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| - I rented an apartment at La Privada for almost a year. I don't know about Marc T's experience, but it is not reflective of my experience or the experience of the person who posted under La Privada Condos.
First, The Good Points: the apartments, especially the two bedrooms, are spacious. La Privada is a gated community. There are two pools that are kept very clean. The main pool at the clubhouse is heated and there is a hot tub. There is a reasonably well-equipped workout room and a business center/clubhouse facility. The complex does have a nice appearance; shrubs are trimmed nicely and flower beds are well-tended. This past year, the entire complex was re-painted and the asphalt re-sealed. The maintenance personnel are friendly and do what they can for the tenants within the restrictions put in place by management.
Apparently, there has been new management installed at La Privada. I haven't had any of the dishonesty issues as reported by others.
The Bad Points: Living at La Privada ain't cheap. Rents for a renovated two bedroom apartment run about $1350/mo +/- plus water/sewer/trash. But, the worst part is the construction of the buildings. It's about the worst I've ever seen. Insulation is non-existent. The brick walls radiate heat INTO the units in the summer and leach heat in the winter. My summer electric bills were in the $350-$400 range from May to September.
Because there is virtually no insulation, conversations in normal tones can be heard between apartments; never mind loud music/tv. Maintenance is abysmally slow. It took almost FIVE months to repair water damage to my apartment that was caused by La Privada's own employees renovating the apartment over mine. This delay, I later found out, was not attributable to the maintenance department, but to the office staff. This mess was started by the in-house "plumber" who hooked up a new ice maker line. Instead of testing it, he went on a 90-minute lunch break. My apartment developed a new shower in the living room, hallway and 2nd bedroom.
The tenants at La Privada are paying to live in a gated community. However, the gates around the perimeter of the property have what we New Yorkers would call "cheeseball" locks. The gate next to my unit has a painted-over lock, the keyhole is filled with dried paint. Access is achieved by pushing the gate up and back on it's hinges -- hinges that are made out of large machine screws. No key is required to open this gate. Push on it and Voila!! Open sesame... The office can be told about these problems until a tenant is blue in the face. Nothing will happen. See above paragraph...
When being shown the apartments, I was NOT shown the apartment I would eventually be moved into. The explanation, which I accepted, was that there was still a tenant in the unit. It wasn't until I moved in that I found out WHY the previous tenant wanted out. Upstairs, in a two bedroom apartment, there was a family of six living. A husband, wife, mother-in-law, teenager and two toddlers.
The toddlers, apparently, were in training to be track stars. The running (or pounding) back-and-forth across their floor (my ceiling) starting at approx 5:45 am until, sometimes,10:00 pm. Let's not forget the teenager, who wants to be an NBA point guard. Whenever Mom and Dad weren't home, he was practicing his basketball dribble. After I moved in, it took management TEN FREAKIN' WEEKS to move them out!! This, despite the fact that the previous tenant had complained about this family. The previous tenant was moved to another apartment and so it was my turn. Management's position? We're doing the best we can...
There are a few young people living at La Privada; but not many. While I'm not exactly a youngster (late 50s), I'm not ready for the old folks' home either. La Privada is filled with old fogies. The geezer who now lives above me complains to management about conversations in even the most modest of tones. I live by myself. Apparently,her major complaint concerns my using the telephone late at night and early in the morning. I guess she expects that I will have no communication with friends/family who live on the east coast or try to conduct personal business with credit card companies/banks/etc who have call centers in India or the Philippines.
In sum, the lack of sound and weather insulation at La Privada is the biggest drawback. I lay this problem directly at the feet of ownership. Even though apartments are being "renovated" (i.e. new cabinets, carpeting, appliances, etc) they are doing NOTHING to add insulation.
Unless you don't mind living your life as an "open book" or you're an exhibitionist, you may wish to live elsewhere. Living at La Privada, not only will almost all of your conversations be overheard, but even a couple's most intimate moments will be easily detected by their neighbors. I know; I've heard enough of them.
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