Americana Apartments

I love my apartment and the location. Also love the campus, especially the pond. It's a beautiful place to walk my dogs. However, the area is not safe from crime. The caps on my Tesla tires were stolen almost immediately after I bought the car. One of my neighbors said his car was stolen straight out of our garage by armed men. And a homeless person followed me into the building (I tried to not let him in, but he caught the door right before it shut). Also, the elevator in my building goes out of service nearly every other month. I live on the top floor, along with my 90yo neighbors who rely on the elevator because of mobility issues.

My family and I have been enjoying this places pool for years. We've never lived at the property, but everyone is nice enough to open the gates to anyone walking up with their hands full.
We had our daughters birthday their which was great thanks to the grills being free to use. Wish there were more bathrooms though.

Been living here for over 4 years. Had some complaints about noise early on that went on for awhile during the pandemic. All of those issues have been resolved.

Overall the 2BR/2bth apartment we rent is pretty high quality for the price and location. Been living and renting in South Bay for the last 11 years.

If my wife and I leave, it will most likely be because we need more space for our upcoming family, or maybe housing would available in our price range.

[Beware. Do not rent this complex. Rent somewhere else. Charges tenants $2,000+ MOVE OUT FEES]

As a resident for 2 years, move out fees are at least $2,000+ regardless of "wear and tear" agreement when you signed. Even though the wear and tear are normal and not negligence, they will violate the agreement and insist on having you pay after discussing about waiving our fees. In the $2,000+ fees, it includes replacing paint, carpet, and stove top for the next tenant, which is not our responsibility. In addition to your deposit, they charge you $2,000+ move out fee which is unreasonable and unjustified.

Our inspection mentioned clearly "Reviewed with supporting information to ensure accuracy", yet, the gentleman who conducted the pre-inspection also verbally stated that our unit was practically spotless and nothing could be found to charge us for. Property still did not take any consideration - again turning a blind eye and irresponsible.

We pay $4,000+ monthly rent and the property is still poorly managed.
* Squeaky floors and uneven flooring and tiles
* Leaf blowers twice a week (impact your work from home and your zoom calls)
* No surveillance cameras or security patrols (property mentioned that cannot install due to privacy issues)
* Do not online shop-- Most of our personal packages were stolen. Nothing was done or solved besides replacements of USPS mailboxes. We wrote a message to delivery person to deliver packages straight to our front-door rather than the mailroom. Or ship to your relatives' home to ensure your package gets delivered.
* Hit and runs in the parking garages
* Constant cigarettes and marijuana use were also not addressed and no solution or action was taken. Reoccurring emails reminders were not productive and useless, and we reported this, yet no safely measures were taken even when other residents were violating California smoking laws on the premises. They even told us "You did not report it" even though we did many times. Again, management refuses to take reasonability even though neighbors had the same complaint, so they personally picked on us when this has been an ongoing complaint from other neighbors.

During our stay, we had losses due to improper management, yet no solutions provided from the team after multiple reports of smoking and stolen packages.

Management turns a blind eye. It is a shame. With one bad review, and lost long-term tenant, you will never recuperate from the $2,000+ move out fee.

Short version:

Pros:
- Solid price for fairly nice rooms
- Large balconies
- Very pretty campus
- Right off El Camino and highway 85

Cons:
- Office staff won't follow through on maintenance requests/other questions unless you ping them 2-3 times
- Lax attitude about wearing masks; zero enforcement in the buildings
- They OBLITERATE you on move out charges; expect no less than $1000
- Most packages are dumped in a pile in the front hallways of each building for anyone to swipe (which happened often)
- Near constant noise either from unnecessary daily leaf blowing or frequent construction
- No bike parking anywhere on campus
- Only has a trash chute; you have to take recycling bags down manually
- TINY elevators (~6 foot from end to end). You can't move large couches or furniture in it, and the stairwells are fairly low and narrow too.

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Long version:
Americana provides pretty cheap rent for nice rooms and a beautiful campus. It's easy to get around the bay from here using el camino or highway 85. If you have lots of plants, the balconies are very large and get lots of sun in many of the buildings.

Unfortunately, living here came with many drawbacks. First and foremast, the front office staff is terrible. They are usually friendly, but they pretty much never follow through when you have questions or maintenance requests. I had many instances where they told me they would call me back within 48 hours, and then I would have to call them back 1 - 2 weeks later after not hearing anything. A major gripe for me was the shockingly lax attitude toward masks during COVID. They did not require residents to wear masks in the buildings until NOVEMBER OF 2020(!!!), a full 9 months into the pandemic. Even then, it was only because the county literally legally required them to do so. Perhaps that matters less to people now, but given that this pandemic has lasted far longer than most predicted, it's something to think about.

Another very frustrating thing is that the staff will absolutely WRECK you on move out charges. I put nothing on the walls and had a few minor marks on the carpet, and they charged me over $1000. Trust me when I say that Marie Condo couldn't escape with less than $800 in move out fees.

A few other things were frustrating, but not as concerning. No bike parking, no recycling chute, and not being close to any exciting areas are all minuses. The tiny elevators and narrow hallways were also a serious problems for moving large furniture in and out. In addition, the fact that most packages get tossed on the floor in the front hallway of each building is a real negative. There was zero security, so anyone could just grab any package they wanted (which happened so much that they temporarily had to have all packages delivered to the front office to prevent theft). Pretty low tech when most modern buildings have package lockers or other pickup systems.

Finally, this place was NOISY! They have workers come by to blast leaf-blowers that sound like jet engines for 1-2 hours every morning. This was totally unnecessary, and they would often be blowing the air onto completely clean sidewalks/pool decks... They also did massive amounts of construction during working hours during COVID, meaning that while everyone was stuck working from home, there was jack-hammering for weeks at a time. The front office staff essentially said "sorry, tough luck."

Lived in building 15 third floor from 2017-2020. Third floor had vaulted ceilings which was nice. Also good lighting and relatively private since it was surrounded by trees and faced a small pool. The room we had was newly renovated at the time.

Management is fine. If we had problems with plumbing they would send someone out to fix it (our toilet had a weak flush and the tub needed new paint at some point). If they need to go in your room (like once a year) they'll contact you. Rent was paid through their portal. We never had packages stolen even when they were left at the doorstep to the building outside.

Rent went up about $100 every year. They can't go higher due to the Mountain View rent control laws. When you leave for good though don't expect to get your deposit back. I had a deal at the time so I only paid like half the usual deposit rate. They kept most of it for cleaning fees and such.

Problem after problem. Not worth it.
1) Right out the gate, our move in date was pushed back 2 weeks due to construction in the unit.
2) Half our keys didn't work. Even after multiple replacements I always had to jiggle the keys so much it felt like I was picking the lock instead of using a key.
3) Our mailboxes were broken into multiple times. The area did not always feel safe after that.
4) The elevator in our building was breaking all the time. We were rarely notified when it was out or repaired.
5) Super creaky floors and thin walls.
6) Expect management to charge you for every dime they can get away with. Left a mark on the wall, better paint the whole thing. Spot on the carpet, better replace the whole thing. The mediocre condition of the carpet and walls when we moved in makes me question whether they even do the stated jobs.

This place is NOT safe. Lots of thief coming around. They stole my catholic converter , stroller, and GPS in parked car. Leasing office said that another car seat was thieved just two days before. I saw a suspicious man and told office but they didn't pay attention. he is wandering around the community every night And they didn't say anything to residents. office staff are not friendly and easy to communicate with especial the blond lady on high heals

Clearly the management at Americana is even more useless than I thought, considering they have no record of someone living in their community for 8 months.

Lily, Look up Sara Mohr and ask EVERY person in their office if they spoke to Jordan Mesch because I watched him walk in their and speak to your representatives.

The fact that you have no record further proves how badly management is doing.

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Thousands of dollars of stuff was stolen from our truck parked underneath our apartment building. The thief's used power tools and sawed open locked boxes, so we know they took a considerable amount of time and care to steal our things, and where was management? They say they have a security patrol, but that's a complete load of shit. This apartment complex should realistically owe us money after the negligence of management. Again, the apartment is nice, but if you expect management here to actually do anything, you're screwed. "We're so sorry" doesn't give us our stuff back. Don't claim to have security if it is absolutely useless. 3000 dollars a month, absolutely insane.

I lived here for a year.

Noice: This apartment is near the highway. Avoid if you can't stand the huge noice.

Bug: the Apartment is pretty old. Often found bugs in the room.

Move out charge: both me and my friend got charges over $1500. They will replace everything includes carpet stove and charge you.