Apartment Review for The Cape - Costa Mesa, CA

Nestled near the beautiful lights of South Coast Plaza and Metro Pointe, are The Cape apartments. Upon first glance, one will see the lovely light gray and white buildings with little patios and lots of parking. However, hidden behind this bright exterior lies a world of stress and drama for the future resident. The apartment staff is friendly as they take you on a tour of the area and persuade you to rent with small discounts here and there. Little do you know that you will get more than you bargained for…in the worst way. The rent is rather pricey, but that is understandable due to the closeness of the two shopping centers mentioned above. However, that is exactly what you are paying for. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. And nothing more. The amenities that The Cape proudly offers include a child-sized swimming pool, a dollhouse…I mean clubhouse, a spa, a car wash area (which consists of a slab of concrete and a garden hose) and on-site laundry facilities. Let’s talk about these laundry facilities. First off, you have to get a laundry card which must be charged before you can use the machines. The card machine is next to the office, which if you don’t live near the pool, it’s quite a walk. Most of the time, this machine is broken so you are stuck without being able to do laundry for a few days. After you are actually able to put money on your card, you must carry your laundry to the facility. Now unless you live near one of the 3 INCONVIENENTLY located rooms, you have quite a hike ahead of you. And, with more than one load of laundry, this usually ends up being a car trip to the facility. If you use liquid detergent or fabric softener, beware! They do not maintain the washers and your clothes will come out looking dirtier than they did before you put them in. I had to Spray & Wash about 30 items after I moved. The dryers are broken from time to time, but will still spin, so you go to get your clothes an hour later only to find that they are still sopping wet. Next, let’s talk about parking. They will tell you that guests can’t park in the complex, but that there is ample parking outside of the gate…all lies. Do not park in the gate or you will get towed for no less than $250…same goes with parking in the wrong spot. Guests can either park in the neighborhood on one side of the complex and walk through the dark park which is straight out of a horror movie, or they can park in the business lot on the other side, which you have to be out of by 8am. Security is another issue. Yes, the complex is gated, but it’s a rare occasion when these gates are actually closed! Also, most of the smaller gates are always broken, including the one to the park. Within a year of living there, police helicopters flew around with the spotlight either in the complex or the park 6 times and 4 of those times, cops were all over the complex searching for people. Ok, finally let’s talk about the apartment itself. The storage space is a good size and so are the patios. However, in the year that I was there, my place was infested with large spiders which came close to encasing my patio in a giant web. It took 5 times of going to the office and complaining, and finally talking to the pest control guy myself, to get that partially taken care of. They’ll tell you they spray every Friday…but they don’t. Also, they clean the gutters like once a year…which that cleaning took about a month of complaining to get. Then they never cleaned them again. The gutters are so jam-packed full of leaves that spiders and mosquitoes thrive in them. Plus, when it rains, water cascades in a loud, violent manor off of the roof and dirty water stains everything on the patio. As for the inside of the apartment, they are pretty nice…much smaller than they advertise. My “800” sq ft apartment was actually closer to 750, which for the prices they charge, is ludicrous. The kitchens are horribly tiny and have very old, cheap appliances. The dishwashers in the smaller apartments are so tiny that you can’t stand dishes up in them to wash them. And they hold about half of a regular load, so plan on running it a lot. Also, the heater and a/c are older and run like jet engines. So, forget about watching TV or listening to music if you have either running because you won’t be able to hear them. Everything else in the apartment is pretty sturdy, but again, not worth the price. Lastly, I’d like to talk about the office crew. In the year I was living there, our complex went through 5 managers and I can’t even tell you how many other office people. So, if you have any problems or anything, nothing will be resolved because the same people are never in there and they never write anything down. A lot of the staff are nice, yet completely clueless about life, or mean. They do what they can to try to avoid fixing anything to pinch a couple of pennies and God forbid you have a major issue or put your 30-day notice in…then all of them are rude and mean to you…it’s kind of like, grow up children! All in all, if you like being lied to, living in a noisy apartment that’s infested with spiders and mosquitoes, prefer to be ignored when you are trying to get what you pay for, have no friends and therefore no need for visitor parking, love parking tickets, and enjoy the thrill of fearing for your life and material goods, then this is definitely the place for you! If you are like the rest of the world and want to get what you paid for, AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!