The Arbors at 5th Apartments

This apartment community is horrific! My college daughter has had the worst experience living here. Where does one begin? Lets see, from a terrible and ongoing pest control problem to the water heater being broke for nearly 3 weeks, There is no communication within the leasing office and, therefore, nothing gets accomplished or handled. It was pretty disheartening when I called about the error on the lease agreement and the Assistant Property Manager said there clearly was a mistake and that she had no idea what she walked into when she became on board with the property management company. It is no surprise that she is no longer employed with the company.
I am also concerned with my daughters safety as there has been a few unsafe incidences within the neighborhood at night and it truly is not a safe environment. There must be a good number of other communities to live in other than this mismanaged, unethical, and unsafe place to live, including living in an uninhabitable apartment with no working water heater. Did I also mention that when the fridge went out it took maintenance over 2 days to fix it.

I lived here for about nine months, and I think the office staff changed about three times (or more) and the management changed once. The apartments aren’t anything special, and you can certainly find better quality for less money in the area. My apartment had cinder block walls, painted white, and this weird plastic floor that «looked» like wood, but never quite came clean. When going through the move-​in check list with an associate, I noted that there was ice built up in the freezer (the refrigerator was quite old), to which the associate told me that «ice belongs in the freezer.» The refrigerator broke about a week later because there was too much ice built up in the freezer. About two weeks later, my AC broke (in August!). They had also told me that there would be a dishwasher in the unit (told me that explicitly over the phone!) and there was not. I could go on, but I’ll just say that I would not recommend living here.

Now with *some* competent staff! After a year of walmart-​like customer service, the property manager is now hitting her stride in competency. There’s also now a new 2^nd manager who actually seems like she’s worked in a property management place before. The front desk girl is still worthless and relies on complete disinterested ignorance to get through interactions with renters. I still wouldn’t recommend the place for what they’re asking, but now interactions with office staff usually doesn’t end in frustration. The maintenance staff is incomprehensible and leaves stuff at my apartment and only sometimes tells me about any work they did to fix problems.

I lived here for 3 years in the town house. It was pretty good.
Pros: some trees. Nice street. Close to the lake and park.
Cons: Laundry stolen multiple times. Mail packages lost. The leasing office guys change every year for some reason. New rules all the time. My security deposit — they took it all. Every time I called, they told me a different amount as to how much I am getting it back. Finally, gave me back 10 $. All the while telling me I was getting 100 $ back.

Where do I even being?
Front office: customer service doesn’t exist here. The ladies in the front office fail to keep their promises of calling back or following up with anything. Even after spending a week straight in the office for incorrect paper work on their end, they still didn’t know my name each day I entered. They are clueless.
Maintenance: is never on time, never has what they need for requested and scheduled services, tends to mess more up than they can fix.
Neighborhood: Plethora of stray cats, which may be seen as a pro to keep pests away, Laundry facility is always broken into and left filled with human feces. The whole block wreaks of marijuana. Do not go near the pools, they are dirty, old, and never seem to be cleaned. The cops are always in the area, and not for safety – for complaints of neighbors and sketchy people in the area. And unless you like the constant overhead of airplanes and jets, avoid this place at all costs!
Apartments: old, out of date and «upgrade» options only change the cabinet doors, not worth the extra $ 200/​mo. The walls are thin, you can hear every whisper your neighbors make. There is not enough parking for the amount of cars per apartment. And solicitations are at the door weekly.
If I could give less than a star, I would.

This place is a dump. RUN AWAY.
I can hear the neighbor upstairs hacking and coughing every time he takes bong rip. I can also hear every time he pees very clearly and loud. And sadly I can hear his girlfriend faking it in bed, poor fella. Really guys, jackrabbitt-​ing her doesn’t cut the mustard.
The shower has backed up with sewage TWO TIMES in a 30 day period. When the second time was on a Sunday night, it was found that the emergency maintenance line goes to NOWHERE. No pager, no voicemail, just a «Call back later». This is illegal in the state of Arizona.
Roaches and ants abound. You will find both in your apartment, without fail.
The multitudes of feral cats are pretty nice though. They won’t let you pet them, but they aren’t pests at all.
Do not ever rent here. This dump should be condemned and torn down.

okay so this place has been a pain even after I already moved out. I seriously have called the office over and over to figure out what happened with my deposit. They told me it was sent to me but in reality I never received it. They said i got the full deposit back but no I never got anything I was waiting for it in the mail for months. i called again and they kept telling me the same story. I would even visit the office when i could… I cleaned the whole damn place like cinderella before I moved out so I could get the full deposit back. today I called back one last time before thinking about taking legal action. they told me I owed from the 9 day rent extension and some other fees so that my deposit was used to pay the fees. GREAT! IT ONLY TOOK 7 MONTHS FOR THEM TO TELL ME I WASNT GETTING MY DEPOSIT BACK! (i moved out in the bringing of september and its now april) bull crap. I can’t believe i even bothered to clean my apartment THE A/​C WAS BROKEN WHEN I WAS MOVING OUT so I was moving out and cleaning in the heat. the last months were the worst. oh yeah and I found a kitten in my kitchen vent (no lie) and it only took the office and maintenance guy an hour to get there. (not even kidding). even after I told them I was pretty sure the poor kitten was stuck there all night. .and my storage room ceiling caved in due to the rain. It damaged a nice wood and glass coffee table that was practically brand new. their way of fixing the problem was to just put a tarp over it so that no more water could get in …anyway in conclusion this place is a renters nightmare.

TL;DR version at bottom.
This place is bad news! My husband and I lived here 3 years, and our first manager was great. After she left, the company changed every week til they finally settled on Melissa.
Melissa is a liar and a flake. Her first day, we came in to pay rent (online system was down. STILL DOWN btw). She rudely turned us away b/​c they were «on break» aka partying loudly in the back. Quickly found out they like to close for «breaks» ALL DAY. Try to get laundry money or pay rent when the office is always closed, and most of the time they’re just screwing around!
Rent went up like CRAZY, even though we’d renewed twice, never missed payments, and had a smaller floor plan. Old managers always gave us discounts, but Melissa refused. We called corporate. After that, she was snotty, or had her assistant deal with us.
Maintenance is terrible and hired contracts are crap. After a rainstorm, everyone’s roofs leaked and flooded. Melissa didn’t call roofers til 3 days later, and didn’t say when they were coming. Which was 5 AM, EVERY morning, for WEEKS. They left debris everywhere and nails in the parking lot. Flat tires everywhere! Later, a pipe exploded and leaked through the ceiling and it took them over 2 MONTHS to fix!
Worst was when we had to break our lease early. We got a note for an unpaid balance. We’re always on time, so my husband went to check it out. Melissa let it slip that, Oops, the note was for a NEW resident. They were going to renovate (which meant they’d be entering without permission) AND move the guy in while we were gone and still paying the 2 months! Pretty sure that’s ILLEGAL! When my hubby said so, Melissa said she’d cut our lease by ONE month, which she earlier said she absolutely COULDN’T do b/​c we were with another company. More lies. We wanted it in writing, called and visited over the next 3 – 4 weeks. It was never done. Finally, I sat there til she typed it. Melissa made her assistant do it (took her literally 10 minutes), refused to talk to me, and mean-​mugged me while doing her makeup.
The deposit refund was a whole new hassle. We believe we were short $ 100, either because the Arbors kept it or mistakenly cut a too-​big check to an old roomie, so we called. Melissa snottily said she «didn’t have the records» (though she emailed our ledger to try and prove us wrong. Which meant she HAS THE RECORDS) and that it was the old company’s problem. And of course the old company said they forwarded everything. Given Melissa’s track record, I’d say SHE’S the one being shady.
If the corporate office sees this, seriously, restaff with people who actually have ethics and a couple brain cells to rub together.
TL;DR version: SKETCHY AS HELL! Shoddy construction, unprofessional staff, and nightmarish maintenance! Don’t live here! If you do, make sure you get everything in writing! These people WILL try to screw you over!

One star because the negatives simply overwhelm the positives of The Arbors.
Pros: In a fun neighborhood and sits on a beautiful tree-​lined street across the street from a park
Cons: A cockroach problem that hasn’t been fixed by the management company. The interior is old and generally falling apart. The insulation is really bad which drives the cost of heating/​cooling through the roof. The price seems good at first glance, but when you factor in rent ($ 653), sewer/​water/​trash ($ 30), taxes ($ 20), parking ($ 15), their over-​priced laundromat ($ 15), and the way-​too-​high average APS bill ($ 90), you’re looking at over $ 820 per month for a small and run down apartment.

This place has switched management so many times that my head spins. Do not be fooled by old reviews, they’re not even talking about the same place. These guys recently just bought out the small business that owned my apartments a week after i renewed my lease. So i am not sure who is managing the arbors in Tempe, but just a shout out to the biggest jerk who does not warn residents about people that will be slamming hammers over their heads at 7.30 in the morning! Holler out to my girl, Common Courtesy up in here~ This is a perfect place for people who work night shifts and want to fork out 800 dollars a month to be jerked around. Bravo to them for not be able to print out a simple message a few days ahead of time to tape on a resident’s door~

ha i thought these were way overpriced for what they were, but there’s something to be said for the price of peace of mind and quality of living.
after taxes and «pet rent» i was paying $ 735 for a tiny one bedroom, but it was beautifully landscaped with tons of tall trees and actual green grass. they’re all single level, in groups of four. it was very quiet in general and the old school brick walls muffled almost all noise. the trees kept the place nice and shady, which can help a ton in the mid summer.
i have a dog, so it was nice and convenient to have the park literally right across the street (across 5^th). there were always young men playing basketball — always — but they never bothered me and weren’t out of control. the traffic got to be kind of loud if you had the windows open, but not horrible.
i had one incident with a mental transient while walking my dog in broad daylight, no less. it scared the crap out of me, but never had a problem after. most people in the park were dog owners, but it was open enough that you could avoid any groups that looked suspect.
the staff was usually pretty friendly, and fixed the probs right away. they seemed real lenient on my final walk through, and said i would be getting a check for my full deposit in the mail in a few weeks (just moved out).
all in all, it’s a cute, conveniently located little place, that, when i think of the character and location of it, was worth the price. it was just a little on the small side.