Sycamore Commons

We are living in Sycamore Commons for 1.5 years, Overall its good experience,
Rent is moderate. good neighborhood and is close for thing like bart (walking 12 – 15 minutes), shopping etc
Maintenance requests are managed well.
Downside
1) No Gym
2) There is a pool but not a heated pool
3) one case of car window glass was broken
Overall good place

I have not yet lived in the Sycamore Common, but I have the worse experience dealing with the management team ever!
I have planned to move in to a jr one bedroom apt unit, and I have talked to the employee of the Sycamore Common apt for a long while. She told me to keep calling every week to see if there’s any such opening. I know the apt is very popular because of the price and location, so I was willing to wait and keep calling once a week to see any 1 hr bedroom availability.
Just the beginning of this week, I heard from the employee telling me that some are moving out and there’s few opening units by the beginning of May, 2014. She told me that there’s two-​1 jr bedroom units ($ 1295/​mo.) locate on second floor and third floor. And there’s a grand 1 bedroom unit on the first floor. So I was immediately tell her that I want to have the jr-​one bedroom unit on the third floor. My boyfriend, however, wants to live on second floor because of the potentially heat flame during summer so he prefer the second floor, and after discussion, we both agree to take the one on second floor when WE BOTH THOUGHT THE SECOND FLOOR ONE IS ALSO A JR-​1 BEDROOM SIZE AS THE EMPLOYEE SAYS. He then turned in his parts of application/​fee, pay stubs and ID copy and told the MANAGER (who’s on duty) that we want to take the one on second floor. At that time, he was told by the manager that the one on the second floor MIGHT BE A STUDIO BUT SHE’S NOT SURE. But she said will hold both units for us for yesterday and today until she knows more about the on on second floor. …
…As it turns out, I just received a call from the EMPLOYEE at noon telling me that since she’s not on duty yesterday, the MANAGER had rent out a jr one-​bedroom unit to another party yesterday. I was so shocked because that’s that what I heard! When I call back to try to clarify, the MANAGER says since the one on third floor has rent out so it’s not in our discussion/​conversation. She said that she has left me message telling me that the one on second floor in indeed a studio but I wasn’t responding. (apparently she implies it’s our false but not their bad communication between her coworkers.)
Something that pissed me wayyyyy off for several points: the MANAGER said:
1)since we didn’t not reply to her message, so she rent the 1 jr-​bedroom to another party. HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT A CAUSE/​EFFECT ISSUE: IF SHE DECIDED TO IGNORE US AND LEASE THE THIRD FLOOR UNIT TO ANOTHER PARTY YESTERDAY, THERE’S NO MEANING THAT SHE CALLED ME TODAY AND TRIED TO TELL US ABOUT IT. BECAUSE IT WAS TOO LATE AND THE UNIT WE WANT HAD BEEN LEAST.
2) she said she didn’t know the exact layout of the one on second floor and promised will tell us later. So we planned to make our final decision after we heard from her. (IS IT TOO RIDICULOUS THAT A MANAGER DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT IS THE LAYOUT OF EACH UNIT? AS A MANAGER AND ONE WHO TAKES CARE OF THE WHOLE MANAGEMENT OF THE APT COMPLEX, SHE SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING DETAIL OF EACH FLOOR PLAN/​SIZE/​PREVIOUS HISTORY/​PROBLEMS!)
3)the manager left a msg to me, but not to my boyfriend, who she had talked to particularly for the problem. (WHY DOESN’T SHE CALL MY BOYFRIEND BUT ME TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM? THIS JUST DOESN’T CLICK ON MY LOGICAL NERVES)
4) she said that since she’s the manager, she doesn’t even need to call people around but just do some application filing and handling the application fee because calling is not part of her responsibility…(SERIOUSLY???DID THAT BITCH IMPLIES THAT SHE WAS ALREADY NICE ENOUGH TO TRY TO CALL US? AND ALL HER RESPONSIBILITY AS BEING A MANAGER IS JUST FOR ONE TASK: TO FILE THE APPLICATION AND HANDLE THE APPLICATION FEE? IF BEING A MANAGER IS THAT SIMPLE, EVERYONE CAN BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RIGHT? HOW CAN TENANTS EXPECT TO RECEIVE GOOD SERVICES FROM THE MANAGEMENT (PARTICULARLY THE MANAGER) IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG/​BAD IN THE APARTMENT WITH CURRENT KNOWN BAD ATTITUDES/​SERVICES?)
5) the manager kept saying she had least out the apt unit on third floor (the jr 1-​bedroom) so that’s not in our discussion/​conversation. She said:” all you have is only two choices: either take the studio ($ 1195/​mo) or the grand one-​bedroom apt ($ 1530/​mo), or come to take back your money order (application fee). SERIOUSLY? IS THAT LIKE I AM BEGGING YOU TO GIVE ME THE ROOM? IF YOUR SERVICES IS THAT BAD, YOU BITCH THINK I WILL STILL CONSIDER YOUR APT ANYMORE? FUCK YOU!
Overall, I was trying to say that Sycamore Common has very nice layout in the apt particularly the one bedroom we visit and it locates at a good place. The price are pretty decent and fair. BUT I WILL NEVER EVEN CONSIDER THAT APT COMPLEX ANYMORE DUE THE THE SUPER BAD SERVICE AND INSULT I HAVE RECEIVED FROM THE MANGER: KELLY! Yes it’s true that the apt complex is super hot and popular due to the price and everyone want something like this to live. But come on, as a manager, is that really the customer service you should give? I deeply doubt about her work ethic!

I lived in Sycamore Commons for 5 years and it was all a good experience. If you want to get into a property which is decently priced, has good neighborhood and is close for thing like bart (walking 12 – 15 minutes), shopping etc then Sycamore Commons is really a nice place. Our maintenance needs were taken care of relatively quickly and the management is really very co-​operative. Apartments are really nice and big with lots of storage space.
Things that are missing:
1) No Gym
2) There is a pool but not a heated pool
3) A club house but its not big enough. May be good for a party of 15 – 20 ppl.
For me the above things were not of too much importance so not a big issue for me.
Things that can be improved.
1) My car window glass was broken twice, the night security in the parking lot needs to be improved upon. There was no other bad security incident apart from this.

Having lived at Sycamore Commons for more than 3 years, my experience was not too bad. I have to say in the last year I lived there, the responsiveness to my needs had gone down. Another issue has to do with the community manager having left and the agent having to serve both roles – I have yet to see that Vasona Management, the parent company owning Sycamore Commons, doing anything to replace the community manager. So too much responsibility for one person. There are some other issues that came with the ending of my tenancy at this complex, but I think those are more administratively tied with Vasona Management itself (hmmm, perhaps another review to cover that? ;-)).
Other than those detractors, I still give Sycamore Commons a three-​star rating because of its location to BART/​shopping/​etc., my specific former apartment’s location within the complex (corner spot sharing less walls), and also a relatively good overall experience over the entire time I lived there.