Apartment Review for Avalon At Pacific Bay - Huntington Beach, CA

This complex gives you a great first impression. It is very green and well kept. Good landscapers seem to come about once a week or so to maintain the foliage. The office staff is nice but sometimes acts a bit clueless in problematic situations. The maintenance staff is courteous and efficient. We had a repetitive problem with a toilet and after the second time they simply replaced it and now all is well. The wear and tear on the units doesn't seem too bad.

The parking situation is a bit stupid. The complex was renovated a couple of years back and they took all the assigned parking stalls on the outer perimeter and added a roof and fencing every other space with a cheap garage door and call them a "semi private shared garage parking stall". It's basically a carport with a little more weather protection, but far from being a garage. You are not allowed to have anything in there except your vehicle. If you don't want to fork over the additional $80/month on the garage then you get a carport. This is fine, but don't forget to put up your parking tag (which you must pay $10/month additional to have) up or you may get towed. (Which I don't understand why they would do that if nobody complained about the car parked there!)

The amenities are great. The pool is decent in size and well maintained. The jacuzzi is larger than normal and can seat about 14 people comfortably. The gym is small but useable and is open 24 hours which is unusual for most complexes. The office has a back room that is setup as their "business center". They have 2 computers with broadband internet hooked up as well as printers, a copier and a fax machine. All free of charge for residents. Need to make a hundred copies of your lost gerbil flyer...no prob! Need to fax a resume to Mongolia...No Problem! No charge to do so. The office will also accept packages from UPS/FedEx for you if you are not home.

The complex doesn't pick up any of the utilities. So, you must pay $12/month for trash to the complex. Then, since the complex was built without individual water meters and water heaters, and the management stopped including it in the rent, you must pay a 3rd party utilities management company for "your share" of the water and heating bill. It is broken down by how many bedrooms, bathrooms, and people are living in the apartment and you pay based on that. What sucks is that if you go on vacation for a couple of weeks, you still come home to the same bill even though you didn't usa a drop of water... I didn't find this out until I got my first bill, a month after I had already moved in. It was NOT explained before I signed the lease. Only that they do not pay for any utilities.

The complex is definitely nicer than any of the previous ones I've lived at in HB. The security company could be changed as the current one is essentially non existant except to get people towed (They most likely get kick backs from the tow yards). The trash needs to be pickup up more often. Aside from that, it's a good place to live.