The Cape

Pretty lousy experience living here. I would highly advise someone considering The Cape to look elsewhere, so they don’t have to go through the same experience my family and I did. I lived her for two years and would have left sooner, but my family and I could not find the time to move with how busy we were at work, kids, etc…
I had many many issues with The Cape during my stay. Arnel Mgmt does its best to not put a penny into their apartments. All of the appliances in our apartment were OLD and kept having issues. So, maintenance would come by over and over trying to repair appliances that clearly needed to be replaced because they had not been since 1970. If you don’t go into the office and show how upset you are, they will NOT replace any appliances. They will just keep sending maintenance to try and repair something that is clearly beyond repair.
I had several experiences where maintenance then admitted to me they had no training and no idea what they were doing. WHAT!!! This blew my mind…
Laundry rooms often smell like mold, because mgmt doesn’t know that you need to keep washing machines open in order for them to dry. This is simple, basic stuff that a decent apartment complex would handle.
When you go into the rental office, you may think… hmm, they seem nice. Yes, they are friendly. But, they are incompetent. The Cape staff will tell you anything to get you to leave so they can get back to chatting with each other. They will lie to your face, with a smile. Then, when you come back to discuss what the promised, they will lie again, claiming to have never said that. This clearly comes from top down. There is no doubt that Arnel Mgmt trains them this way. Just call Arnel Mgmt HQ and try to deal with them… whoooo lord, you are in for some lying shenanigans!
I wish there was more I could do to warn people to STAY AWAY FROM THE CAPE, but all I can do is write this Unilocal review and report them to the BBB and maybe I can find some other review sites to warn others on. I will do my best, as I want to save everyone else the grief that I experienced.

I moved in about a year ago and I have no complaints. I don’t normally write Unilocal reviews but my friend I told to come check this place out told me the reviews were bad. Granted most are about parking, I have had no issues here with that. Maintenance is amazing (try living in a privately owned property… My water heater wasn’t working for over 2 weeks with absolutely no word from my landlord). They’ve always fixed my issues and management has always been friendly and communicative with my requests. I love the area and the property is definitely not one of the newest but the outside matches the inside. You can tell when walking around its not brand new buildings. There’s no ugly surprise when you move in. I would recommend this place in a heart beat.

Office staff are horrible!!! They pretend they are concerned and will lie in front of your face that the job will get done. Once you are gone they take forever to get it done. You have to be standing in front of them demanding they get it done. Fortunately, maintenance staff is better at getting things done on time and following up on requests. The noise level really depends on who are your surrounding neighbors (blame your inconsiderate neighbors not the staff). I doubt the office staff will do anything about it though. By no means is this place «luxury»! Its decent but not luxurious so please don’t portray your community as luxurious when the appliances in the buildings are from the 90’s. They try to reel in prospective renters by keeping the landscape well manicured but leaving the buildings in «okay» conditions. One star because of location. Be warned and good luck on your search!

Live here alone for 2 years. Rarely be home because I was always at my work. Just home for sleep. Therefore my apartment was in a good condition. After I moved out last month, I never got some of my deposit back, but the bills for more maintenance, believe it or not!!!
So you know, if you live here, you will never get your deposit back and that’s many hundred dollars. Prepare for their excuse to get all your money for their little maintenance!!!

Ok… So as an update from last time, the extermination was still postponed another 2 days before they finally came. Haven’t seen as many cockroaches now so hopefully that problem will be resolved in the next few weeks with whatever they sprayed.
But, before we even had time to forget about the cockroach problem, ANOTHER problem has sprung up. It hasn’t even been a week since we finally sorted through the cockroach problem, and now, the AC drainage pipe got clogged and water started spilling out. Our carpet is soaked through in one portion of the hallway and in one of the closets. At least they were prompt this time with the maintenance, probably because they’re scared that this apartment would flood again (our neighbor told us this place got completely flooded a couple tenants before us). But just really? How many problems must we endure with this place. We are now accompanied by a loud fan and half-​ripped open carpet. Wish we could get some discounts or reimbursement because the living situation has just been horrible. and I’m not happy that we have been paying full price while living so uncomfortably.

I’ts been about four years sense we lived there and we miss the location. I wanted to update my review because the place gave us such good memories! I miss those amazing walks every night with my boy and his stroller. We lived so close to one of the best malls in the U.S. and the nights jogging around that place leaves me wishing we still lived that close again.

Honestly, I can’t believe this place doesn’t have more stars but that just goes to show that people who are pleased don’t always take the time to let others know. So, I’m going to take the time.
Most of the complaints on here are regarding parking. I can’t believe there has been so many issues. This is one of the only apartment complexes in Costa Mesa that has a MASSIVE amount of parking (including over flow parking for guests). I’m talking MASSIVE. I’m currently in a 2 bedroom. We have 1 covered spot (no tag needed) and an open spot (tag needed). Human’s make mistakes here and there. Someone may have dropped the ball on giving you a tag for your car but how could you not notice every single other car in an open spot with a tag? Wouldn’t that make you question why you don’t have one and prompt an office visit?
There are silver fish here and there but if you’ve EVER lived in another apartment complex before you know they are everywhere. Even Irvine Company has them. C’mon.
You will never live one single place where if you live downstairs you will say «I never hear my upstairs neighbors, they’re completely quiet.» It’s just something you deal with being in a lower unit. With that being said, anytime there is a legit noise complaint, it’s addressed if not right then (during work hours) then the next day (if it happens over night). We even received a follow up phone call.
The neighbors in my area are amazing. I got home from work, completely exhausted. A neighbor realized that I had left my car light on and called the office to notify them. The office looked up my license plate and called me to let me know so my battery wouldn’t die on me! Can you see why I can’t believe there aren’t more positive reviews on here?!
They just had the laundry rooms updated and they look amazing. They are always clean. I only have time to do laundry on Sunday’s and have never, ever had a problem getting machines.
There has been a lot of construction because they have been working hard to update the complex and make it even more beautiful than it already is! Painting, paving, etc.
The staff has always been wonderful to us. Office and maintenance.
Anyway, I realize everyone has their own individual experience and each one is unique. I just felt the need to put in mine.

I’m not usually one to post bad reviews. But this needs to be said. DO NOT LEASE here. Spare yourself a bad experience. ARNEL property management should be ashamed of themselves.
1. The Cape «Luxury» Apartment Homes. «Luxury»… What a joke! I have a list of issues a mile long ever since I moved.
2. Don’t be fooled by the models apts. they show you. That is NOT what you get!
Case in point:
— My place had an old cream colored stove when I moved in (I originally posted it was Gold, which I apologize that I was incorrect) AND it didn’t work properly. When inquiring about it to front office, we were told the stove was a couple years new. However, we called the manufacturer with the serial number of the appliance and they revealed it was not new but rather 15+ years old.
— Carpet was not like model. It was old and spotted with stains.
— All the kitchen shelves were completely covered in dirt!
–Toilet seats and front of bathroom drawers were falling off.
— Inside garage had inappropriate language and pictures painted on walls.
— Kitchen floor was coming up, causing trip hazard.
3. They upkeep outside appearance of property to attract people. Yet they neglect the apartments their residents actually live in.
4. When completing construction around facility, they fail to give residents ample notice.
5. Fixes to residents’ apartments are half-​ass. (Pardon my language).
On the plus side:
— The location is great. So, if location is all you care about, then give it a whirl!
— the current leasing office staff has been friendly and understanding. Jake has been especially helpful. unfortunately, the local office mgmt team is constrained by what ARNEL corporate dictates.
Summary: ARNEL property management does not care about their residents. They only care about their bottom lines.

Rude office staff can’t even return phone calls. I had to call them for 2 days 4 different times to get my issue resolved. They need to get it together.

I lived here for 2 years and I can confirm all the prior bad reviews mentioned on Unilocal.Do not live here. The place is horrible. Noisy. Parking sucks. Here are a few issues I can remember. Super huge speed bumps, silverfish infestation, poor door locks, old appliances from 80s, pot smoking college AI kids, creepy people in the laundry area, defective laundry machines, and super bitchy staff. Run away from the hell hole.

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE place to live.
I’ve waited to write this review for quite a while now, but it’s time to go into detail about why NO one should ever choose to live here.
After 6 months of living here, I was not verbally told ONCE in person that my car needed a parking permit. Management even gave us TWO gate remotes, and never once notified me that I needed a pass. Cut to today (6 months later), I walk outside and my car is GONE. I thought at first it might’ve been stolen, but after calling the tow yard, it was absolutely brought there over night. I went into the management office to ask if I had to pay the $ 350 to get it back since I had NO idea I needed a pass, and one of the reps smiled and said, «Yes, I’m sorry», and proceeded to give me some papers to file for a parking pass. I didn’t feel like she was on my team, nor did I feel any better talking to her about the situation. It’s not her fault specifically, but I would hope that I could feel the management would have my back somehow.
That aside, I will go into more specifics of why you should EXHAUST all of your possible options before you live here.
CONSTRUCTION:
The building is poorly constructed with low ceilings. MAKE SURE you ask who lives above you. We were unfortunately placed above 2 heavy-​set adults and a small child whom they allow to RUN up and down the halls and rooms. He sometimes throw tantrums and fits, cries and scream, pounds the floor very loudly, throws bouncing balls/​toys that sound like bowling balls above us. It sounds like an earthquake with the windows rattling every time someone walks through a room. I usually have to resort to wearing headphones to cancel out the noise, and even with the sound turned all the way up it sounds like there are herds of cattle above you. We tried complaining to the front office TWICE, but nothing changed.
MAKE SURE you ask if you live above a garage. Every time someone opens their garage below us, there is an EXTREMELY loud noise for 5 seconds (sometimes if the garage is broken, it can last for 15 seconds with the door going back and forth) in the morning at night (whenever the garage dweller wants to come and go).
NOISE:
Neighbors and people having parties past a decent hour. On most weekends, there were people outside their patios talking and laughing and screaming loudly, and no one does anything about it. I would accept 1−2am as a normal time to be quiet on the weekends, but sometimes people would go until 3−4am playing music and being outside. If you’re not the type to want to be around that kind of possible noise, DON“T live here.
PARKING:
Not enough parking unless you have an assigned space. This is one of the WORST things about living here. Sometimes I’d want to leave past 6pm on a weekday, or come home late on a weekend but I knew if I did, I would have a 1% chance to park near the apartment. Being a woman walking alone at night is no joke. Also, aforementioned unjustified TOWING.
Seriously, GO ELSEWHERE!!!

Despite all the bad reviews, my experience here since May 1^st 2015 has been really pleasant. Jake and the staffs have been very attentive to any request or concern we’ve had so far. They do stressed out the important of parking situation and warned new residents about the towing. and yes i do love the location of this place

Plenty of parking but they’ll love to tow your car! My fiancé just got home from deployment and in the midst of moving his things in I misplaced his parking pass. It hasn’t been an issue all week until today. I should have went up to the office and ordered a new one sooner but it still doesn’t make it okay that they towed it this evening despite the fact they have license plate info of all their renters. The bail amount to get our car back is almost 400 $ which is complete bullshit! No warning or anything. I could understand if this complex was tight on parking spaces but it’s not and there was absolutely no reason for them to ruin our day today. My fiancé doesn’t get home for another week and we just paid rent and don’t have 400 $ to give to someone who’s sitting back getting a big kick out of this. All the people who got their cars towed today live here!!! Hahah Thats the funny part. Jokes on us huh? Oh and to add on to today’s fiasco I’ll just let you know a few things that I was upset about recently. When I moved in they told me I’d have new carpet and the patio would be cleaned off. Well it wasn’t. I had water pressure and temperature issues upon move in and had to have maintenance come out and fix it. The pressure is okay now but my water is really hot. They put a notice on my door that they would enter my apt to test my smoke detector and I wrote back for them to come in after 2:30 so I could be here while they entered my apt and instead they came anyways and never called or said anything about it and a little over a week later my smoke alarm started to randomly go off! Don’t think just because this complex has a gate that your car will be safe inside either because they have gardeners who don’t give a rats ass about your car. I’ve watched them numerous times walking in between cars with their blowers and blowing all the bark and dirt all over everyone’s car. What’s the point of having a nice car? I complained to some guy in the office and he made me feel like I was stupid for complaining about it. Did he do anything about it or apologize? Nope.
Well I hope the front end of our new car is alright. I don’t know how they got it out of here with the emergency break on. I see there’s someone else in the same spot right now with no pass as well and they’re not getting towed. Hmm seems like we might have a civil suit coming up if they don’t take care of this issue for us because this is not how you treat your tenants. We pay way too much money for this crap. I feel sorry for my neighbor because her carport was blocked today by construction workers and she had no choice but to park in one of the many open spots and they towed her car too.

This place was not worth the money, loud neighbors, maintenance took forever and tried to charge me triple what the item they were replacing was worth. They get 2 stars only because the location.

I’m not kidding when I rate it 5 stars. It’s a beautiful, well kept & up to date, safe, quiet and convenient complex. What more can you want ?! Just minutes from freeway access. If you have children, there is a huge park attached behind the complex ! Floor plans are spacious (I share my bedroom with my son and we still have plenty of floor room to play.)
Those who are complaining about the parking and getting towed!!! Don’t be lazy and put your parking pass up! You sign in your lease the rules of parking so you can’t blame the management when YOU get towed! Parking is INCREDIBLE here. Not only is there an abundance of open spots for residents (outside of car ports) but there is an additional 200+ spot parking lot attached for the convenience of guests! Never in my 5 years of apartment living have I lived in a place where parking is easy and convenient for guests.
Management is wonderful. Jake, Heather, Alina (not sure of anyone else in office) but they all strive to make sure you are happy where you live. Every time I’ve needed something fix, maintenance was in within 2 days. They go out of their way to accommodate your needs and you can tell put the effort in to keep this complex looking great.
I really don’t have anything negative to say about The Cape. I would recommend it to all, especially those with children (yes the park is that worth it! :))

Don’t waste your time. The new management is a joke specially Kimberly. She is rude and condescending. Even though you are a tenant they tow your car!!!

Id like to thank The Cape Apartments and their staff for a wonderful event experience! Having my event at their location was a wise decision, the staff was more then helpful and generous in making sure all the needs were met and everyone was comfortable. I look forward to future events!
Special Thank You to Jake Novella for even letting me use his personal music equipment after it was discovered there was an issue with the one we brought. Thank you!

Nice secure place to live with good access to anything you need including grocery stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and good freeway access.
Hi Heather

I’ve lived at the cape for the last year and a half. This was my first downstairs apartment and I have never had any issues. My neighbors are all super friendly and I get 2 parking spaces.
I do see cars getting towed late at night but I haven’t had any issues yet. I am close to the guest parking lot so my friends always park there.
Minus 1 star for I was told that when I moved in, it would be a very quiet location, but I can really hear the freeway and street noise.
Overall I am pleased. The staff is really nice and helpful and the property is nice.

Fun place to live! It is close to everything. The staff here is very kind and I enjoy living here. It feels like a small safe community. It is quaint, not in a spacious way but in a charming East Coast Disneyish way. It is in a fantastic location, right off the freeway, across the street from Metro Point, a few blocks from South Coast Plaza. Lots of fun things to do. A private access to a beautiful park equipped with: Basketball courts, volleyball courts, open fields, play ground, paved walk ways, benches, BBQs, and much more.
I love living here and I would living here.