Villa Sienna, Toscana, and college friendly apartments?

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fooly_IHB

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Hey all,



A few friends and I (4 of us total) are looking for an apartment complex for the upcoming school years at UCI. Today we visited both Villa Sienna and Toscana with hopes of finding a cheap and comfortable place. Well, the feverish leasing agents really just fed us information we already knew about the place from online so we're looking for some outside opinions.



At villa sienna, we could get a 3/2 apartment for roughly $2,500 a month. I'm not entirely sure if this is a decent price or not. The amenities offered are simply astounding. But do we really need all of that? In all seriousness, we are just students with part time jobs looking for a temporary (2 year max) lease. We aren't planning to settle down in some incredibly fancy apartment complex. Toscana offers 2/2 apartments for 1,700ish, which feels like a much better deal (but we would have to whittle our group down to three).



Which makes me question the value of other 'college friendly' apartments such as stanford/dartmouth/harvad/park west. To my knowledge, there isn't much of a price difference between VillaSienna/Toscana and stanford/parkwest, yet the primer offer so much more. Maybe too much more.



Does anyone have personal experiences at any of the above mentioned apartments? Also, any advice to prevent getting ripped off by leasing agents who think students are incredibly wealthy?



-Fooly
 
Villa Senna is pretty, parking is tough and you do get lots of younger students. It can be nice, but if you're older like me, then it is a little bit too much.

-bix
 
we're pretty flexible about how many cars we will be bringing. I'm a bicycle enthusiast so I just need my trusty 5-speed :D
 
VS = don't plan on bringing more than 2 cars, keep your bikes inside your apartment, don't lock them in the underground garage. I don't think I would consider this one "student friendly." Last I heard VS did not accept cosigners or guarantors; the actual occupants have to qualify on their own. So unless the income from your part time jobs add up to more that 2.7x the amount of rent or more, it will take some shady dealings to get approved.



But it sounds like you're comparing apples and oranges. Toscana, Dartmouth, etc are all a lot older than VS (15 year difference?). Most don't have washer/dryer/gas appliances. But if you are considering the student friendly communities, I believe Park West offers the lowest prices with the largest floor plans...but again, it's one of the oldest.



As for getting ripped off by a leasing consultant, they're all hungry and many may be fighting for their job. If they CAN offer it, they likely WILL. They have no incentive to stick you with a higher rent. They are paid on a per lease basis...it doesn't matter if you're renting a studio or a 3 bedroom. If you sign, they get paid.
 
Check out Stanford and berkley court. Uci parking permits are worth there weight in gold. Better to be able to walk to school.
 
any links to college park? I can't seem to find it. Also, I am planning to negotiate the VS price down 16% to 2,100/month. Would anyone consider this unreasonable?
 
I would be shocked if they agreed to anything close to that.



IAC doesn't really operate like a car dealership. While you and I can make the argument that it's better to have someone paying $2100/mo than nobody paying anything per month, they don't see it that way. They protect their market prices religiously. Even in this market you can see how slow they are to respond to conditions. Rather than significantly lowering their prices to fill their buildings, they will lean on their leasing staff and insist their lack of effort is the reason their sales figures are down. Take a look at the reports of layoffs and hiring freezes. They have been handing out pink slips rather than lowering their rents much further.



You are looking at it from a micro perspective - your one apartment. They view things from a macro level. If they give you a 16% discount, how can they justify not offering that to everyone else (after all, it could be a fair housing violation to make a special exception for this person over that person, etc).



I wish you all the luck in the world. But to be blunt, there's no chance they will take much less than what they've already offered. You may be able to squeeze a little more of a discount off the security deposit or eek out a double digit rent dip. You may be able to get a decrease if you agree to a 16 month lease. But it's not going to be the huge reduction you hope for.
 
Hmm, thanks for the advice Cuatro. I have a much better perspective as a potential renter now.



I found a UCI student housing link for local apartments herehttp://www.housing.uci.edu/och/localapt.asp

and it seems that for the most part, prices are incredibly consistent regardless of how old the community or quality of services provided is. I'll keep in mind that if we opt for a 16th month lease, we might be able to nudge some prices down.



Thanks everyone.
 
[quote author="Serious Weapon" date=1235833789]Villa Sienna has some talent crawling around that place...

Rent a house in College Park with that budget. That's what I did.</blockquote>


what kind of rates should I expect from College Park? I can't seem to find it online.
 
I used to live at Dartmouth, 4 of us shared a 2 bedroom. Which made parking tight, you get one garage spot and 1 sticker permit to park in the complex.

Everyone else had to find parking on the street by the shopping center. This was still better than trying to find parking at UCI.

There are tons of students who live in Berkley/Stanford/ Dartmouth apartments, usually there is a wait list for apartments.



If you don't mind riding your bike to school I found that San Marcos was cheaper then the the apartments across the street from UCI.

It is right next to the bike path that goes by UCI, parking was not terrible, but it is more of a family area.



Good luck
 
[quote author="fooly" date=1236094806][quote author="Serious Weapon" date=1235833789]Villa Sienna has some talent crawling around that place...

Rent a house in College Park with that budget. That's what I did.</blockquote>


what kind of rates should I expect from College Park? I can't seem to find it online.</blockquote>


Rates? Pennysaver, FOO!... Ly.
 
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