The Bluffs at Pacifica Apartments — Attraction in Pacifica

We have lived here for 3 years since 2022. Thought We would give our honest opinion. The good stuff: -The location is unbeatable if your job is around San Francisco or the suburb it is really convenient to get to everywhere. You will avoid the Bay traffic coming from H101.There are some shops and a grocery store and drug store close by. City is a chilled laid back beach town. It also pretty safe compared to SF. -If you have dogs it is really convenient to have the beach at your front door. Beach entrance is less then a minute walk. Just dont forget the sand will get into your apartment if you have a furry friend no matter what you do. -If you like to watch whales or the wild life from your window, and you like the sound of the ocean, this is the place for you -It is nice that it has a washer and dryer in the apartment, most of the places around here do not have that. -They offer garages and storage unites, although the prices for these have significantly increased since we moved in. -The maintenance team is extremely kind and they try to do their best to fix everything on a timely manner. If an appliance break they get you a new one. We loved Mario and Greg! They navigated our maintenance issues the best of their ability. -The landlord and the manager team is also kind and somewhat easy to reach. They manage another property so you might need to call a few times before you can reach them but Paul was really helpful through our entire stay. The not so good stuff: -The weather can be tricky. When it is nice its REALLY nice, but 60% of the year it is super foggy and rainy and a bit depressing if you don't like the "London" style weather. Fall is the best. Also the winds can be super scary and really strong since the property is on the cliff. -The building is old it was built in 1963 and you can still find photos of the original brick look. It has been renovated many times but due to being on the ocean front side, it gets really rusty. Everything will rust so fast due to the combination of salty air including your patio furniture and whatever you leave on the balcony. They try to do their best to repaint the building but you can still spot signs of corrosion and age. -The community seems to be in a "damage fixing" mode. They fix whatever is broken somewhat quickly however they do not improve or fix things on the long run. Gym instruments took forever to fix. They only fortified the bluff walls when it was a problem, the roof that the wind damaged was never fixed on a side building or trees that were damaged by crazy weather a year ago was still not replanted just cleaned up. Landscaping was minimum. Since the building probably wont last another 20 years due to the costal corrosion (being so close to the water), I would expect that they will just fix whatever they can before closing the building. Neighboring complex already fell into the ocean a few years ago. -I think this point applies to most of the places around there but be ready that your renewal lease will increase the maximum amount possible after the term ends.

Overall, even thought there were a few negative things, I still think it is extremely hard to find another place around the neighborhood that does better job than the Bluff. If you accept the negatives and realize that no place will be ever perfect, -and that your experience also will depend on other circumstances, e.g. how nice your neighbors, where does your apartment faces, your lifestyle..) the Bluff at Pacifica is a solid place to live. We would recommend...

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it will still be a pig.

Ok, if you are considering living here, please read. I will keep this very brief.

DO NOT be enamored by the ocean front location. I kept a weather journal for my year at the Bluffs and only 32% of the days had even a wisp of sunshine. Not only is the sun absent, but it is FREEZING COLD when the wind blows, which it does at least 50% of the days. The fog is very similar to the sunset district in the city...heavy, thick, unrelenting some days. You literally will be unable to sit on your balcony on the ocean side, save about 10 days per year.

If you are low income, this is your place. The rent is cheap, cheap, cheap. But the building is old, in disrepair, perched on a slowly weakening cliff face and the damage that the salt air does to anything you leave outside (including your car - my Grand Cherokee rusted all chrome joints after only 4 months), is something many people do not consider. Additionally the elevators are from the 80's, tiny and you are at risk of getting trapped in them at any moment. The garbage area often has piles of people's unwanted furniture, old fridges/ovens, carpets, etc with an overflowing dumpster that attracts lots of mice. The grounds are messy and the dirt area adjacent to the parking lot where people take their dogs has a ton of glass and rusty metal in the dirt that is a hazard to your dogs.

Once you rent your apartment, you are on your own, unless you are submitting a maintenance request and the maintenance guy happens to show up. You will NEVER EVER get hold of anyone in their offices.

Be prepared to be GOUGED on your deposit. I lived in the apt for 12 months, never put a thing on the walls, magic erased the minimal amount of smudges on the wall and they charged me $400 to repaint the entire apt. During my pre move out inspection the maintenance guy said "I could have someone move in here tomorrow" and wouldn't you know it, they did just 2 days after I moved out, so I am very doubtful it was painted. They have not responded to multiple requests from the parent company to provide me with an itemized receipt detailing why my $1330 deposit ($750 for apt, $500 for dog, $80 for keys/fobs), was reduced to $550.

The pictures look amazing, the agents will show you the beautiful ocean waves to draw you in, but do not be fooled. ANY positive reviews are by the PERMANENT residents who have lived here forever and like their cheap rent. The Bluffs gouges all new tenants with rent increases, to subsidize the permanent residents who never move out.

Do yourself a favor and don't get sucked in by the presence of the large body of water out front. It is...

We absolutely love this place. I've been meaning to write this review for sometime now, but haven't had the chance.

Everyone in the leasing off is great. The view is great, and the weather is amazing.

Pros: The view, smell, and sound of the Ocean all day and night. You get to see the migrations of all the whales. The dog friendly beach is 5 mins away, and if you are lucky seals will pop up and say hi. If you surf, this area is amazing and during January and Feb. we have some pretty calm days which make great for surfing at Esplanade. It does get foggy, windy, and drizzly but depending on who you are its amazing. We love that type of weather and won't move from Pacifica because of it.

Great appliances, awesome maintenance staff who are great with dogs and very responsive, and a super dog friendly community. When I say super, I mean amazing. We all understand dogs bark sometimes, but honestly, you never hear it since the place is built so well.

When we moved from Colorado and stepped on the balcony, we fell in love instantly and never want to move.

We've also never had an issue with safety at night while walking dogs or with our cars.

You can walk across the street to a great brewery, two hot pot places, an amazing new bakery, Safeway, liquor store, two great cafes, a great Mexican restaurant, Walgreens, Ace Hardware, comic book store, Starbucks, Thai, Sushi, two gas stations, car repair, few banks and a Chinese sit down restaurant.

Cons:

You'll never want to leave. Parking can be tough, but if you don't have a spot in the community, street parking has been really reliable with no break-ins in the almost 2 years we've been here.

Thats about it, its an...