Best Apartment Buildings in Aliso Viejo/Laguna Niguel/Laguna Hills Area? (Irvine: rental, crime)

[cmkjp]

I'm thinking about accepting a job offer in Laguna Niguel and will be coming out from the East next week to look around.

Any suggestions for the best apartment buildings to check out in Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel area? Every time I find something hopeful online, I find a bunch of bad reviews. I realize that often only people that are upset write reviews. At the same time, I live in a building near Rockville, MD now that has nothing but good reviews - the management is awesome - so I know it is possible to have a good score on apartmentratings.com. I'm apprehensive because I'm not seeing any that have a very good score in the Laguna Niguel area. Is anyone that reads this forum actually living in or have recently lived in an apartment building in this area that they really love/loved? Budget: $2,000 Thanks so much for your help - the bad reviews are so discouraging.

[00molavi]

Alicante and city lights in Aliso Viejo are both good. The only grievance I have is not getting the security deposit back despite immaculately clean maintained apt. We moved here from the East Coast too and you will notice a drop in costumer service quality, you were warned..

[yawnee55]

I beg to differ about City Lights. Seems there have been numerous crimes committed there and most notable a few years back there was a murder in the parking garage, even though it was a domestic.

[pacific2]

You should be fine with either Alicante or City Lights. I once lived at Alicante and really liked it. Maintenance problems were always corrected the same day before I returned home from work. It's also a great place to meet new people if you are new to the city, especially if you have a dog.

I read the reviews for City Lights and it’s obvious that there are some real drama queens and sickos out there. More people than not tend to give City Lights high marks. That said, it was always my impression that there were slightly more reports of car break-ins at that complex than at other Aliso Viejo apartment buildings. Still, City Lights is hardly the hot spot for criminal activity that some of the negative reviewers would try to lead people to believe.

Still, I’ve always wondered if the location is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, City Lights is right across the street from a park; and within easy walking distance to movies, restaurants, etc. On the other, due to its Town Center location, it may be slightly more attractive to creeps passing through the area who are looking for easy pickings from cars parked in the structure. I’m not sure about this.

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t hesitate to move there if I were looking for a rental, because there are problems in every apartment community. I've lived in Aliso Viejo for 10 years, and certainly would have heard about it if half the cr@p that some of the reviewers said about crime at that complex was actually true. Aliso Viejo itself has has a very low crime rate.

City Lights is down the block from the police station.The police patrol Town Center pretty regularly and, I hate to say this, but I have noticed that they now have a much heavier presence at Town Center since a very popular new eatery opened-up. Their cars are always parked outside the restaurant, especially in the early morning.

About the “murder,” once some character who was high and complaining that God was talking to him, rammed his car into a woman at the City Lights parking structure, killing her instantly. She was a complete stranger to him. The creep was convicted in 2006 of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

It was a random crime and, honestly, I don’t see how anyone could possibly pin it on City Lights management.

At the same time, I live in a building near Rockville, MD now that has nothing but good reviews

P.S.

I moved here from NYC (rented and then owned), but I have also lived in other places in the East, and I think you were just lucky, because there are a lot of poorly managed apartment buildings all over the country.

Angry people are, likewise, prone to exaggerate the negative when given an opportunity to rate their experiences.

[cmkjp]

Thanks for the replies. They were especially helpful since we had already kind of suspected that these two buildings might be our best choices in the area. You're spot on about us being lucky in our current rental building - we used to live in Arlington in what had to be one of the worst management situations ever. Most of the time, we still enjoyed living there and were only inconvenienced on a couple of occasions. The reviews for that place are horrible, but as I said, we still liked it there.

It's interesting what people talk about in their reviews. If we were to review our building now, we would talk about the great management but would also have to mention that our bikes, which were locked up in the "secure garage", were stolen last year - though still a pretty safe neighborhood. I hope that woudn't deter renters, though, because the positives really do outweigh the negatives.

I really like Alacante's views on pets. We have two cats, and it's pretty cool that the management not only allows pets but also incourages people to adopt them from sheltors!

Anyone have any opinions on how bad the commute would be from a place like Dana Point? I also keep seeing a lot about Irvine. Too far to commute, or not too bad? I'm used to an hour commute on the metro and am ready for an easier commute with fewer headaches - no more than a half hour.

Thanks for everyone's help! : )

[pacific2]

Anyone have any opinions on how bad the commute would be from a place like Dana Point? I also keep seeing a lot about Irvine. Too far to commute, or not too bad? I'm used to an hour commute on the metro and am ready for an easier commute with fewer headaches - no more than a half hour.

If your job is in Laguna Niguel, then you have a wide area from which to select an apartment, and that includes both Dana Point and Irvine. I’ll also throw Mission Viejo into the mix.

Dana Point is a small coastal town located adjacent to Laguna Niguel, and Irvine is a large master-planned community situated north of it. Your trip would be about 10-17 miles, depending upon where you lived in Irvine and where your office is located in Laguna Niguel. So, take your pick.

Personally, I don’t see any advantage to living in Irvine unless you have children and want to enroll them in that school district. There is an advantage to living in Dana Point because of the really nice harbor. Also, you would enjoy a short commute to your office. What's more, some people like the fact that Dana Point, unlike nearby communities of Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Aliso Viejo and Irvine, is not master-planned.

Consider for places in Laguna Niguel, as well, because the reviews could be misleading.

[00molavi]

Forgot to mention another good complex would be in Mission Viejo, just off crown valley which is just walking distance from Laguna Niguel. Forgot the name, but it is at other side of the Mission Hospital Rd (med ctr drive). Nice complex and amenities, toured it and had friends who lived there with kids and were pretty happy.