Park Place at San Mateo

Major stars taken off for the shady management company and the sometimes shoddy way the complex is run.
Although I’ve had nothing but very pleasant dealings with employees, this management company is one of the most money grubbing, underhanded companies I’ve ever had the displeasure of dealing with. They abruptly changed their late fee policies back and forth, kindly docking me $ 150 for their convenience. After move out, I find that they charged me $ 120 for a carpet cleaning and $ 79 for an apartment cleaning. The carpet was BRAND NEW when I moved in (I know because family renovates a lot of houses) and I live in a pet free, shoes off, no visitors apartment. I was in the apartment for 7 months, just how much dirt could I have tracked in in those circumstances? I vacuumed and lint rolled religiously because I’m a bit OCD about cleanliness. And the $ 79 charge for cleaning? That’s nonsense, please see above for my usual standards of living. Honestly, I keep my floors clean enough to eat off on.
I also «liked» how there was no mention of «sewer, water, trash disposal etc» not being included in rent. That also ran to a tune of $ 220 every month for my 700 sq foot one bedroom. For a couple hundred dollars, we were treated to recycling bins that were only present two days out of the week, dirty hallways and a pool that wasn’t open for half the year. Fantastic value for money.
Stay away if you live in one of the buildings close to 101, the sounds absolutely permeate through paper thin walls and you’ll have a serious decrease in standard of living. I live in building 2, the one in which the leasing office was located and that worked out quite well. Elevators are low and have tendency to act like they want to kill you. Doors slam forcefully and will not stop even if there’s a leg stuck in the doorway (I tried once to hold the elevator). The entrances to the underground garages are also rather dangerous as there’s a very short driveway that leads directly to a street with lots of parallel parked cars. It’s always Russian roulette if today will be the day I get hit/​hit someone when driving out of my garage.
Overpriced apartments but fantastic staff — maintenance requests were always taken care of very quickly. Try to find some place better.

Don’t waste your money on this place. Dirty. Mediocre management staff. Disorganized. Always loud construction going on during the week — it seems.
Prostitute ring bust by San Mateo police a few months ago in one of the buildings. Can hear people above and below you.
But great for dogs. If you’re a dog person you will enjoy meeting other dog owners. And the parks in both sides are great, when maintained.
But you will have to pay $ 75 per month for each. Highest in Silicon Valley.
I’m moving out soon.

When I first moved into a one-​bedroom apartment here, I was so excited. The place was beautiful and the layout made it feel very spacious. The place was bright and cheerful. However, after my daughter moved in with after graduating from college, it was too cramped. Melanie was wonderful. She helped us find a three bedroom apartment on the third floor with vaulted ceilings. Exactly what we were hoping to get. She was patient and worked diligently to help us find the right apartment. In addition to her help, Daniel made sure that our move went smoothly and effortlessly. The amount of attention and care they both put in to make sure we were completely satisfied has made living here that much better. Not to mention, the convenience of the stores around us continues to be an added perk!

Disclaimer — this review is solely based upon the move in process not the overall living experience. It is lengthy but only because I’m providing lots of detail. I am a real resident with a lease ending in Jan 2017. I have posted this to several review sites. I was asked to write a review almost immediately after signing lease, normally I’m a bit skeptical about doing so especially since I’ve only moved in 2 days ago. Yet my experience was so amazing, the staff and team deserve a review. Here is why:
I moved to the area for a new job from Las Vegas, NV. I checked out a few places and thought I had one picked than by random car exploring I found this complex. Immediately I wanted to check out the rates because the location is spot on for what I was looking for (roughly 1 mile from CalTrain, freeway entrance, about 2 miles away from a Hillsdale mall and walking distance to a smaller plaza that has Whole Foods, Starbucks, The Habit Burgers, a sushi place, Crunch gym, etc.). Aside from the location, the décor and general feel of the complex is sophisticated yet fun. I saw Christmas lights from balconies, a park right in the middle of the complex, plus ample gated underground parking and street parking. The streets were clean and nicely lined, people were walking their pets, families were enjoying the nearby restaurants and the community has amenities — lounge area, pool, gym. Also has modern kitchen upgrades like stain steel appliances, granite countertops and has washer/​dryer in unit behind a door that features additional above shelving. Sounds like a dream right?! Unfortunately I arrived about an hour after the leasing office was closed but I knew this was a place I needed to check out. Later that night I did research online for pricing information, background on management company, read other reviews and basically anything else to prepare me for a thorough tour process the next morning. Nothing I saw didn’t turn me off too much. The most negative thing I was was price (but it was still in my budget) and about 3 – 5 Unilocal reviews from a few years ago that said residents had some package delivery issues. One stated packages were stolen from other residents because they were delivered on their doorstep. Another said they didn’t like the mail because they had to walk to the office for larger packages. Considering the benefits, reading those reviews wasn’t a deal breaker for me. While I do shop online, the positive reviews outweighed the negative by far. As far as the price, everything in San Mateo is expensive, especially compared to where I moved from. (Fun Fact: Las Vegas rent is about 3 — 5 times LOWER than San Mateo and the general Silicon Valley area.)
The next day I came to tour the facility. There wasn’t anyone at the office because staff were on tours. There was a sign on the door saying so. So I took a seat on a bench in the hallway entrance to the leasing office. The maintenance team member walked up to me and asked if I needed help. He was friendly. He repeated what the sign said and asked if I had any questions that he might be able to answer about the complex. Pretty cool. Obviously he couldn’t do what a leasing agent does but he extended customer service the best he could. Pretty cool. I didn’t ask him any questions.
About 5 minutes later, the leasing agent came back from the tour with another possible resident. I was immediate acknowledged and told it would be a few more minutes.
Fast forward to the tour. I asked to see a move in ready 2 bedroom/​2 bathroom. I don’t like seeing model apartments because since its staged and used for multiple showings you don’t have general wear and tear of actual units. I wished I could’ve seen the unit I actually live in because it’s slightly different than what I saw but it’s still very nice!
Following the agent felt like Wadlington through a guided maze at first. The complex units look uniformed. It’s one of the those places where you get used to knowing where you’re going but you will need to give guests detailed directions to your specific unit. Otherwise they will get lost.
The 2 bedroom unit I saw was immaculate. It’s a roommate style layout so rooms are on opposite sides of the unit, there is an island in the middle, the dining and living area is open. The master bathroom has a separate shower and garden tub. Both bathrooms have his and hers granite sinks and are huge! Think like five star restaurants that have 1 large bathroom stall. They are spacious with tile floors with multiple counter drawers and linen closets inside. The non-​master bathroom has a large garden tub and shower combo plus the curved shower curtain to add the feeling of more space when washing up. There are walk in closets with pre installed additional shelving.
They agent led me through complex amenities. I saw everything except for the pool. It was under reconstruction. The lounge area is nice for party rentals and large groups on friends over. Part 1.

Moving into Park Place has been one of the smoothest and most pleasant experiences I’ve had. After reading so many negative reviews, my positive experience makes me wonder if Equity Residential management has changed or possibly even stepped up to better standards from the time of these previous postings?
The highlights of this 4 star review include:
— Murray Frost, our Leasing agent, has been professional, engaging, responsive from start to finish. He has been an advocate for the renter, looking out for the best available apartment for me based on my search criteria. He e-​mailed me with availability as they came up even after I had put down the initial deposit, in the event a more recent apartment appealed more to me. Since we’ve moved in, he’s been so responsive, helpful, and available to all our moving-​in needs. He was one of the key reasons we felt so happy with our decision to move here.
— The newly renovated apartments. The new renovations make a big difference to the apartment. The kitchen and bathroom are fully new with modern appliances, tiling, counter tops, cabinetry. They make for a great look and feel. Our carpeting was also new, as was the flooring at the entrance and kitchen.
— You can’t beat the peace & quiet neighborhood feel. The apartment complex has a community feel, even despite all the construction going on around Bay Meadows. The demographics of young couples and young families is great, and gives the place a mature and friendly feel. The proximity to downtown San Mateo, Foster City, are all less than 10 minutes away, and the ease of getting onto 101 is convenient. You can have your «city» and «suburb» all within a stones throw.
— The My Equity Apartments website is handy to manage your rent payments, maintenance requests, package deliveries.
Why I didn’t give 5 stars:
— Where there could be improvement is the storage space within the apartments. The studio sizes actually aren’t the smallest I’ve seen, they could obviously be bigger. Considering how much area space there is for the kitchen, dining, and living room area, the actual cabinet and closet space is very limited. The bedroom closets are small for 2 people, probably okay for 1 person. The cabinets in the bathroom and kitchen are plenty but they are shallow.
— Notification of pool renovation and unavailability through year-​end. Being new, we don’t yet know how often maintenance occurs but this is an amenity that we will just need to wait for!

We have been living here for just under a year. A lot of what other reviewers have rang true but take this with a grain of salt since living situations are so personal.
The stars are for location since it’s great. And somewhat for the leasing/​maintenance office. They’ve always been prompt with requests and responses.
The negatives I think depend on the building you live in along with the residents. We happened to live on the ground floor next to the short term housing area.
If you have the choice, do not live on the ground floor. We have neighbors who literally stomp back and forth every single night at around 8pm. It sounds as if the roof is about to collapse. But we can’t do anything about this, they have the right to run around and stomp if they choose too. It just sucks living under these neighbors.
And living next to short term housing, you see a mix of business people and interesting characters. I think part of the theft problem is the mix of full time and short term residents. We have had over 17 packages stolen in 11 months. And there is no security other than a gate — no video cameras, no patrol, nothing. The one negative mark from the leasing office is that when I brought up all of our stolen packages, they just told me to go to the police and file a report. When packages constantly get stolen, it’s obvious that a resident is stealing them. I’m not entirely sure what a police report will do in this situation…
We have had several notices of car theft in the secure garage as well. We haven’t personally been a victim of this but it’s a bit uneasy when there is so much theft in what looks like a nice and very expensive community to live in.
We are choosing to discontinue our lease because of the amount of theft and truthfully shady characters that have moved into the complex.
Going through the move out process now — it’s all pretty standard and seamless. I would say that they do try to nickel and dime you on cleaning and carpet cleaning costs that come out of your deposit. But I expected these situations with such a large corporation.

Any apartments in the bay area could not be worse than this place.
I lived this place about 6 months. I experience the worst ever management there, as many people already mentioned below. Office staffs are very irresponsible and have lack of knowledge. I had to visit the office at least 5 times or email them million times to solve the simple issue.
I am sure many people who are looking for a new place will be attracted to this complex due to the nice location, but I guarantee the you will get a headache everyday from the moment you move in.
You may need to leave with bugs cuz their pest control is horrible, or You may need to park your car at someone else’s spot since the staffs randomly switch the parking spot without a notice.
Also, this place is NOT SAFE. The entire parking lot got broken into this year.
I am so glad I am finally out of that place !!!

Since Equity Apartments took over, service has diminished. The maintenance guys and technicians are still wonderful, but the leasing office agents lack some serious training and communication skills. And yes, rent just keeps going up. I understand the whole «This is market price» argument, but there needs to be some consideration for long-​term, steady, reliable residents. Now they are renovating all the units, but is there a price break for us while we pack up all our things and allow contractors into our homes? No. I’ve been willing to pay the rent, but since Equity has taken over, I am seriously considering other options when my lease is up.

Just moved in about two months ago and I love it! Vishal helped us with our search and he is phenomenal! He was so patient with me and my 50 questions and finding the perfect location for my needs. I have a large dog so I wanted a location that didn’t have a lot of traffic because she will be annoying and bark when people walk by and then I went back and forth about a one or a two bedroom. Well he showed me all the floor plans. Wasn’t annoyed that I couldn’t make up my mind and gave suggestions on what would best suit my needs. Had a few maintenance issues when I moved in and they addressed each concern and made sure I was happy. Vishal even followed up with me after move in to make sure I was happy and to see if I have any questions. I got a new renovated apartment and it’s gorgeous! Granite counters, stainless steel appliances and love my hardwood floors! The bay windows are fantastic and allow for tons of light. The best part is the location. You have Whole Foods, Chipotle and a sushi restaurant right outside your front door. Right next to 101 and 92. Can’t beat the location. Price is very expensive and rent will go up when it’s time to renew but they are very upfront so don’t complain when you know what you’re getting at move-​in. Remember, You get what you pay for! Again, highly recommend Vishal. Amazing customer service and it doesn’t end once you move in!

I struggled with finding a good star level for this apartment and if I could give a 3 ½ that would probably be the most accurate.
Positives Park Place is a large and very well kept apartment complex. There is a ton of outdoor space and well kept grass and it sits right next to the park place shopping complex which includes Whole Foods, Chipotle, The Habit and a few other shops. In addition, its situated right near the 101 which is very convenient
The Apartment itself is very good. From my understanding there are some units that have their original fixtures and some that were updated and this year they started updating some further (adding stainless steel appliances and new light fixtures). I have a unit with granite and nice but no frills appliances. I can’t really complain as the apartment itself is very large and very functional. Its early aughts dated but that doesn’t meant its a bad thing. Overall I enjoyed my time with the apartment.
Negatives: A few issues in the apartment. 1. I don’t know if its just my apartment or a bigger complex wide issue but during the winter months I have noticed a strong mold problem in the shower and against window sills. The window was particular concerning because I went to open my window once and first noticed the mold around the windows. I think double pane windows would solve this problem.
Other negative and this seems common across big management companies, but we were pitched certain amenities (club room, theater room) both of which were never made of us in our 10 months here. Granted this isn’t that big of a deal but that leads into the next issue…
Rent increase. I get it. I wanted to make this review more about the apartment and complex than complaining about rent increases since this is common in the Bay area but we received a 20.5% rent increase in less than a year here. Add on to the fact we didn’t get some amenities we were told we would have it just didn’t sit right. Because of this we are ultimately moving and while the new apartment isn’t all that cheaper, it is cheaper, offering a 15 month contract and is brand new.
I think Park Place is a great place for people with larger disposable income and those who are relocating and want something consistent and close to transportation. If our rent was still below $ 3000 we would most likely stay.

And now for the latest update. Archstone is dead! Long live Park Place (easy to find it’s right next to Boardwalk! — they’re tearing down houses and building a hotel!)
It’s my understanding that Park Place is owned by Equity Residential. Equity has cut staff and maintenance with a corresponding lower quality of life. Everything takes longer to fix — elevator out of order for weeks, broken garage doors, burned out bulbs in common areas, etc. — notice in the lobby this week ¹⁄₂₀₁₅ warning tenants that cars are being broken into in the garage.
The «Leasing Office» is a leasing office — it offers little tenant support — you need help you are directed to the website.
A neighbor suspects there are «working girls» living next door.
All the stories about the thin walls and rent increases are true. I have purchased an apartment in San Francisco to save money.

We moved here about two years ago into a one bedroom apartment. The floor plan isn’t great. Little things about the floor plan just don’t make sense. The doors in the bathroom hit each other if they are both open at the same time, and the bedroom door hits the closet door if you have them open at the same time. It’s pretty dumb.
There is not enough cabinet space, so you end up with crowded counter-​tops and having to stack things behind and on top of each other to make everything fit. Just annoying.
Overall, the location is way too crowded. There are over 5,000 apartments in the complex which make for a noisy and dirty living space. The noise is definitely the worst part. We have neighbors who like to leave the windows open while their baby cries for hours at 5am, sing opera at the top of their lungs every morning (no joke), and dogs that bark every day. Every day.
You can also hear the 101 and the Cal Train every morning, but I imagine most places in the peninsula are like this.
The doors leading outside are thick and heavy, and slam behind you when you walk out (think hotel door) so when any of our 50 neighbors within earshot arrive or leave we know it. Not cool if you’re trying to sleep in of get to bed early.
The ceiling is either way too thin, or we live underneath a family of hippos. We’ve gotten used to the murderous pounding, but whenever we have guests over it’s awkward because they definitely hear it and it reminds us just how loud it is upstairs.
The customer service is also awful. Nothing personal, but with over 5,000 apartments the office staff of less than ten people just doesn’t have the time or energy to care about their renters.
With all that said, because the location is good, and because my wife and I hate moving so much we likely would have stayed another year here if they didn’t raise our rent $ 456 a month! The offer they made us to renew was $ 2,748 a month after paying $ 2,300 this past year, and $ 2,100 the year before. So in 24 months, they raised our rent $ 648 a month. Ouch.
It’s definitely one of the nicer looking places around, but it’s NOT the luxurious lifestyle that they market it to be, it’s just an overpriced, noisy, unfriendly apartment complex. So overall, this is NOT A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE.

My husband and I have lived at Park Place San Mateo for nearly two years (formerly Archstone San Mateo). We moved here despite the reviews online and are somewhat regretting our decision now. Most reviews are pretty spot on:
Pros:
–Good size apartment 1bd/​1ba
–w/​d in unit is really great
–maintenance requests are completed in a timely manner
–Whole Foods, Pasta Pomodoro and Sushi right across the street
–Parking garage 1 space for free (until they change that too)
–pet friendly
Cons:
–The worst is the RENT INCREASES, they are trying to raise our rent $ 400 a MONTH to resign our lease. That’s a $ 4,800 a year increase! They say it is market price, but what happened to negotiating and loyalty? No wonder why there is no sense of community here…
–Construction, all the time for no good reason. Things were fine the way they were. They decided to completely redo the clubhouse, gym, leasing office, take away the theater. The gym is now downstairs in the dungeon with terrible office music on. The tvs rarely if ever actually work, and there isn’t even a decent wireless signal down there to watch videos on my phone. Now they are also redoing the pool. So all those amenities we pay for have not been available to us for an entire year and they reward us by increasing our rent??? Talk about passing the bill onto the tenants?
–Since the switch from Archstone to Equity, the staff has completed turned over to be complete robots, they are a nightmare to deal with.
–For luxury apartments you can hear an awful lot of your neighbors both above and outside. Above us are people who like to throw late parties smoke cigarettes and throw their butts down onto our patio, down the way and across from us is a kid who throws tantrums every morning and evening and down the way the other way is a crazy lady who fights with her boyfriend at every hour of the night.
What it boils down to for us is that the rent increases are ridiculous and offensive regardless of the ‘market projections’. We would likely stay if it was a reasonable rent increase (which I hear is about 10%) despite the community flaws because no one likes moving… I am sure when we move they will gouge us on the deposit and cleaning fees like other reviews state. :-(
Avoid the headache, find somewhere with better reviews.
***Jennifer A. and/​or Amanda Epperhart from the front office responded below to contact them. I would like to update that we did and they were willing to go from a $ 450 per month increase to $ 430. So I was wrong, they were willing to negotiate! What a joke.

What can I offer to say that hasn’t already been stated?
Here we go.
I’ve been living in this community for about 10 months so far, and I’m due to move out at the beginning of January.
There are a few things that have happened since I’ve moved in:
1) They recently changed their name to Park Pl at San Mateo
2) They have been renovating the common area/​theatre/​gym for almost my entire duration
3) They renovated the leasing office space
4) There’s been staff turnover and a change in management
Things that have been consistent since I’ve moved in:
— Prompt maintenance fixes
— Secured garage parking
What I enjoy about living here:
— Very safe, lovely neighborhood
— Close to 101 and downtown San Mateo, easy access to Whole Foods/​Crunch/​Starbucks
— The pool (though you won’t be using it all that much… I used it maybe 6 times total?)
What I sort of enjoy about living here:
— Having the leasing office sign for packages (I’m an avid online shopper, so this is helpful… although sometimes the staff isn’t the best at locating packages that you KNOW were signed for)
— Most of the staff is/​can be friendly… that is until you confront them about a problem
— High/​spacious ceilings in the apt
— In-​unit laundry/​dryer (although it’s a pretty crappy one)
What I do NOT enjoy about living here:
— Really thin walls (like as in, you’ll hear your neighbor practicing some annoying instrument and you won’t know which unit it’s coming from as it’s a large community… or annoying dogs barking nonstop)
— Dingy stairway… does not feel like a luxury community at all
— That you aren’t excused of parking tickets even if you’re a resident parking on the street (honestly, I feel that there should be a resident permit of some sort for residents of the Archstone)
— Paying the really expensive maintenance fees in addition to the rent (expect to pay about $ 75+ on top of the base rent)
— The fact that the only amenity that was consistently available throughout my WHOLE entire lease was the pool (and come on, it’s NorCal, so you won’t even use it that much)
— Having a really crappy garbage chute system (always a struggle trying to fit the whole bag down the chute and sometimes your neighbors have left their garbage stuck in the chute)… I once was in a hurry and my box got stuck in the chute and I got a really nasty letter from management saying that they would be following up with a lease violation… I will be livid if I find out that this «violation» is more than just a warning notice, ESPECIALLY because I am paying $ 35 EVERY MONTH for trash services, which is ridiculous enough.
— There’s really no sense of community, despite how large it is. They’re not very good at promoting community events that make their residents feel appreciated… like how about offering some type of FREE food, even if it’s just doughnuts or cupcakes? We pay enough in rent, having a food truck park itself on our street does nothing… most of us would rather cross the street and go to Whole Food’s.
Oh yeah, and the rent increase? Not even worth sticking around for, but I already knew it was coming based on previous reviews.
Long story short? You will be paying luxury rental prices for an average/​above average community with a lot of shortcomings… so basically, you won’t feel like you’re getting what you pay for.
I sincerely hope they are more fair about pricing when it comes to moving out… stay tuned.

This review is for my 3 months spent here for corporate housing
After relocating from the east coast I was put up in a 1 bedroom here and had an enjoyable experience for the following reasons:
1– They allow my 75lb German shepherd. Unlike 90% of the complexes in the area this complex (and actually all of equity) allows breeds and sizes usually restricted
2– The units are more updated than many complexes and the common areas are clean
3– the grounds are clean and well maintained. It’s great to have the park and pool to utilize
4– the parking is below ground and hidden which is better than units staring out at parking lots
5-​close proximity to 101, whole foods, mall and many things that make life enjoyable
Ultimately I’m more if a city girl and have decided on a unit in the city but will always recommend archstone San Mateo for people looking on the peninsula

EXTREMELY POOR TREATMENT OF TENANTS WHEN MOVING OUT.
We lived in this complex for two years and were ideal tenants. We left our apartment in excellent condition and are still being charged $ 400 for cleaning and paint fees. When other people complained about this, I assumed that they were slovenly losers whose idea of «clean» was inaccurate, so I disregarded their complaints. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way.
Again, if you have money that you don’t mind dumping, then I guess this wouldn’t matter, but for normal people, their move-​out policies (you are charged if you don’t have the carpets professionally clean and the entire apartment repainted) is absolutely dishonest and unacceptable. Prior to our move out, I always had good things to say about Archstone San Mateo; from now on, I will definitely recommend against living there.

Dear Equity Apartments, I’m guessing the people that work in your management office are suffering from your nickel and diming along with your tenants.
I received an 18% increase to almost $ 3k on my 1 bedroom apartment that had floors so thin I could hear my neighbors phone on vibrate. I was charged over $ 250 additional charges when I moved out including $ 85 for painting fees. It’s California law that normal wear and tear cannot be charged for. I literally put two tack holes in the walls. I protested this amount along with a fee for early move out (3 days when I had already paid the final months rent) and they tell me it was miscoded in the system. I finally had to ask for them to itemize out all of the charges instead of a blanket bill and suddenly, the amount dropped. I can safely assume that they code things this way as people with upper middle incomes get so fed up when they move out, they pay it without questioning the bill.
There are too many other great and affordable complexes going up in the area to go with this one.
The kind of positive: there is a Whole Foods, Chipotle, Peets, Starbucks are right outside the door and it has a lovely pool during the week but on the weekends, it’s a bit of a tech dude (post frat) fest and very often, all the chairs are taken up.

I lived here in 2013. And As other reviewer’s mentioned, we were also victim of preposterous increase in rent (2000 $ to 2390 $) for 1 BHK, and were forced to vacate. Not sure how their statement «Our rent increase is based on current market rate» justifies it. Nevertheless, here’s detailed review.
Location: Excellent
Right off to 101 & highway 92, Wholefoods and few restaurants (including just a month old Chipotle) close by. And walk-​able distance to Hillsdale Caltrain station. You can not ask for more !
Leasing Office Staff: Excellent
Leasing office is in basement of one of the community buildings. Staff was helpful and polite.
Community: Excellent
small Gym, decent Swimming pool, Jacuzzi, surprisingly expensive Entertainment Center, and amazing two big gardens front and back of community. Everything is well-​maintained. Neighborhood is quite & safe.
Apartments: Excellent
Fully carpeted rooms, In unit washer-​dryer, two closets in bedroom, 3 drawers in bathroom, and many drawers in kitchen, And trivial (but my fav) ceiling fan in bedroom too :)
Parking: Excellent
Secured, covered & comfortable parking space. Also plenty of street parking.
Service: Excellent
Filling service requests, Paying Rent over Online portal is easy. Service requests gets processed within 1 – 2 days.
Rent: Very Expensive
When we moved in during 2013, rent was reasonable (Or in other words affordable). But our renewal lease rent was real shock. 20% increase ! In which market ! In what world !
Utilities price: normal
Sewage, Trash at fair price. Water based on usage. So no complaints.
Everything is great about the community. If it wasn’t for unreasonable rent increase, we wouldn’t have left the place.

Lived at Archstone San Mateo for 9 months from August 2012 to May 2013. It’s a nice complex in a VERY nice location, but it comes at a price.
Staff — I’ve had a pleasant experience with Daniel and Julie at the leasing office. Some issues with the key not working, but they were very friendly and fixed it immediately. They have an online system where you can just file a ticket whenever you have an issue with your unit. They do get back to you within 24 hours. My microwave stopped working and they contacted me within 24 hours and fixed it right away. The staff is always there during the hours they say they are. However, they are usually closed during lunch hours.
Noise — It’s true, I can hear the people above me talk. They aren’t talking loud either, just sounds like they are on the phone. If you are staying here, I recommend getting the 3^rd floor or just ask for an unit that has a showroom or a quiet tenant above you (I don’t know how they can determine that). Archstone offers a 30-​day 100% satisfaction guarantee, but I’m not going to hire movers again to move up to 3^rd floor. I spoke to some neighbors about the complex and that seems to be their primary concern. Occasionally obnoxious kids are blasting their car stereo and car alarms go off often. If you are a late sleeper like me, the yard workers start at 9am sharp. I always hated it, but it served as an alarm clock.
Amenities — They have a business meeting room, computers to use, a community room that has shuffle board, gym, pool, and a nice grass field /​play ground. Not the best computer (running Windows XP), but good incase of emergency.
Landscape — Landscape is actually well maintained and anytime I have visitors, they tell me how nice the complex looks and that it must be expensive. This also means a lot of yard worker noise during the daytime. Not an issue if you go to work during the day.
Location — This is really the winner. Restaurants, coffee shops, cafes, grocery store all in walking distance then it literally takes 2 mins to get on 101. Love the walk to Wholefoods anytime I need anything to cook.
Neighbors — The residents are friendly and the ones out in the field with pets are extremely friendly.
Fees — Keep in mind, they charge you for water, sewer, trash separate from your electricity/​gas. The trash bill fluctuates around $ 40−70/month which is ridiculous considering that you can throw away 32-​gallons of trash for $ 30/​month in a regular home.
Price/​Policy — The leasing price is actually only a tad bit higher than the market, but I have read on Archstone’s site that the listed price is only for new people and not for renewals so I’d assume renewing your lease would be significantly higher as ranted here on Unilocal.I’m currently paying ~$ 2200/​month for a 713sqft 1 bedroom. Yes, they do charge water/​garbage on top of that which is another $ 100. Many newer complexes are starting to do this. Deposit is $ 200 and I wouldn’t expect it back. If you have to break your lease, normally other apartments let’s you have someone take over if you can find someone, but Archstone will not let you. If you want to break your lease, you have to pay 1 month rent extra.
Deposit — Everyone puts down a $ 200 deposit (which is not bad at all).
I didn’t make a mess in the unit. Few pinholes to put up posters and I kept the bathroom mold free, but I didn’t clean the unit before I left.
That said, this is what I was charged for.
SODA Cleaning — Apt Cleaning — $ 100.00
SODA Painting — Apt Painting — $ 90.50
SODA Carpet Clean/​Repair — Apt Carpet Cleaning — $ 75.00
It’s not bad, I’ve had landlords in the past that charged me $ 400+ for cleaning.

The people who gave 4 or 5 stars to Archstone San Mateo either have too much money to throw away or they are not paying the rent themselves so they don’t care how much the rent is for their apartments.
My rent for the 10-​month lease was $ 1,980 and they gave me a notice to renew the lease 60 days prior to the lease expiration day. There were some choices based on the term and the following is the highlight among all of the terms:
If I had renewed for:
12-​month lease: $ 2,540 monthly; 28% increase
10-​month lease: $ 2,650 monthly; 34% increase
6-​month lease: $ 2,795 monthly; 41% increase
month-​to-​month: $ 2,920 monthly; 47% increase
Keep in mind on top of the monthly rent, we also had to pay nearly $ 100 a month for stuff like: garbage, sewer, service fee, etc.
You see why I did not renew the lease?
I really do not understand why they raised the rent by so much, when the apartments clearly were not 100% occupied as I could see vacant spots in the garages all over the places.
And they were also offering a $ 200 referral bonus if you refer anyone to rent the apartment. Why bother?!! I think you should work on keeping the current residents stay, as opposed to trying to get new tenants!
I will say that the location of this apartment is great as it is right by the Whole Foods shopping plaza with both a Peet’s coffee and Starbucks right here and a few restaurants in the same shopping plaza. Frankline Templeton is right next door, so are ePocrate and Crunch Fitness. And it’s right off the 101 Hillsdale exit so I never had to drive far to get on the freeway.
Both the leasing office staff and the service staff are very nice and helpful too. So are the pool area with a huge pool, jaccuzi and patio area for BBQ parties and hanging out on a sunny day. You do get what you paid for.
But in this case, to increase the rent after only 10 months for at least 28% and it goes way up, is just unreasonable. If I were to spend $ 2,540 a month plus $ 100 on housing alone, I would rather spend it on paying for my own mortgage as opposed to on rent. Enough said.
Oh but if you still feel inclined to stay in an expensive apartment like this, make sure you don’t get the first floor unit, especially the ones near the front gate. The noise level from the gate opening and closing all day long is unbelievable, so was the noise from upstairs neighbors walking around, doing laundry, moving, punching or pounding on their furniture for whatever reason; I don’t know. I heard all kinds of noises. For the ten months that I lived there, I had to wear ear plugs when I slept. at night. I don’t know how I survived that and still have my sanity. Or do I!!!