place. It’s been a constant back and forth with them over a complaint I have. There are constantly dogs off the leashes, management put up flyers that haven’t stopped the residents from walking their dogs without leashes. Now they are telling me I shouldn’t walk my dog there if I don’t feel safe. The police and animal control say they can’t do anything until someone is injured. Well I sure hope that doesn’t happen.

Horrible service they charged me $ 500 for the common area damages when i used to have roommates and guess what it was their fault !!
Don’t let them fool you with the model apartment its nothing like it!
At first I moved to 4 bedroom they told me there’s going to be 3 roommates and you’re the 4^th I walked there i found 7 people living there!!!
And I was the only person with a single room the next week I asked them if I can move out cause I didn’t like the roommates and the apartment as well and the said you can’t change anything about it.
I lived there for 6 and half months not using anything in the apartment only my room and the charged me the most for the common area? All I got to say horrible lessening office and a worst place to live
Out of the crimes and the thefts in this place it’s not even save!
If you’re a collage student and you want to live with roommates go to BLVD63 or something much much better!
Thanks.

DO NOT LIVE HERE! I recently started living here and have been nothing but disappointed. The prices are definitely overpriced for the quality of the living situation. The building is DISGUSTING! They never clean the staircases or hallways and there’s often broken glass from beer bottles being thrown down the stairs to the point that I’m afraid to walk down them. The floor constantly reek of garbage and no matter how many times they say that they’re working on it they never do! There was even a violent situation in the apartment below me where I heard not only an argument, but also someone get severely injured. I was awoken to cops and ambulances below me. The staff never sent out a notice about this incident, which caused me to feel severely unsafe living here. I will not be renewing my lease and I will not recommend this place to anyone.

It has potential to be a great place. I think since it just opened it has time to grow. The halls and elevator need to be cleaned more often. They run out of ink and don’t replace until a week later. The wifi has gone down multiple times. However, when our washing machine broke down, about 2 weeks later they arranged for us to get professional laundry service; so that was cool.

Night place to live. Staff is friendly and helpful. 90 seconds away from sdsu with the trolley!

Place sucks management doesn’t do anything. I put in a noise complaint but management failed to do anything. I’m definitely not living here next year and am moving out as soon as my lease is over.
Troy was very helpful. Which is why I chose to give them a 3 star rating. May go up if they continue to address the problem of noise.

My daughter lives in Sterling and I have been at the apartment a couple times and have dealt with Brook in the office. She is always so rude for simple customer service issues. The first time I met her she would cut me off and speak over me when I asked questions. This next time, I was in the apartment on a friday at 530pm. The smoke alarm was chirping and I removed the battery with intent to replace it assuming that maintenance would not be here so late and the noise was unbearable. I took a chance and called the office to see if they had batteries. I was informed I was in breach of the contract by removing the battery and we would have to complete a maintenance request. Seriously. There have been numerous issues since moving in. The staff is great at selling you on an apartment, but once the lease is signed you are stuck with a poorly maintained and misrepresented place to live. Very disappointed.

Probably the worst place I ever lived in. Everything constantly breaks, I lived here for awhile simply because of the location. This place is overpriced and every time people move in I hear they raise the price at least 200 $.
For example I used to live in 2 bedroom apt on the 5^th floor and it only cost me around 900 $ with all the charges, however, the following year when my friends moved in to the same apartment but on the 1^st floor they had to pay 1200 $. Also last year they decided that it would be nice to make 2bd apartment, that originally were for 2 people, for 3 ppl and all of them still pay outrageous prices.
They’re always trying to find the ways to charge you more. Like electricity, 30 $ is included and overages you pay yourself. So yesterday we received an email saying that we owe some money. Hers it was saying 60 $ overage and mine was 163 $…that it is crazy!!! It does not cost (30+60+30+163) 283 $ for a 2bd apartment. Even a big house does not use that much electricity!
I’ve lived in this place since it opened, in the beginning it was ok. Now I can’t wait until my lease is done and it’s almost impossible to get out of it. I’ve been asking them to let me move to another apartment since August and there’s always the same answer «no, there’s nothing available», although, the next day I’ll hear that other people switched rooms.
This place is not worth your time, money and patience.

Horrible Service here! Had the run around many times trying to talk to management. They are not able to solve any of your issues and have deceptive apartment specialist. You should not rent here! Specially the property manager Troy and their apartment management Freddie, Nancy, Shi. DON’T EVER RENT HERE or deal with these people.
If you are having a horrible experience with this place, contact
1. Complain to the news
2. The Better Business Bureau
3. Call and complain to their corporate office
(832) 209‑1200
4. Inform your friends
5. call them and ask for their supervisors Amy or Eric

If you wind up renewing and you have other roommates ho moved out, be prepared to be woken up by an extremely rude and loud cleaning crew at 845 in the morning who just takes it upon themselves to let enter the apartment. A knock or ring of the doorbell would have been appreciated! I reviewed them a couple months back and since then, the so-​called «improvements» have been nothing but downgrades.
Also, if you make a noise complaint, there is nothing done about it. The office staff is all talk, and no action. I have been woken up in the middle of the night because the people above me were stopping. Management’s response was always «okay, we’ll give them a notice.» Recurring problems means the current «solution» is not working.
Unfortunately I’ve renewed for next year already and am stuck living here. I advise else where.

My first month here my car was broken into but other than that everything has been GREAT! service request are looked into promptly and are accurately done!

I’ve lived here for over 2 years. It’s been a great experience. The office staffs are friendly and great! The only bad thing is that it can be very loud during weekend.

They lied to me about my lease. When I signed up I was advised after my year lease was up it would go month to month. Well now they are saying «you were mis advised and that is not our policy» and they wont honor it. Ill have to check my lease bcs Im pretty sure it says month to month after year lease. Anyways, I like this place but hate the noise. The staff are nice and the amenities are great. The lease thing, excessive noise & parking garage are my least fav! Thats all.

I lived here for a little over a year, from May 2013-​July 2014 (I took over some’s lease). Everything here was just «ok». I had a studio apartment which was furnished, had a pool view and was on the top floor. Each of these «upgrades» were an additional charge.
I was in the «back» building so I had a few noise issues but not as much as some of these reviews make it out to be. Grey walls and dark furniture were definitely depressing, couch is uncomfortable, but hey, at least i was just renting the furniture.
I had a spot by the door and people were constantly in my spot. I think I towed 5+ cars. Every time I had to call the tow company I had to wait in the parking garage for them to show up which was super annoying. I really wish they had been more on top of checking parking spots/​passes.
It was difficult getting maintenance orders in. My air conditioner was broken for 10 months of me living there. I probably requested them to fix it 10+ times and they would come but never get it to work. The front office accused me of breaking it. I NEVER ran the air conditioner with windows or doors open and was pretty offended.
They made it easy to pay rent which was nice.

I’ve lived here for 3 years and it’s been a good experience overall! The maintenance service is extremely fast and helpful!
I LOVE that there are washers/​dryers included in the apartment. That can be pretty rare for apartments around here.
Also, I love the $ 30 electricity cap! It saves a lot of money on electricity!
Noise hasn’t been a problem.
It’s in a great location being so close to the trolley or it’s really easy to drive to campus.
The office communicates really well with residents through email, Facebook, and texting.
The furniture can be flimsy, but I still love that it comes furnished.
The hallways often smell from the trash room, but hopefully that will get better.
Overall, it’s been really easy living here and it’s been a good experience!

2^nd year living here at sterling. We’ve had a reasonably comfortable experience. The rooms are spacious and the service whether it’s management or repair men have been awesome. Yes sometimes management stuff takes a little while. But there are 800+ tenets here whom all have issues. Remember when you sign a contract, you sign a contract. It’s not a weak agreement. It’s a legally burning paper that holds you accountable.
My buggiest problem has been random roommates. Biggest advice I can give is go in with people you know and try not to get matched up with randoms. You never really know someone until you live with them. Regardless, Troy has been instrumental in helping move a former roommate who didn’t really cooperate with the rest of the apartment.
Thanks Troy.

Wish I could give zero stars. DONT EVER LIVE HERE. Management has no idea what they’re doing and can’t handle situations professionally at all. Trash chutes are always full making entire hallways of apartment complex smell terrible. So many broken things moving in and they cut corners trying to ignore it and then want to charge us when they finally get around to fixing it. Do yourself a favor and don’t live here at all.

This place is unbelievably horrendous! If there were a lower rating than one I would easily give it. Too bad there are no negative numbers for ratings!
I was first attracted to this place due to the location (close proximity to SDSU), price and the looks of the apartments on the photos. After getting to the place to move my son in I quickly found out everything they advertise is wrong!!! The only thing they got right was the location! First off the original apartment they set aside for my son was filthy (they said they walked it a couple of days prior and said it was ready)!! For a non-​smoking apartment it reeked of someone smoking a Hookah and there was an ashtray in the patio! My son is asthmatic so that place was not conducive for his health. So, they offered to find him a different place in 72 hours. They found one that is more expensive (of course) and didn’t make it apparent to me that I had to turn in the keys to the other apartment in a timely manner. In short I was charged for an apartment my son couldn’t stay in plus now I have to pay the higher rent for the new place!!!
The only thing these people care about is to take your money any which way they can. Unfortunately for me I am stuck in a lease till July! If I can get out of it without having to pay then I would. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE!!! THEY ARE CHEATS AND ARE ONLY OUT TO GET YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY!
After this post I will contact the Better Business Bureau so I can hopefully let others know about how bad these people are. If you read this let others know not to rent from these people! Learn from mine and others mistake!!!

I originally signed a lease in April of 2013 for a Studio. It was a lease takeover starting the end of June. The day I moved in I was informed that because of the change of management my original leasing forms were lost. The price I signed to went up by $ 150, and on top of that I was told because the original lease was up July 31^st, they already rented it out. I would need to move out. Unfortunately I had already moved out of my previous apartment and had to move into the studio, that was $ 1200 down the drain.
The studio was on the 1^st floor, back side of the building, overlooking the pool. It was extremely dark during the day, I always needed the lights on. There is a fan in the bathroom, it is constant and loud. Its a nice sized space for one person.
I agreed to move into a 2 bedroom, with the understanding from the manager I would only have one apartment mate. (I’ve had horrible experiences with roommates). I moved in only to find out he lied. The second bedroom had 2 beds. The apartment had a horrible weed stench, I have really bad asthma. I couldn’t stay in the apartment more than 20 mins without wanting to pass out. When I brought this to the leasing offices attention they said to just air it out, it should pass in a few days.
I had to make 12 different maintenance requests for things that were broken in the apartment, not small stuff either. When my requests went ignored I had to get on the office until finally I got my parents involved. When maintenance did finally come they didn’t realize I was in my room recovering from surgery, they were complaining about how nagging I was being, and used a lot of colorful language to describe me. I was not pleased.
I ignored it until I saw they still didn’t fix the problem in the apartment. It was that way until the day I moved out. And the electricity? Is a total joke. We had 3 girls living there, in the 10 months we all lived there not once did we go over, and right before we moved out we started getting outrageous charges.
Its fine to live in if you like the party lifestyle without dorm rules. The parties get insane, people don’t know when to call it quits, even during the week. The «security guy» doesn’t care, he joins in,
And the free internet? Never works, totally unreliable. I was in the middle of finals twice and the whole building was down. You had to go to the computer center. Even buying my own internet was unreliable, there wiring is no bueno,
I have my own room now for half of what I paid at Sterling.

I read the other reviews. So negative, how unlucky for those people… Anyway, I feel that any sort of housing in and around the college area runs on a different rank-​scale, in that 5-​stars at a college-​area apartment is not the same as a 5-​star complex downtown or by the ocean.
Anyway, now, I live in a 5^th floor studio apartment facing the freeway (a «penthouse»). Surprisingly it is quiet, unless you have crazy good hearing, or if you open your patio door (well, duh). I’ve met my neighbors and they’re chill and so no noise problems there… Again, that’s the luck of the draw. If you have loud neighbors, confront them.
As for the size of the studio (399 sq. ft), I’m fine with it and think it’s just right for me. I personally don’t need a huge apartment, as this is just a temporary home until I’m done with school.
I have not had any problems with bedbugs/​insects/​pests/​etc. since I’ve lived in my studio.
As for the service… If you need something, say something, follow up, be persistent, do what you need to do to make sure your concern is addressed, but don’t be rude and don’t wait days to follow up. Help them out and they’ll help you, common sense.
But hey, basically, the staff is nice and helpful to me, I’m not bitching.
The place is pricier than others, but for the studio it’s the same at (5025), preference is at play if financials isn’t a problem and I prefer Sterling Alvarado. Maybe because I’ve been one of the first residents so I get to make my unit (s) «lived in», not worrying about all the past tenants.
So for now, I am content living here.
**[[My first review from my first year living here:
I live on the 4^th floor and am guessing that I got lucky with our unit selection because I have no noise problems nor party problems — luck of the draw, I guess?
We only had ant problems when we left some scraps out and when trash needed to be taken out, problem was solved after we invested in some aunt repellant paste stuff.
Carpets were super linty? guess what, that’s why you CLEAN… you VACUUM new carpets to get rid of the lint — that’s how new carpets are, They’re LINTY, you have to clean your place, come on now.
And I can’t emphasize this enough! DON’T MOVE HERE IF YOU WANT PEACE AND QUIET! BUT DON’T BLAME THE APARTMENT COMPLEX FOR THE NOISE. it’s a college area… there are crazy, stupid, stoner, weird, and all-​of-​the-​above students here, so be smart and find some place else. I have lives in the dorms and at least this place is a step up.
I’m sorry, but why anyone wants to move to an apartment complex where like 80% of the tenants are young adults and expect mature, responsible people, come on… let’s be realistic here.
Bottom line:
***It’s a BRAND NEW building… at ANY NEWLY OPENED place you will the first to experience the bumps and bruises that come with a damn, new open place, so expect some problems along the way, it’s inevitable. (Sorry, I got the lucky end of the stick and the other reviewers seemingly got the other end).
***My roommates and I were the cause of our ants problem, but we fixed that.
***IT’S AIMED AT COLLEGE STUDENTS… IT’S A COLLEGE-​AREA… PEACE AND SILENCE IS NOT GUARANTEED… NEITHER IS SOBRIETY NOR SWEET AROMAS OF CHANEL PERFUME. DO NOT BLAME MANAGEMENT, IT’S ALMOST INEVITABLE AROUND THIS AREA…
***SO DO YOUR RESEARCH, CHECK THE /​LOCATION/​OF YOUR UNIT… AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU SEE FIT, BUT BELIEVE ME… IT’S NOT A /​BAD/​PLACE, THE TENANTS JUST MAY NOT BE YOUR ‘CUP OF TEA’, MAKING YOUR LEAVING EXPERIENCE WELL… HELL. ]]**