Vista Del Sol Apartments — Attraction in Albuquerque

DO NOT RENT HERE. I REPEAT, DO NOT RENT HERE. I have actual proof of what kind of things go on at Vista Del Sol Apartments. Please listen to the one star reviews more than the 3-5 star reviews. They give prizes if you enter a good reviews through google or other apartment sites (please see the image below of their newsletter). If I could give this place a lower rating than one star, I would.

Jade - the manager is one of the most incompetent and unprofessional property managers I have ever dealt with. Savannah doesn't follow through on her end either. I dealt with a woman named Juliet prior to her leaving and it was a lot better - she left a week after I moved in. If I would've known who Jade was prior to signing my lease, I would've ran far away from this place. It doesn't stop there either. Her manager Jane is also the same way. The only way she will contact you is through email. The staff will not give out her number and will refuse to address issues at hand. In addition, she doesn't care you went a few weekends without heat or that you had to replace all of your groceries and went 5 days without a working refrigerator.

1. I have had multiple service requests to maintenance - at least 7, not including the emails or calls I have had to make. This was from everything to the heater, broken swamp cooler, to a lightening fixture hanging with exposed wire in the kitchen to a 40 year old refrigerator that went out on me and I had to replace all the groceries. I had to go weekends without heat because maintenance was not allowed to call other vendors until they exhausted all efforts on their part even if it means tenants don't have heat. Their heaters are old, 40 years + according to maintenance (see pic below).

2. They illegally entered my apartment. I emailed a Notice to Vacate on 01/07/2020 well within the 60 day notice, lease ending on 03/31/2020. I gave them 85 days notice (I wanted to be out of here). I received an email from Jade stating a pre-inspection would needed (no problem), however, a form would be uploaded for me to sign acknowledging them to enter. It was noted on her email, my notice to vacate email would not be valid unless the form was signed within 24 hours. I did not sign the form just yet; first, my apartment was a bit messy from the holidays, plus, the form they wanted me to sign consisted of me acknowledging other forms I had received which they did not provide. Since my notice was way in advance, it wouldn't have been an issue. I get a call on 01/10/2020 from Jade stating my Pre-inspection was completed and they walked through my apartment. My dog was not put away, my clothes were everywhere and I did not expect anyone to be in my apartment. Mind you, I did NOT sign a paper giving them permission to enter nor did they give me notice of a date or time. I will be consulting an attorney. An email was sent to Jane (Jades Manager) and she proceeded to tell me that I cursed at the Jade, and they still have not provided me additional forms needed for me to sign the form they sent me!! I was in shock to say the least. Not only are they lying about my behavior but stated they have a right to enter without warning when I hadn't signed any forms giving them permission?!

Trash cans are always full of feces - stays this way for days, the swimming pool was closed for maintenance more than it was opened, holes in walls have been patched up and look tacky for an updated "luxury" apartment. There are no baseboards in the living room or bedrooms and the ones in the kitchen are gross. See pic

4.They send you inappropriate letters on how to budget your money for the holidays to make rent. I HAVE NEVER received a more insulting letter. They proceed to tell you in this letter all the charges associated for failing to pay rent! They will also call you to make sure you pay. See letter below.

I had to make 3 separate calls to 911 on 12/28/19 for gun shots being fired in the parking lot.

They are going to respond to my comments with their "professional" answer, roll your eyes when they do....

I spent 12 months here in a Junior 1 bed and 1 bath. This is enough space for just one person. Overall, the walls, doors, and built-in shelves had been painted over a lot. There was a sticky texture when you move boxes or storage containers on and off the shelves. Whoever painted, wasn’t that careful, and so there were little paint speckles and splatters on the vinyl floor, which I couldn't remove. The backsplash for the kitchen was just a stick-on design and peeled quickly. Parking was a free-for-all if unless you rented a carport. I was only annoyed because if there were guests for the pool, or the leasing office, I rarely got parking close to my apartment. The kitchen cabinets were too high for me (5 ft) so I used a stool to reach. The kitchen drawers were small and didn't carry much. The stove was electric but the coils, made it so food could drip under. The previous tenant spilled things under the grills and no one bothered to clean it. I did my best to clean. The washer and dryer were arguably the most updated appliances in the entire apartment. But the previous tenant didn’t take care of the washer. I could see spots of possible mold in the inner ring of the washer. Other then that I really appreciated the washer/dryer unit. In the bathroom, there isn’t much counter space, except shelves to the side. The counter and toilet are made from the same, plastic-material. Living on the first floor, my biggest gripe was hearing my upstairs neighbor walking all the think each time someone walked, the ceiling dropped dust down. I was dusting white off my furniture a lot. The walls are also thin. I could hear my neighbors from all sides of the wall. I wore earplugs to sleep. I had a porch area, which grew weeds frequently. Also the sliding door to my porch was really rickety and I rarely opened it, because it would’ve been so hard to close it again. Air conditioning was provided by a swamp cooler. It broke once on me and maintenance came quickly to fix it. There were at least two people on the roof for a few hours troubleshooting it, so I’m grateful for their efforts to get me situated. In the spring before maintenance turned on my cooling, I turned on the vent a few times to get some air flow, and was greeted by a fresh blast of dirt, dust, dried flowers/leaves from the vent that I assumed, was not cleaned. So that wasn't fun. The heating kept my apartment warm, maybe too warm, and was really, really loud. It smelled very strongly of something burnt. I closed my bedroom door a lot so it wouldn't blast hot air into my room, smell, and rumble very loudly. Overall the staff and management were friendly and I never had issues with anyone. They charged me in the beginning for utility fees for the time between the last tenant moving out and how much energy they used to up-keep the apartment before I moved in, but the fee was so low (less than $20) that I wasn’t mad about it. I have a “no-shoe” rule for my living space, and every time they had to come in, they were respectful and used shoe coverings to walk around to do maintenance. For packages, from what I observed, UPS delivers to the door if the box was too big. USPS delivers to mailbox unless the package is too big; its a gamble on if it'll go to the door or leasing office. FedEx delivers to the door. Non-negotiable. No package was ever stolen, thankfully. No one ever called if I did have a package at the office, but I kept track of my packages online and if I couldn’t get them, I had a partner that could get them. The design of the apartments as far as the colors and appliances are fine. Close up you can see the wear and tear, and the attempted quick fixes. My rent was $1,290, but with utilities it was coming up to $1,300 and some. From my $200 security deposit they charged for a required carpet cleaning fee so I got $145 back. If someone asked me how my stay was, I could sum it up to “fine”. It wasn’t amazing but I also managed to make it a home. Not sure if I could've stayed a second year though. If it were possible, I'd put...

Unfortunately, Vista del Sol is a subpar apartment complex. If the rent was no more than $1,100 I would say it’s somewhat worth the price, but paper thin walls and unusable amenities for almost $1,400 a month (just in rent) is unreasonable. This is an old complex that is advertised as “revamped” and “redone” which should not be fallen for. There is barely any photos online to advertise the place (when I was signing) and I now see why. The only thing “new” about this place is the newer appliances (dishwasher, fridge, washer, dryer and stove). PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THE GYM AND AMENITIES ARE NOT INCLUDED WITH YOUR RENT. IF YOU WANT TO USE THE GYM OUTSIDE OF LEASING OFFICE HOURS YOU HAVE TO PAY ADDITIONAL MONEY EACH MONTH. I’ve never heard of something like this. The brand new kitchen back splash that they advertise is a peel off sticker. The new wood floors is laminate flooring. The doors and fences are just painted over from the totally outdated color scheme they used to be years ago. If you choose to live here please do yourself a favor and only live in a top floor apartment. I’ve slept with ear plugs all year because people solely walking around above me will wake me up. It sounds like they’re going to come through your ceiling. It isn’t on the neighbors for being loud its the poor/thin build of the ceilings and the walls. You can't complain because it's not intentional stomping. It's normal walking. Management will tell you that this is a normal part of apartment living, but no.. not to this level. I've never lived on the top floor and never had problems before. I understand that they can’t tear down the whole place and rebuild, but first floor apartments should at least be priced cheaper for these inconveniences. Most apartments don’t have light fixtures in the living room or bedroom. This is noted on their website by an asterisk but please be sure to ask if the apartment you’re getting will have any so you can come prepared! The heating and cooling system that they advertise is a swamp cooler and it doesn’t do a great job. My heating system sounded like a jackhammer every time it turned on, but management told me nothing was wrong with it. Tenants aren’t notified when packages arrive and there’s no way to get them if the leasing office closes. This only goes for USPS. FedEx, UPS, and Amazon will come to your door. I never had any issues with safety and maintenance is quick to fix any issues. Jackie at the leasing office is great!

It’s disheartening because I think if they just took some extra time to truly revamp this place it could’ve been great. There are a large amount of inconveniences for the price, but they did a good job at making it look modern and cute. I wish they spent the time to make it actually worth the prices they’re asking. I also wish they were as helpful and supportive with their tenants like they were when they were trying to get them to sign a lease. Overall, a year here was doable but not worth the money in my opinion.

Also, expect to be charged $55 for carpet cleaning and $65 for stove and oven cleaning. Will come from your security deposit, but don't sweat to do this stuff yourself because they will charge it regardless.

all black video is what the heating system will sound like in the winter months. other video shows what bottom floor sounds like with people walking above. (video links...