101 San Fernando

Elite '08

49

165

Elizabeth G.

San Jose, CA

I loved living here.  The staff is very friendly and professional and that's rare when dealing with apartment people.  The apartments themselves are pricey, but they're right in the heart of downtown and we could walk to everything that we wanted to.  We got 2 underground
parking spots in a 1 bedroom, everything is secure, loved the little gym.  We had the cheapest 1 bedroom I think you can get, and it was pretty small, but we loved it anyway.  There's no pool, which is kind of lame, but not a huge deal.  

I would recommend this place if you don't mind paying the rent, I was happy here, and suprisingly didn't hear as much noise as I expected to, living in such a busy area.

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6

35

Paul R.

San Jose, CA

Maintenance: Really nice group of guys, and they always seem to respond promptly.  Understand, though, that if they leave your apartment without finishing a repair ("We'll come back when the part arrives."), you *will* have to call them and remind them.  This is not a sometimes/maybe situation.  Trust me, they will not be back!  However, when you follow up, they will respond promptly again and things will generally get fixed.  Oh, and lately, it seems like there's been a rash of broken gates, garage entries, fountains, fixtures, etc.  Not sure if this is indicative of a larger problem or just a weird spike in problems.  

Noise: You are in an apartment building surrounded by a university, a parking garage, several restaurants, a night club, and a half dozen bus stops.  Every flat surface in your home is likely to have people living in the other side of it.  Need I say more?  It's louder than Magnum P.I.'s shirts here.  You will need to learn to tune out thumping of feet, car stereos, car alarms, street-sweeping trucks, emergency sirens, and the occasional drunken dipshit ringing the wrong doorbell at 3am.  Loud fans and earplugs are your friend.

Management: Everyone always complains about management at apartment complexes.  They're mostly nasty because they have to deal with people who bitch and complain all day and don't pay their rent.  They do not see you as any different than the lowest-common-denominator tenant they just dealt with.  The few that do still treat you like the human being you are are rare and precious.  From my experience, 101SF has 2 such outstanding people in their leasing office.  That's significantly higher than the national average.  

Billing/Rent: Had the same experience someone else did.  My billing provider has sent hundreds of checks over several years to various payees.  I've had exactly 2 payments *ever* not make it on time, and one of them was here.  The check mysteriously never arrived despite records showing it had been sent.  When said provider went out of their way to call the leasing office on my behalf, take responsibility, and fedex out a new check, 101SF still refused to refund the late fee.  Fortunately, my billing folks had my back and refunded it out of their pocket.  Pretty inflexible and harsh, even by apartment complex standards.

Apartments/decor: Standard white apartment stuff.  Some apartments are apparently nicer, but we didn't get one of those, despite renting literally the most expensive 1 bedroom apartment offered.  

Value: Hey, you get to live in the middle of a cool area of downtown SJ, and the rents are actually cheaper than places a few miles farther up the peninsula in the suburbs.  It comes with all the good and bad things you'd expect about living in an urban setting.

Parking: Good news, 2 spots for a 1 bedroom!  Bad news: They're tandem (one behind the other) spots.  Since I leave for work and and return home later than my wife, that meant shuffling around cars.  Every. God. Damned. Night.  For twenty months.  Kill. Me.

Overall: Well, we're moving out.  But that's because in a less urban setting, we can get a larger place for similar money, and have it be a little bit closer to work.  All in all, 101SF was a thoroughly decent place to live.  The noise and parking situation sucks, but as mentioned, that pretty much comes with urban living.  The complex itself was okay, and, while I wouldn't be *excited* about living here again, I wouldn't hang myself in the white-linoleum-tiled bathroom either.

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0

10

Amanda N.

San Jose, CA

I'll be honest. I'm not going to hide it. I used to work here. So if you didn't like it, hey I'm sorry. Maybe I'll catch some flack for this review, but whatever. I've seen the ratings on aptratings. And to be honest, one of my biggest complaints about working there was some of the people (*SOME*) who lived there. Some were students, and mommy and daddy paid the rent for them and thus the students felt no responsibility and/or they lived like students-- there could be some loud parties. I can understand why people wouldn't like that. That was a big problem when I worked there... but we changed resident requirements and it seemed like it decreased, even residents were saying so. Other residents were also disrespectful, parking in other people's spots, etc. Other residents had that "holier than thou" attitude. Really, in an apartment or a house, things break. And guess what, maint issues have to take priority-- a broken garbage disposal isn't as high up on the list as a broken toilet. I liked the other staff, I think we did our jobs correctly. Now I understand how people don't like us-- we had the JOB of enforcing leases. So if you heard from us, usually something wasn't going as planned. $100 late fee? You don't like it? Hey, you signed a lease. Not only saying you would pay your rent on time but that you knew about the late fee and agreed to pay it if needed. Honestly some people came up w/ the most ridiculous complaints and in all honestly it was usually b/c they started things by not holding up to their part of the agreement. I know that sometimes it's not always like that, and I worked there almost 2 years ago, but I would be more than happy to help disspell anyone's rant against their landlord, whether it's 101 or somewhere else. I'm sure there are incidents in which the tenant is right, not gonna argue that. But sometimes the customer isn't always right.
The apts are pretty standard... fixtures are pretty standard, paint is usually white (sometimes beige), carpet also pretty standard although i remember it being a little more plush under the feet than normal. The maintenance team worked hard and they worked well when I was there. The best reason to live here is the location-- if you're not into downtown SJ, don't move here. Period. If you have windows facing the exterior of the bldg, you're going to hear noise, especially on 3rd street since there's a couple of clubs/bars right there. So again, you don't like noise, move somewhere else. Live in north San Jose, or Willow Glen or somewhere else and kwityerbitchen.

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0

7

Kirby S.

San Jose, CA

The apartment itself is very nice, it is large and has underground parking and the complex itself is gated. there is also a hot tub and the closets are big.

The management is less then great however. Not only do they think they are supreme beings, they screw around with you during the lease signing and resigning, and have completely screwed me over when it came time to sign my lease. They were always rude to us when we were trying to work it out and we got a ton of nasty letters, to boot.
They also charge you excessively for things that should be free or at least cheap - locking yourself out of the apartment (first offense)? $100.
lost key? $100.
lost key-card? $100.
problem with your rent check, banks fault (WITH LETTER FROM BANK)? $150.

Also, i had a package sent to me, with my address and a different name. After waiting weeks, and bugging the sender about it, finally i checked with UPS. The package had been signed and recieved by 101. So i go down to the office, expecting that they just forgot to put the reminder in my box saying i had a package.

me: hey, i had a package come a few weeks ago and never got a notice for it. UPS said you guys signed for it?
her: *goes and checks for it* nope, not there.
me: okay... well it may have been under this name ____.
her (without checking) im sorry, but i dont have it.
me: .....well is your name ______? they said you signed for it.
her: yes, thats me and i must have signed for it, but we dont have it.
me...... okay so where is my package?
her, in a deal with it voice: im sorry, cant help you.
........

The one nice girl in the office recently left for a different, hopefully better job. go figure. the rest of the staff, like maintenance, is very nice though.

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