Avalon on The Alameda

I lived there for 5 years. Facility was nice, but management was not. Upon moving out, they lied about costs and made up charges that did not exist so that they could not only keep my entire down payment, but charge more for additional falsified charges. They would not discuss these with me, but instead told me that they had sent my file to a third-​party collections agency. I had paid in full through the term of my lease but turned in my keys about 10 days early. They considered that a termination of my lease early and charged me accelerated rent fees of $ 521 for the remainder of the lease. They also told me (and documented) that having them paint 2 rooms back to white was $ 400 fixed fee. They billed me $ 660 and would not adhere to the $ 400 they committed too. I would never consider doing business with this group again. They are flat-​out liars and thieves.

When we were looking for apartments, this place was one of the very few prospective apartments. Parking was kind of confusing because in the front it says retail parking only but we parked there anyway since it was going to be quick.
The lady that helped us out and took us on a tour was friendly. She explained to us in detail.
First thing I thought when I saw the apartment was that this was not the place but might as well check it out. The apartments were older and definitely not what I wanted. It reminded me of Arizona or New Mexico. Definitely didn’t like the exterior.
We went inside to check out a sample apartment and the only thing I thought was amazing was the balcony plus the fireplace in the first floor.
When we asked how much it was I was like holy sh*t! For this? The lady seemed very empathetic knowing that the corporation that owns this area was ripping off current and future residents.
Suggestion: move on to the next one.

We’ve lived in this Avalon for almost a year now and it really has been a great experience, we had absolutely no intention of moving. Except for the fact that our rent is going up by SEVEN HUNDRED dollars a month (that’s a 30% increase in 1 year in case you’re wondering. I’m not even sure that’s legal). Screwing over current residents to rip off new ones is basically as low as it gets in terms of landlords. We will definitely not be renting from Avalon again.

Its a great place to live and amazing location.

Don’t expect to stay here…
It absolutely breaks my heart to write this review — and to be forced out of this apartment complex by a greedy corporate landlord that cares more for investor returns than for the customers who pay them.
Location, amenities, and staff are all excellent — especially the maintenance team who responds with swift, professional service and maintain the grounds in good condition — although, I know they cannot possibly keep up with the avalanche of dog shit that get gets deposited on the grounds — and often on the sidewalks — ever day.
It is indeed a very high crime complex, and you are very likely to find a homeless person sleeping under your stairs or on your patio. There are several mentally ill men who make the rounds through the complex several times a day, screaming at monsters and kicking over garbage cans.
But first and foremost in my reason for this shabby review is the heartless and most likely illegal rent increases. We just received notice for a $ 460 — or 20% — rent increase. Last year, we had a 10% increase.
From the San Jose CIty Website (
)
Allowable Rent Increases under the Ordinance
The City’s Apartment Rent Ordinance does not allow:
A rent increase of more than 8% one time per year
A rent increase of greater than 21% when the last rent increase was more than 24 months prior
My salary has not gone up 30% in two years… and I’ll bet the maintenance workers didn’t get a 30% raise… I am sure the board of directors know every loophole and way to justify this illegal maneuver — especially knowing that cash-​strapped people are unlikely to take up unsatisfying battle against faceless corporations.
According to Avalon Bay Corporate website, their projections from new and renewal rental contracts is just 6.4% for May 2015. I could swallow 6.1%, but 20% more rent with no improvement in quality or security? Something is very broken with this system.
I know you will respond with your canned letter of regret for my disappointment. You can just save your time and shove that — If you care, you tell your shareholders that they have to accept some of the risk for volatile markets and stop raping the customers who actually PAY, instead of the fat cats who just take… and SHOW you concern by operating your business with a greater sense of compassion and some actionable ethics.

I have lived here for 2 years and before getting reading to sign another lease I find out that our rent is getting increased from $ 1870 to $ 2460, which is a big jump. Also my car has been broken into 4 times while living here which is not ideal, if you decide to live here be cautious of what you leave in your car and good luck with paying a mortgage for rent!

great place to live… If you want to get your vehicle broken into 3 – 4 times a year, they have security which only makes sure that no goes in the pool or hot tub past hrs. But making sure no one gets into the gated garage, nope that’s a free for all. Mold around the windows, most basic «amenities», not worth 2000k a month. Management takes 24 hrs at least to respond to an email. And if there is a question on your rent, can’t reach out to the office onsite, they are only here to show apartments I guess, you have to reach out to the remote 800 number. There is nothing luxurious or high end about the complex as advertised, great location, all it has going for it.

It is nice how pet friendly this place is.

My wife and I have lived here since 2012. We are so sad to be leaving as this was a GREAT place to live. The staff is top-​notch and the people who live here have generally been nice folks. We always said that the only way we’d leave Avalon on the Alameda was if we bought a house, and that’s why we’re going.
I’ll start with the negatives, because no place is perfect. Yes, crime does happen here, as it does everywhere in a big city. In the 3+ years we’ve lived here, we’ve had only 1 minor incident with our cars. Someone tried to break into my wife’s car, and busted the lock. She wasn’t parked inside the gated parking, but was in the complex. No other incident besides this one.
The only other negative would be the number of people who seem to be terrified of tiny dogs on leashes. Relax people!!! They can sense your fear!!! The other dog owners in the complex have been pretty awesome, and the poop problem has pretty much disappeared since they put in dog waste stations with bags! Thank you for listening to us and getting them!!! They have made such a difference! I no longer step on dog crap once a week!!!
Now to the positives:
1. The staff has been truly amazing throughout the years. Some turnover of the staff has occurred through the years, but the service we’ve received regardless of who we’ve dealt with has been nothing but exemplary. We are going to miss you!!! Every time we go into the office, we are treated like we are friends and they truly care about their residents.
I have a true story which illustrates this caring. My 21 year-​old dog died. Many of the staff knew him and knew me. I had the vet come to our apartment to put him to sleep. Someone must have seen my bringing the body to the vet’s vehicle because later that day a card signed by the entire Avalon staff was at my door. This touched me so much and will be my strongest memory here. I still have that card, and it’s coming with me.
2. The apartments are not spectacular, but very functional and nice. We’ve had very few service requests, and when we have them, they take care of things pretty darn quickly. I also like how conveniently located everything is. It’s very easy to dump your trash and recycling and get your mail, etc.
3. The amenities are pretty awesome! I love the gym and use it when I need to. The equipment is pretty good, and I really like the fact that there are TV’s on the elliptical machines that you can control. The hot tub and pool are really well maintained as well.
4. The surrounding area is great. We love being able to walk to Starbucks, Subway, etc. and you’re close enough to downtown to walk there pretty easily. Yes, sometimes you walk by a strange individual, but they’re pretty harmless. We will miss the location. By the way, the restaurant Zona Rosa across the street is amazing! Go there!
5. The community is pretty aware that they live in a complex with a lot of people, and everyone is pretty respectful of each other. It’s rare when someone is too loud (at least in our part of the complex), and even though some people may not be the friendliest, they have always been polite. I read in other reviews about bad neighbors. This has not been the case for us at all, despite the turnover in some nearby apartments.
6. The rent is expensive, but very fair for the area and the amenities. I don’t feel ripped off in any way. Our rent has been raised every year, but not by an unfair amount. That’s what rents generally do, especially in this area.
In closing, I want to thank everyone at Avalon who has made our time here so pleasant. We will miss you, and a big goodbye to all the other community members who have become our friends.

We’ve lived here for almost two years now and we love it. The location is great — close to pretty much everything in San Jose with close freeway access too, and the neighborhood is cool with some great places to eat within walking distance. The front office and maintenance team are always on top of things, and Carlos in particular has been extremely professional, friendly and helpful. Recently I put in a service request and he knocked on the door within 10 minutes to resolve it! Also, The grounds are nice and the interiors are as well. The online payment system works well too.
The only negatives from my perspective are that the appliances are a little out of date, and the rent is a bit pricey. The high rent is a San Jose/​Silicon Valley issue though, not an Avalon issue.

This place used to be a great place to live. Ever since the customer service manager Stephanie left, this place has really gone downhill.
Recently there have been several instances where the fire alarm has gone off in the early hours of the morning. At 1230am and 330am. The fire alarm is so overly loud and intrusive you think your ear drums are going to burst. I would think that we should have been notified as to what is causing this alarm to go off and how about an apology to all your tenants that pay upwards of $ 2900.00 per month to live here for this inconvenience. Sadly all we get from the office is crickets. Really bad form.

I do not recommend choosing this as your domicile.
There are some good things about this apartment complex like location (this is always a worrying thing to see listed first as a «pro», since it means there isn’t much to make you want to hang out AT the apartment), friendly staff (already reaching the bottom of the barrel here), and the pool.
However, after almost two years of living here my overall experience was a negative one. They raised my rent over $ 400 a month while living here, had vandalism issues with my vehicles, smoking and noisy neighbors, poor maintenance (they repaired my blinds with duct tape), and no sense of security whatsoever.
It’s too bad, this place had so much potential.

Once again the crew at Avalon are there. Great team, helpful and make this community somewhere good to live. Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

As far as the apartment here is my list of PROS and CONS
PROS
–Great Location near freeways and walking distance to restaurants
–Gated Parking and Apartments
–No problems with noise in complex
–Gym and pool are nice amenities
–Trash chutes on each floor
–Maintenance Staff fixes things quickly
–BBQ’s allowed on balcony (every unit has balcony)
–A/​C with temperature thermostat in unit
–Washer and Dryer in each unit
CONS
–Water and electric bills are expensive here ($ 100 – 120 a month)
–White kitchen counter tops stain easily
–Guest parking is hard to come by in the complex but street parking in the area is usually available
–Can’t buzz people into gate unless you have (408) area code phone. Meaning you have to go down to the gate to let guests in.
–No elevators
****Beware of Hidden Costs*** Current Tenant
I am a current resident who just signed a lease. When signing a lease they tell you the resident is responsible for water and electric and when I asked for estimates they told me around 30 – 40 $ for electric and $ 30 for water. Recently just got my first bills and water was $ 66 for a MONTH. They say they use some «special» allocation formula which seems way off considering my friend lives 2 miles away in a 5 bedroom house and pays $ 28 a month. Electric was close to $ 60 (I am good about turning off lights and run A/​C sparingly keeping my thermostat at mid-​high 70’s and turn it off at night). Also additional parking spot is $ 80 which is steep. Definitely add an additional $ 100 – 120 a month for utilities on top of rent.
Additional Notes:
–They use dynamic pricing for available apartments by this I mean apartment prices change based on the number of units available at any given time in the complex so prices change often.
–1 bedroom rent runs from $ 2000 – 2300
–Room prices are more expensive on first floor
–Haven’t had problems with break-​ins and it being «dangerous area» like others mentioned

No respect for people’s time.
I visited twice, trying to view an apartment. First time, my appointment was with Stephanie. I showed up a tad early, with my husband. We waited in the lobby for some 35 minutes passed our appointment time waiting. All the while, I could see some woman, whom I later found was Stephanie chatting to a friend of hers in her office. The child of that friend was waiting outside, and knocked every now and then to show them her watch to say it was late and they laughed and sent her back out. At any rate, 35 min after my appointment time Stephanie finally showed up. She barely spent 5 minutes with us and seemed like she couldn’t wait to get rid of us to get back to her daily routine.
At the conclusion of our visit I told her what my desired move-​in dates were and for her to let us know when the units might become available for that date. I didn’t hear back from her, but since I really liked the location (it’s super close to my work) I checked online and noticed there were 8 apartments available close to my desired move in date. Two on the exact date I was interested in. I wrote back to get another appointment.
My husband was very hesitant because of the treatment we’d gotten last time but I convinced him that the other time must have been an accident. I booked the appointment for 10 am on a Saturday and showed up on time. This time, the building front door was locked with a sign saying we are giving a tour and will be back shortly. We waited outside for 10 min and there was no sign of Stephanie, no messages from her no nothing. We had enough and left. Totally disappointing service, 0 respect for people’s time.

Zero and I mean zero stars. We lived here a year, had our car broken Into 4 times (!!!) oh and should I mention my husband was held up at gunpoint right outside the complex because they threatened us to not let our dog urinate on the property? Gang neighborhood, very dangerous. Renters BEWARE!!!

This place served its purpose. It was a temporary landing spot for us, and it definitely wasn’t the worst apartment I’ve ever lived in. However, I may update this if it’s overly painful when we move out.
It’s not really close to anything. It’s labeled downtown. Sort of. It’s not like you can walk to anything worthwhile unless you count the Shark Tank. The leasing agents I will say are overly nice and helpful. Stephanie and Roxanna have always been really responsive.
We only lived here for 5 months and they tested the fire alarms… twice. It was pretty annoying and disruptive to have the alarms in all the buildings going off all day while everyone walked around and took notes. Also– they’ve shut the water off 3 times, although they did give a warning. What’s so great about this stuff is we both work from home. Disruptive? Nahhhhhhh! It’s very rare that there is hot water unless you have the time to run the shower for 10 minutes before you get in. Pretty nice for a drought huh?
My favorite is Friday and Saturday nights. Our place costs over $ 2500/​month– it’s not cheap. You would think that at a place like this that drunk idiots wouldn’t come home and sit in the courtyard until 4AM every single weekend. As you can imagine it’s not quiet. Besides screaming out the window to shut the hell up– there’s really nothing you can do. Classy.
At the end of the day this place worked okay for a transition, but also inspired us to get our act together and get into a house. For $ 1000/​month more– I’d rather pay for sanity. Also, I’d like to not walk 100 yards and up two flights of stairs (no elevators) to my place with groceries and in heels. If you can afford $ 2500/​month– you can afford a condo. Use this place as a transition since we’ve also heard about huge rent increases from our neighbors.

As the duchess of Avalon on the Alameda I unfortunately have to inform you that my dukedom is not too impressive.
If you are a student or a young couple without kids, my realm might be a good place to rest until you decide to move on to better places.
If however you are more experienced person (and with experienced I mean someone that really could do without the stress of douche bags messing around with your apartment or your mail or your car) or a family (= you would like it not to be noisy when you put your kid down for a sleep) then find yourself another land to reside.
A long, long time ago when management was run by the good witch Lindsay things were good and the duchess and her duke and mini duchess lived happily in the dukedom of Avalon but then the clans of douchebagus Maximus and «I don’t give a crapus» took over and things went wrong. (There is one clan member called Stephanie who might be leaving the dark side and might embrace the force…)
One time one of the clan members made the fully pregnant duchess cry by lying to her that her mail (present for the duke) was lost. She called USPS, searched everywhere but alas, nothing. The Duke, not impressed with the situation went to check with the clan member and magically the parcel was there. We got a magic scroll with an apology but sadly this did not change much.
Then things got even worse, the mailboxes were broken into several times, we didn’t get notified about work in and around our house and around thanksgiving our roof leaked (as in water coming down). Even though we had notified the clans about the damage to the castle nothing was actually done for months until this leak and even then it took days. The thing that grieved your duchess a lot as well was the fact that one day she found a note with personal details (bank account and wages) of someone stuck to her door.
Sad things happen here people! But the castle we live in is beautiful and so are the lands around the dukedom of Avalon which are near the center of town, diridon station and the shops. So your duchess remains strong and takes a stand in her castle!
Now get me some spells please so I can cast away these evil clans and restore peace in my beautiful dukedom…

I hate writing scathing reviews but I felt like I had no other choice in the matter.
I have lived in this complex for over a year. The apartment did its deed as serving us a roof over our head with a competitive price and prime location near my job. It was a transitioning neighborhood and I was prepared for some transgressions to happen, so there are no serious docks in this review in regards to that. Yes, a bike was a stolen and a homeless man tried to enter our apartment, but nonetheless I never felt unsafe.
However, this is when things turn for the absolute worst experience I have encountered with any move I’ve ever had.
We had a complex matter and the outcome of our apartment transfer was nothing but horrendous. We were moving from one apartment in the complex to another.
The lack of courtesy, explanation, or any help has made our life a living nightmare throughout our transition.
At first, it was at no fault to the ladies at the leasing office. There were so many underlying circumstances that made matters complicated and hard to understand. I rather not go to details. However, I wish that the leasing staff were more accommodating on trying to figure out why the rent was off, why the move dates were all wrong, and held their end of the bargain when it came to EXPLICIT verbal agreements. I should have known better but I was left with no choice but to accept certain verbal agreements.
All it took was a little noggin power to make sense of what the errors were in the prorated rent pricing, but instead of the leasing office handling that matter, we were left to our own devices. I made the calculations and figured out the mistakes with the statement that was provided to me.
This is the beginning of what it seems like an incessant amount of unnecessary stress. I will just list them all:
— Prorated rent from old and new place was not conducted properly and was confusing. We had to correct it on our own.
— They ran our credit a total of THREE times; you know this damage is irreversible to any credit score.
— They had the move out and move in dates completely wrong.
— Our apartment that we moved into was not completely cleaned as for the had they wrong move-​in date and everything was rushed.
— The carpet was still wet during our move because they just cleaned the carpet and did a shabby clean job.
— The leasing agent (will not name names but will do so in a formal complaint) stated upon inspection that we can still make adjustments to our inspection checklist since everything was in haste.
— We sent in a list of what needed to be fixed with our signed lease with no response.
— I emailed the leasing agent and my roommates called and left messages regarding the checklist of fixes we needed with no response.
— They have now stated that they did not make the verbal agreement and the checklist was final. Guess what? After the carpet dried up from the «cleaning» there was a big stain right in front of the door.
— They charged us an accelerated rent against our old apartment’s deposit in error. Even though this was already fixed a month before.
— They said our move out date was 2 days later than agreed, charged us two days’ worth of extra rent.
Once again, we have given them chance after chance to rectify any of the errors that happened. Instead our complaints fell on deaf ears. I am just completely fed up and pissed off that I have to live in this apartment complex for another 11 months. Once our lease is up, I will never ever rent from here again.

Too many robberies and burglaries. Check it out for yourself at
Their own gym was broken into and all the televisions stolen. 3 car break ins in the past weekend (over a 4 day period) near the office and Starbucks.
Homeless people going through the garbages in the underground garages.
The place is very clean and we love the swimming pool and work out room but the safety is too lax for all the money that we pay to live here. Very disappointed with how the office staff handled the break ins.
The burglars have used crow bars as well as a bump key to break in to apartments here. The maintenance staff even saw the people this past week and did not report it to the police.
If you live here be prepared to spend 500 to get an alarm installed and 50 a month to keep it as well as a two year contract.
And do not rely on the security patrol. When I have called it always goes to voice mail.