The Villas & Overlook at Woodranch

I have lived here since 2011 and have never had any problems. My neighbors are great and the office staff are always very helpful. The maintenance guys have always responded quickly and are very friendly.

Pro’s:
— 2^nd floor apartments have vaulted ceilings so your tiny sq ft apartment doesn’t «feel» as tiny.
— they do DNA tracking for pets so if you have neighbors that do not pick up after their dogs and leave their crap they will be fined… once they get around to cleaning it up.
— no loud parking lot parties like some of the more ghetto apartments in Simi
— Great maintenance. We don’t have to fight to get something fixed.
— Valet trash service. Just leave your trash bag outside your door and it’s picked up every night around 8pm-​ish.
Cons:
— TINY reserved parking spaces. Good luck squeezing in. 1 spot per apartment, so if you’re married /​have a roommate, best of luck trying to get a guest parking spot close to your apartment.
— Seemingly no restrictions on pets. Our neighbor has a loud parrot and we hear it ALL.DAY.LONG. SQWAAK! SQWAAAK! Birds really shouldn’t be allowed.
— Management is more concerned about keeping up appearances than anything. You’ll be asked to take down any sort of decorations on your porch, even little things such as a teeny cactus plant. They post the letter on your door so it’s embarrassing. Meanwhile, they same pile of dog crap has been sitting there for a week.
— The pavement is stained from the death of 1000 snails. We have an unbelievable amount of snails so just watch where you walk at all times.
— The «luxury» apartments boast amount granite counter tops which is cool and all, but your bathtub is plastic. I only weigh 130# and feel like every step I take is going to crack the tub.
— super thin walls. Like REALLY thin. Unfortunately, our neighbors also enjoy loud music at all unholy hours at night. I can even hear my neighbor coughing and clearing his throat while I’m trying to sleep.
— teeny tiny little space for washer/​dryer. Good luck finding a set that fits the small cavity in your kitchen. We just take our laundry to the «pay-​per-​pound» laundry mat and use the space as our pantry since there is ZERO cabinet space for food. (invest in some book cases)
— helpful customer service when you want to move-​in, but they’ll never answer your calls if you have any complaints.
For $ 1500/​month for this mediocre 1-​bedroom, it’s really just time to move out of Simi… or CA for that matter!

My experiences here have been less than satisfactory. The lease coordinators are very friendly while signing paperwork with you, but as soon as you have a question/​work order/​etc, be ready for them to tell you they are too busy to speak with you and that they’ll call you back later (without trying to take down your info).
Two months into living here my AC was leaking. It took 3 months to get the issue resolved bc the maintenance workers either don’t show up, or don’t even try to read the note you left about exactly what was wrong. It took three visits of vacuuming out my AC line bc the guy just didn’t do it well enough the first times. I had a giant bowl of coolant in my hallway for months to keep the carpet from getting ruined.
There is also a very inattentive lady who works here on weekends so DONT CALL WITH QUESTIONS because she will not know, and will not try to find out. She also can’t take down a message, and can’t press start on a fax machine to receive your important documents.
During the week there are about 5 people working in the office that answer the phone maybe ¹⁄₆ times.
During my pre move out walk through, the maintenance guy came in at 100 mph bc he had been running late and told me he was trying to get home. He barely looked around. Then he told me the prices of all the cleaning services. I told him I haven’t lived here long, and asked if he saw anything obviously wrong and he continued with hypothetical problems bc he was too lazy to actually look around.
When he was leaving he asked why I’m moving and assumed I had bad neighbors. My neighbors are great, it’s the people who work here that suck (aside from the property manager who seems like the only one who works hard and can actually communicate).
I’ll end by saying that if you’re considering moving in this general area, check out IMT in Thousand Oaks on Gainsborough. I lived there for three years prior to moving here to save a couple hundred in rent. I guess you really get what you pay for bc I’ve lived here less than a year.

I’ve lived at the Villas at Woodranch for 11 months now and I’ve just signed another 12-​month lease. Overall my experience here has been great. I live in a 1-​bedroom upstairs unit and it’s perfect for one or two people. I’ve never once had any noise or parking issues either. Nothing major has broken and if maintenance is needed, they normally respond within 24 hours.
The assistant manager Katie Palaszewski has always been very friendly and responsive to all my phone calls and emails that I’ve sent her. I’ve had nothing but a pleasant experience here and really enjoy my unit.

Alright– I have to help these poor guys out. My husband and I have been living here for a year. I must admit, we’ve had our fair share of negative experiences. Mainly the fact that we have loud neighbors all around us, including some who do not smoke 20 feet from the building. Also, the fact we can smell pot from someone around us smoking it. We pay most of our paycheck to live here but hey, guess what to all you complainers, it’s a place, that is nice and not surrounded with scum bags. Try living in Van Nuys and then you’ll all have something to complain about. All of the staff in the office is wonderful. They are always willing to help. As for parking, maybe it’s because we live on one side of the complex that there is more spots, we never have a problem with parking. For what it’s worth, when it comes to renting an apartment, unless you’re going to drop 5G’s, it’s a nice place. I’m very picky when it comes to what area we live in and who is around us. But I feel safe here and I must say this is one of the best complexes in Simi. It’s a roof over your head. That’s all I can ask for. As for the deposit, when it’s time to moving out– I will update on whether or not that was a pain. But I’d also like to add, having service people who come to fix lights and fixtures for us is a lot easier and convenient!
Also– I do not own a pet, but have inquired about it and the rules regarding the pets are not strict. Also, the list of pets you can’t own isn’t longer then the list you can.

When I was looking for a new apartment, reading these negative reviews, I thought «Oh, that won’t happen to me, I’m a good tenant! I’m a professional. I don’t party, I’m not loud, and I’ve always received all of my security deposit back at every apartment.» I ignored all of the little stories people posted, because I thought I was better than them, but my experience seems to follow theirs.
I got scary sounding notices on my door for silly things like leaving a plant on the patio, I heard fighting, I saw packets of drugs on the sidewalk, smelled pot in the air, and was charged for repainting, cleaning, and carpet cleaning when I left.
Note that this was my experience, but perhaps your will be different.
I’m sorry to post a negative review. I know that individuals working for this company are working hard, and trying their best. I know its a difficult job, and I respect that. My guess is that this comes from a strict corporate environment, which is getting taken out on tenants.

Air conditioning had been broken for over a week now. No updates from them (despite calling several times this week) and not even an ETA on when it will be up and running.
They gave me some useless portable AC unit that has done nothing but send my electric bill through the roof, and it’s still over 80 degrees in my apartment. Unbelievable.

If your idea of good customer support is to be treated like a criminal and a nuisance at every turn this is the place for you. When I gave notice out they cancelled my electronic payment and then I got a paper notice on my door that my payment was overdue. I went right to the leasing office with my checkbook and they told me I had to pay them with certified funds and that I had to do it that day otherwise there would be a $ 50 charge. it was 4:30 in the afternoon. I had to rush over to my bank to take care of this. When I moved out the place was spotless. I had it professionally cleaned. They charged me $ 955 to replace the carpets and $ 210 to paint the place. The place was move in ready!!. I got the settlement in the mail and they took my $ 1350 deposit and noted that to avoid further collections I had to write a check for an additional $ 12.55. This isn’t my first apartment. I always get a majority of the deposit back but this place, forget it. These are not isolated incidents. You will be treated this way the entire time you are there. It is not any one agent, it is the culture. The whole time I was there I had a big problem with ant infestation. Do not ever leave any food out or crumbs or you will have thousands of ants massing. The water pressure is horrible and you are constantly scalded by sudden surges of burning hot water. Do yourself a favor; do not rent a place in this dump.

The Villas at Wood Ranch are beautiful apartments that truly make you feel at home. The staff in the office is AMAZING, and so is the maintenance staff. Victor and many of the others who due the work in your apartment are so kind, and professional and always get the job done. I would HIGHLY recommend The Villas at Wood Ranch if you are looking for an apartment!!!

Corporate Greed. These two words will spell out your experience living at The Villas. When my lease was about to expire, I received a call from the office. I needed to stay 2 more months after my lease. I agreed to their extra $ 200 for the first month and $ 400 for the second month. That was fine. But it wasn’t good enough for their money hunger. After I moved they tried to charge me with a painting and cleaning charge on the apartment and the carpet. They dropped those charges when they realized I had pictures. They also charged me another months rent because I failed to give a «written» notice. They had my notice when we talked and extended my stay. So they gobbled up my security deposit. Ok. that’s fine too. Was it enough for them? Noooooo. they still want another $ 600. so they have hired Hunter Warfield to try to collect the debt. Too bad I am willing to take the hit on my credit report to prove my point. Go suck it Villas. Spend all the money you want, you will not get another penny from me! ‘insert middle finger emoji’

My girlfriend and I have been living at the Villas for about 6 months now and we love it. Aside from minor issues that are currently being addressed like the handling of dog owners that don’t clean up after their pets, or noise complaints. The only complaint we do have is the parking situation. We have 2 vehicles and 1 assigned parking space. We understand the guest parking is first come first serve, but some tenants literally leave cars in the prime guest spots for weeks at a time and only move it out to put another one of their cars in its place. This isn’t management’s fault but I feel that some action should be taken to discourage this type of behavior.

It’s a year later and I feel I should update my review after reading the horrible (but comedic) reviews recently as I feel our experience here is completely different from the 1-​star ratings. I gave Villas at Wood Ranch 4 stars last year and a year later I’ll give it 4 stars again in 2015.
The biggest con with the Villas as WR is the parking. I think they used an original Mini Cooper as the base for the open parking spaces. Forget trying to park a full size truck in to the open spaces, it just doesn’t work. Well, it does, but forget trying to open your door. Other than that, I honestly don’t have any complaints.
The staff has always been nice to my wife and I when we needed assistance and never have had any issues with construction noise or any other complaints that others have. It could very well be where we are located on the property, which is on the outer perimeter facing east on the second floor. Actually our apartment feels like an oasis with the palm trees that conceal our balcony. No issues with noise, no issues with dog crap, no issues with drunken neighbors.
Again I said it last year, but I have to wonder if I am living in the same place as the other reviewers that give the Villas at WR 1 star? This place is not 5, but far from being 1 star.

I’m really disappointed with the deposit charges with this place during our move out. They charged for cleaning fees and additional rent even though we paid everything they asked for plus stayed up all night cleaning and yet they still found a way to charge us.
pros: Dog and cat friendly but don’t expect your deposit back for your pets.
The maintenance crew is pretty amazing. They are so quick to respond and fix everything very quickly.
cOns: If you are going to make a noise complaint they ask you to «record it» before they take care of it. Security takes for ever to show up. You have to call them non stop for them to even respond to noise complaints. there is dog shit everywhere on the lawn. People seem not to know how to be responsible for their pets.
Some people leave their barking dogs in the balcony.
People love to talk really loud in the mornings right where your bedroom window is while their dogs are doing their business.
You can’t sleep in becusss there is always some kind of construction being done, carpet cleaning next door or leaf blower going off Monday’s and Fridays! Very frustrating.
During the summer kids are super obnoxious and loud alllll day, so good luck if you get an apartment near the pool.
They charge you for bogus «cleaning» during move out even if you clean it out.
The gym floor smells like dog shit
There are a lot of black spiders that come in to the apartments.
Parking is horrific. People are either very selfish and take up two spaces or there is no parking at all.
There is always something going on with construction.
Sometimes the front desk people will be rude to you.
If you are late with rent or they have a problem they are so unprofessional and post publicly on your door instead of calling you or emailing you.
I’ve read some of the reviews here and they seem so biased and racist! I never had problems with any of the minorities living in these apartments. The loud/​inconsiderate drunk people were not minorities at all. Drunk girl chasing after drunk guy fighting in the parking lot, this crazy guy kept running his motorcycle engine at 2am trying to taunt his girlfriend during a drunk fight and he even drove off drunk after 15 minutes of running his engine loud non stop. Then we also had a neighbor beating his girlfriend which I called management about and they took care of it. All the noise and crazy incidents where everyone but the minorities like some of these reviews stated. You’ll see «bros» smoking pot in the pool area. Some of the tenants are a little weird and stare you down as if you don’t belong in the pool area with them. Of course, none of this is managements fault but it’s what we encountered while we lived there.
This place is honestly overpriced for what you get.

DO NOT LIVE HERE! They try to get you for all you have. They are super nice when your wanting to sign a lease but they could give a rats *** when your moving out! Save your time and money and move else where. You’ll be glad you did!

So I’ve lived here since last April excited to be moving in with my girlfriend and getting the apartment ready to bring our first baby girl home a couple months later. While i do love the area, the scenery, and the complex does look nice, it is the little things that make it so difficult living here.
Pros:
1) pet friendly (though we don’t have a pet)
2) Cheaper than Rancho Corrales (the next door apartment)
3) will give you $ 250 if you choose to adopt a pet [but it will charge you an increase of $ 50 -$ 60 per month for having a pet (which is reasonable)]
4) VERY nice and friendly neighbors
5) reserved parking spots
Cons:
1) visitor parking spaces are ridiculously small (all vehicles that are parked in visitors have dent and scratch marks from people getting in and out of their parking spots)
2) The common grass area is full of fleas (my girlfriend and newborn’s feet were covered in bites after having a picnic in the common area). from what the other tenants have told me, this is a common occurrence in the summer time and the complex supposedly sprays, but we’ve never seen it. [the fleas followed us home into our apartment carpets too so the biting continued]
3 – 4) the laundry rooms run on prepaid cards instead of quarters. This would normally be a PRO but if you lose the card, you have to get a new one from the front office and they are rarely stocked. You can also purchase a new empty card for $ 5 from a machine. Which brings me to (4) there is only one machine in the whole complex and it is broken 50% of the time. You can go to the website of the company that owns the washers and dryers, but there website is not user friendly and difficult to navigate.
5) the employees in the front office are not helpful in the slightest and are, on occasion, very rude.
I’ll spare you the LONG stories that go with each CON. but all in all, I wouldn’t have moved here if i knew how bad it was going to be before hand.

LOVE our 1 bedroom apartment. Love my blue wall. Approval was easy and fair. I have cool neighbors. although two nearby units just opened up and I hope the new neighbors are cool too. Kitchen cabinets could be deeper, but hey… gave me a chance to get rid of stuff that wasn’t being used anyway. Still not used to using electric stove but love our place. Office people are busy but SO nice once you talk to them. It’s only been a month…

the staff is great, especially Katie. She is on top of everything we need all the time.

Having lived at the wood ranch villas for 3 months now. I can honestly say it is awesome clean quiet well organised, any and all issues that I’m sure pop up in apartment living were addressed and rectified in a timely manor. I am very happy with my home at the villas and would recommend it to anyone dollar for dollar it’s the best it gets in this zip code

If you LOVE having bees around your balcony & maintenance claiming a service was done when it wasn’t then this place is for you.
On Thursday August 28^th I tried to put in a service request on The Villas website but it was down. I called the office & spoke to Leah. I told her I want the tree right by my balcony to be trimmed due to the bees. She told me it will take a few days because they will need to get bids.
I told Leah the 1^st time we put in a tree trimming request the trees were trimmed the very next day so I don’t understand why I have to wait a few days. The 2^nd time I put in a tree trimming request their maintenance worker just cut 1 little twig right by our balcony & said they completed the service request. I told her I was not satisfied with the work that was done the 2^nd time. I told her the bees are attracted to the ENTIRE tree not just that I twig. Who wants to hang out on their balcony with a bunch of bees buzzing around you?
I also told Leah before we moved in we walked the grounds with Deborah & we had noticed the tree was trimmed pretty far back & she said its do to the bees. So the people in the office are AWARE these trees due attract bees.
Today is Sunday September 7^th & nothing has been done. I did speak to a landscaper on Wednesday & said he’s going to take some pictures & send it to his boss. I found in my junk box an email from Wood Ranch sent on Friday stating the service was completed.
HOW CAN A SERVICE REQUEST BE COMPLETED IF NOTHING WAS DONE???
I called the office today & I spoke to a man & I told him I placed a tree trimming service request with Leah. I told him it has not been completed & wanted an update. Said he didn’t have any updates. I asked to speak to a manager. He said her name is Katie but they don’t have any managers today but Katie will be in on Monday. I asked who is Jennifer Bolton he said they’re co-​managers but people usually call Katy because she knows more.

DO NOT MOVE IN HERE!!! Please listen to the majority of posters on this site. IT IS TRUE!
I will admit, at first glance, the property is nice, the apartments look nice inside and the staff, SOME, seem to be friendly. But, once you move in EVERYTHING CHANGES! The staff no longer is as helpful, they are down right RUDE! if you need ANYTHING, they will fix it on their time, but if they need anything from you, get ready for nasty grams, letters posted on your doors and threats of litigation. The property is loud, the security is asleep at the wheel, and they have 1 excuse after another after another. I asked to have simple things like the closet door track fixed, never got done. AND, once you ask or complain, they start targeting you for everything you do wrong to fine you.
Then, once you move out, they try to charge you with hidden fee after hidden fee after hidden fee.
The property manager is the rudest lady I have ever encountered. They care about you until you move in, after that, you are an inmate until your lease expires and you move out. If you are looking for a great living experience, it IS NOT The Villas!
I do want to say that Katie truly seems to care about her people. She is the ray of light from that thunder head. If you ask Katie you will get a true response. We loved her and still think very highly of her.