Warring Street Apartments

I’ve been living here for almost 2 years now. I’ve had only good experiences in my interactions with the management and staff. Rod, the guy who responds to work order requests, is always effective, polite, and responsive. When I first moved in the bathroom pipes were leaking from the floor above us and he came in many times to fix the pipes, dry the carpet, etc. He even helps us with little things like changing a light bulb or fixing our mailbox.
Kim, the manager, is also wonderful. A couple of times when we forgot to pay rent she just sent us a gentle reminder. She responds promptly to phone calls and emails and hasn’t raised rent since we moved in, and it is a very very decent price.
As for the property, we have a 1-​bedroom on the first floor and the rooms are very spacious. It’s also super close to campus (10 – 15 min walk to most buildings). My only complaints are the dampness of the space (can’t really be helped) and the paper-​thin walls and floors.
Thanks for providing us with such an affordable, comforting place to stay during our time at Cal!

Worst management ever. The landlord lives in the building, so you would think he would be more responsive about fixing things, emergency calls, etc. but no.
Once, my toilet FLOODED the bathroom and was seeping into the carpets. I called TWICE and left a very urgent voicemail (it was late afternoon/​early evening). I got a call back from the manager saying that I can’t just call him anytime during the day and expect him to show up to fix things right away. In fact, there were a few F-​bombs thrown in there («You can expect me to f — – show up right when you call»). Well, here’s a big FFFFF for you.
The manager is also not very honest about giving back deposit money, etc. Best thing about the apartment was its location and proximity to campus. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND. STAY FAR FAR AWAY.

Been here 2 years. It’s an okay experience especially considering the price, but you all should know what you’re getting into.
Location: Closest restaurants are actually kind of far like Telegraph and Durant Area. Near Clark Kerr campus and Crossroads for those meal point users. Closest grocery place use to be the Safeway on College. Still waiting for that to reopen. In the meantime, grocery shopping is a huge pain in the butt unless you have access to a car.
Close to greek houses and Oscar Wilde if you are into that scene. Noise level is not that bad.
The 49 bus is your best friend because the stop is on Piedmont and Dwight half a block away. And Bear transit will pick your butt off Shattuck and drop you right in front too! Look up the routes online.
The walk to campus is not that bad because it’s all downhill and you can take the 49 back. The walk uphill can be hellish on hot days with a heavy backpack.
To Dwinelle or Wheeler, takes 12 minutes «I’m late» pace. To Haas, takes 10 minutes easy pace going behind I-​house. To Café Strada, takes 7 minutes easy. To Northgate, which is one mile away, like 20 minutes brisk pace.
Front door: The door lock sometimes breaks but good thing there is a side entrance. And the door sometimes doesn’t close all the way which is a security issue.
Mail: You get a small standard mailbox. Packages go on top of your box or near the front entrance.
Laundry Room: Four washers. Four dryers. Machines break down every so often and they are not repaired right away. They eat your quarters too. Don’t put too much clothes in the dryers or else they won’t dry. Laundry can be a painless or very frustrating experience.
Elevator: Just as fast as walking up the stairs. «Cancer causing substances» warning sometimes deters me from using it. Can fit like 6 people awkwardly. Moving day is hell.
Trash: There is a huge smelly dumpster in the garage. There is a corner where you dump all your recyclables ON THE FLOOR and it’s just a huge mess all the time.
Hallways: Incandescent lighting throughout the building. Hallways are vacuumed like once a year. Yeah gross, if you drop food on it, don’t eat it. Stairway can get slippery from wet boots.
Rooms: Not all rooms are created equal. Some have hardwood floors, carpet, or linoleum. Some have huge bathroom counters and some have really no bathroom counter at all. Some have awesome views. Some have balconies facing a chain link fence. Bedroom windows look onto the bedroom windows and balconies of the building next door. Some windows have sleek modern openers. Some have squeaky metal openers.
One thing IS consistent. The popcorn ceiling and drywall. I distinctly remember reading the lease agreements and how there is a risk of exposure of asbestos from the linoleum and ceilings and walls… oh well. The walls between suites are surprisingly very sound proof, but any loud sound in the apt can be heard anywhere from the apt even with doors closed. So don’t have loud roommates.
If you share a bedroom, two people is max. You both will be fighting for arm swinging room.
Living room is spacious enough for a kickback.
Kitchen comes with a refrigerator, electric stove, and some shelves.
Maintenance: It can be difficult to request the maintenance guy. It took me a week to get the guy to come fix the bathroom sink. Rob, he’s a nice guy. Probably very underused at Warring. He’ll replace your light bulbs!
Rent: $ 2095 for a two bedroom suite excluding utilities. Pay within 3 days of the first of the month.

I lived here for a year and my experience was «OK» at its best.
I think I got a really good deal moving in with the rent, since the management was trying to lease out its last available unit. NOTE: you have to pay for your own water/​garbage, which is $ 50-​$ 65 per month.
During my move-​in, I was told that the apartment would be ready by 6/​1, when my contract starts. However, they were still working on cleaning the carpet etc etc on the day I was moving in. I checked 5 times throughout the day and it still wasn’t not done. Management told me it’d be done by 2pm and she would inform me when its completed. NEVER CALLED. The so-​called carpet cleaning was more like: lets just dampen the carpet and make it seem like we cleaned it. There was SO MUCH TRASH on the carpet edges: bobby pins, nails, screws everything. I’m sure you’re supposed to vacuum before you clean carpet?
After much hassle, I finally moved in. Management was not good about fixing things up even though I had requested that on my move-​in checklist. The bathroom got moldy really easily. My toilet also kept getting clogged for no reason. Once, I really couldn’t fix it myself and I had to call maintenance at around 7pm. My called was returned quickly, but was told to spend the night somewhere else and just wait until the next day.
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That was basically my reaction. After a couple requests and phone calls, maintenance finally came in and after he fixed it, I was pretty sure there was a new crack in the toilet.
Parking in the garage is sometimes difficult because there would be maintenance trucks parked in the driveway etc. And your spot can sometimes be taken by a random car. It happened about 4 times during my 1-​year stay. It usually leaves pretty quickly, but once it took 4 days. I contacted management three times about it until they figured out it was another resident parking in the wrong spot.
Moving out, I requested to have my name taken off the water/​garbage bill. I called management, was told to call the billing company. Did that, was told to call management. Did that, was told to call billing company. Did that, was told to call management. Got mad, emailed management and the regional manager replied that it was the management’s responsibility and my name was already taken off when I submitted my release form. WTF. If you don’t know how the procedures work, you shouldn’t be working here.