The Grove at Orenco Station — Local services in Hillsboro

I moved to Oregon from New York in 2015 and stayed in Avana for one year. I had a critical issue when I move out here. So, if you choose to live here, be careful. Please read the following items:

1. It will be very noisy in the day because: it is near Cornell Road; landscaping and workers blowing leaves and air planes are fly in the sky. But, it is also convenient: walk-able distance to Winco, for instance.

2. When you move out, you will definitely have to pay more than your expectation. They will charge you 50$ carpet cleaning at least (mandatory). Plus, they will probably charge you on painting and cleaning (my case is 300+). Breaking the lease will cause 1.5 month penalty. And more, see 3)

3. Make sure you notify them 1 month before moving out. Email is ok to be the evidence. If not, they will extend you lease with very high charges. And they won't mention that explicitly to you even when you tell them the move out date in person. The only thing they do is that they will send you an email roughly in July about moving out stuff, but they won't highlight the constraints but the money and the increase of the rent :-)

4. Don't expect them to notify any package arrivals. They will stay there forever if you forget.

5. Don't argue with their manager. She is very "professional": being nice when you come, being very "nice" you move out. To my knowledge, the nice staff in their office almost all have left by this time (09/2016)

6. During the summer 2016 when I stay here, I feel that there are several batches of people come and go in my nearby unit. It might be normal for apartment community, but it also indicates a huge tide of moving in/out. Thus, I won't give a high score for safety, although nothing serious happened.

7. Their current online payment system is stupid. I had an issue with this system. I setup an automatic payment and link against my checking account. However, the system charges me twice of the amount. I find the reason is because the system has port my previous setting from the old system into it without showing it. Moreover, it never changes my billing address. I have mentioned to their staff several times. But until I move out, nothing has been solved.

8. In the last month of your lease, they will still charge you for the full month even if you lease ends in the third week in that month. Right now, I am still arguing with the manager, she said she will calculate it. I am sure she would be doing...

I stayed at Avana May 2015 - May 2016. I had mostly positive experience. A few things could be improved though - that's why only four stars.

First, let me list the pros: Great location, obviously. Right on Cornell, walkable to Orenco shops, groceries, bars. 5 minutes from US-26. Upgrades: my apt had brand-new stainless steel appliances, hardwood floor in the kitchen/dining/living areas. Large granite countertop. Friendly personnel. Helpful when I was stopping by. A little bit slow via email though.

A few things that I think could have been better: The bathroom was not ready on the move-in day. I came out of state and I had to find another place to stay for 1-2 days. I wish they had informed me earlier and reimbursed me for the inconvenience. Just saying "sorry" didn't make up for the hassle, unfortunately. The contractors Avana was hiring didn't seem to do quality job. First, they used some low-quality material to seal the bathtub such that it peeled after a couple of weeks. They re-did it then but still, the job looked very sloppy and the silicone they used was cheap and turned yellow soon. Moreover, they dumped unused silicone into the toilet... The area seemed to be safe but one day, someone broke into my neighbors garage and also stole the cover of my motorcycle parked in my assigned spot. We reported it to the leasing office but they never came back to me. I felt like nobody cared... The clubhouse is nice but not very useful - it is only open during leasing office operating hours. They were saying that they had plans to make it accessible after hours but never implemented it. Package notification was unreliable: I had to check with the office to see if there was a package delivered to me. Otherwise it would dust in the office for days without any notification that they received something for me. Most disappointing thing after moving out: they charged $50 carpet cleaning fee even though I left the apartment in a pristine condition. I even rented a commercial vacuum to clean the carpets but that did not count... So it is not worth putting the effort to clean meticulously before move-out, as you might be...

One of the best place to live in until the management changed. ( Avana Orenco became Groove at Orenco). We have multiple issues with the new management. 1st - When we rented out the clubhouse for a day and paid $150, We did not get the receipt for it. The staff are extremely rude and tried to push off the request as long as possible until we gave up one day.

2nd - Nobody would notify us if packages are delivered. The management clearly missed it to check thoroughly in their unit for our package and said they did not receive anything. We logged a complaint and had to go through various formalities before finding out the package in the leasing office ( they gave us the old package along with the new one when we went to collect )

3rd - I did not worry about them being so harsh on tenants until today. I have posted the screenshot as well below for the reference. Their Assistant Manager - Melissa Morgan is one of the arrogant and rudest person I have encountered in my life! She sends over the bill (posted below) and has no clue on why the charges are exactly for.

She claims the opening balance was prorated amount ( we stayed on day to day basis for 5 days ) and we had paid for it at the beginning of January ( I have the receipt for it ).

I was trying to understand why there is 2 Utility Bills and she had no answer for them but had the audacity to ask me how am I going to pay - check/online and she can set me up for it.

We stayed in the unit for 11 months and paid cleaning services to clean the whole apartment when we moved out, yet these are the cleaning charges. I am not complaining about the cleaning charges but the mindset to rip off the tenants is the worst! You can see the professionalism in the way they have written the mail as well. We moved out on 01/05 and lost the login ability to their portal to check out the pending amount. Until today, 2/18, we had no clue about these charges.

I wish I could give less than 1 star but it is what is. Please DO NOT RENT FROM THIS PLACE!

P.S., Miss David from the old management. He was one of the best leasing person helping us out with...