Lobo Village — Local services in Albuquerque

Lobo Village really is the best deal for students in ABQ. I'll try my best to sum up the experience of living here. First off, some people say you can find a better place for less as a student, and I disagree. Lobo V has a shuttle to campus which saves money on parking, and the apartment is already furnished which saves a ton of money on furniture, after moving out I didn't realize how expensive it can be even just to furnish a small studio apartment. However, your experience here is going to mainly be determined by your roommates (you will have 3 roommates). I got lucky and mine were decent, but if your roommates suck I guarantee you will hate it here, so be careful who you live with. Here's a few other things I've noted, I hope these help you with choosing your next place to live:

the social experience here is great, mostly everyone is a student and its easy to make friends at the pool. the pool is tiny, shallow, and overcrowded but also very social. the gym is poorly maintained but its also open 24/7 so I can't complain much. the provided mattresses aren't very comfy, they are cheap mattresses that have endured tons of sex and sweaty students so what do you expect. the walls are thin, you can hear your neighbors easily. the tap water tastes weird, get a water filter. the dishwasher doesn't WASH dishes, it just sanitizes them. I don't know why my roommates would just stuck stuff in there without rinsing and expect it to be clean. Its nice that the office will hold packages for you. I hate having packages left on my doorstep parking is bad at night, but if you park during the day and don't leave at night you will probably get a good spot by your apartment cars do sometimes get broken into but mostly in the back guest lot which is farthest from the front office. despite its reputation the crime here isn't too bad but I did hear gunshots once so I wouldn't exactly say its safe either. the location is okay, it's right next to isotopes park & CNM, somewhat close to campus. however there are no bars close by and the only nearby grocery store is the ghetto smiths on yale which I would recommend avoiding. You WILL hear lots of noise here, its student housing so expect to hear parties and such going on outside. if you like absolute quiet, don't live in any kind of student housing, obviously. maintenance is nice but they are iffy, sometimes they fix stuff quick and other times they take forever to fill work orders. this place is run mostly by student staff, if you have issues they probably won't address them with much more than a yawn or a quick glance at their phone. the actual adults who own this place are rarely there. the security guards at the gate are mostly useless, one of my friends bribed one to let her in with a snicker's bar once. at the beginning of the semester when the parents are visiting the security guards are there but towards the end they all disappear. the electricity bill at my apartment was excessively high for some reason, which we never figured out. this place is fun if your looking for the typical "college experience"

Overall, if your a student, this is one of the best values you can get. The only other comparable option is The view ABQ. The View is a little farther from campus, also has a shuttle, similar price and the apartments/villas there are slightly nicer. however, I know from visiting that place many times that The View has a lot more issues with crime and parties. That place has changed management companies many many times and the police are always there for some reason or other. Lobo Village is affiliated with UNM so they seem to care about their reputation a bit more.

Living here was a good experience (for me) but like I said roommates can make or break your experience. Sometimes I miss all the fun times I had here now that I'm graduating. Lobo Village may not be the best place to live or the nicest but you probably...

NO, just no. I moved into lobo village after living in a single dorm and yearning for that college community experience. That is not lobo village, yes the apartments are pretty nice and the pool and gym; but they were put up in a hurry and made very cheaply. The walls are super thin, the dishwashers don't work, my blinds fell down the first day-it's cheap. And what's worse it that they're charging you a ton of money for these cheap apartments with lots of hidden added fees as well. Electricity is the only utility you have to pay for? Great! No, not great, because the air conditioning doesn't function as a single unit but rather as a whole for your entire building. You know those football players downstairs that keep their apartment at 60 degrees? Yeah, you're paying for that.You want to put your apartment at a comfortable 68? Good luck with that placebo air conditioning controller.

Aside from lobo v being over-priced and inconvenient (shuttle drivers never wait if you're running for the bus that only comes every 20 minutes) the staff has no idea what they're doing. They're very polite and mean well (most of them) but any time you go in with a question it's like you're speaking Russian to them. And even now, after I have moved out (THANK GOODNESS) they are still a huge pain. I accidentally sent a few of my books to my old address and instead of a 10 second email or phone call, they sent my book back to amazon!! Also! Despite Lobo Village actually allowing alcohol, security guards and CA's will follow you up to your apartment, (no joke this happened to me when I was with 6 friends, SIX WHOLE PEOPLE) decide you're there to be disruptive, and if they see ANY form of alcohol, and make you pour out whatever you may have. I had a friend (well over 21) who lost over 200 dollars of alcohol because of a power hungry, rude CA. You know how I wanted that community experience? How is that supposed to happen if I am being punished anytime I bring more than 1 person over to MY HOME. The one I PAY RENT FOR. Same thing goes for the pool; you want to have 3 friends over for a BBQ during the summer? NOPE, not allowed and the security guard will check your keys to make sure you're not bringing in any extra people. My roommate, myself, and two friends went to the pool and had to turn around and get our other set of keys because there were "too many of us per guest and not enough keys". This is not how they would treat you at any other complex.

Yes, I understand that Lobo V had issues with people raging too hard and are trying to tone it down. That's fine, I appreciate my weekday sleep. But for god sakes, this is a COLLEGE APARTMENT complex and punishing people for behaving as such will only make them angry, rude to the employees at lobo village, and write long reviews dissuading ANYONE who wants to live her to think otherwise.

Seriously, if you want a pool move to sun village or something close to campus. Really live ANYWHERE ELSE, because living at lobo village was a year of annoyance I will...

Cannot begin to describe the amount of headaches this property has given me. I will try to be brief: potential future residents, be aware that at moveout time if you have no reason for them to charge you, they will come up with one themselves. Returned your keys, parking decal, filled out the little envelope and moveout form they require of you? That's too bad, according to Lobo Village you didn't do any of that and now owe them hundreds of dollars. AND will be charged for repairs to communal furniture that had nothing to do with you, which will completely eat up your deposit. And good luck disputing any of that with them, as they will send you through hoops of phone calls and emails to 900 different people and departments so no one person has to take responsibility for the painful negligence of the staff that work there. (They don't even handle payment issues with anyone who works on-site, or anywhere in the state, if that gives any indication to what you'd be dealing with.) That is IF they get back to you in a reasonable amount of time, too. Be ready to wait weeks or even a month+ for a response to any issue you might have with management.

This isn't even to go into the questionable living experience itself. Other reviewers have already mentioned the multiple stabbings, shootings, faulty/closed pool and other shared facilities. And then treating everyone who lives there like a child who cannot be trusted to enter their own apartment complex because of the actions of others, despite many residents being well into their 20s and 30s already. Imagine having to tell your partner who flew in from 3 states away "by the way, I know we are halfway through your trip to visit me but my apartment says its prison lockdown time and you can't be here". Nightmare that won't leave me alone even almost a year after...