Villa Solana Apartments

The management team at Villa Solana are superb! Eric and Amy are a dream to work with. Never felt rushed. They are very knowledgably about both Villa Solana and the parent company equity apartments. Process was very smooth, everything was clear and concise, apartment met expectation, very happy. I would recommend.

I moved into Villa Solana in January when we took over an existing lease and so far I absolutely love living here. The apartment is small, but it’s very well maintained. I love the light hardwood floors and the REAL wood burning fireplace:-). The patio is very spacious, and the view looks out into a huge nature trail. I’ve seen all kinds of wildlife, a crane, coyotes, rabbits, etc. LOVE IT. The natural breeze that comes through the windows allows for me to never have to use the air conditioning.
It’s close to everything! 5 miles to my favorite spot at Laguna Beach. you can even safely ride your bike there if you wanted! There’s a grocery store and a starbucks on every corner, so you never have to go out of your way.
The maintenance staff is excellent! Our washer and dryer broke, and not only did they replace it with a new one, they gave us access to an un-​rented apartment over the weekend until the new unit arrived.
Office staff is friendly and respectful. Eric always says hello when he’s riding around the complex.
Pool is always full of kids, but they are usually pretty respectful of the people laying in the sun. The office staff is very good about making sure children are accompanied by adults.
So far, I absolutely love living here:-)

Everything about our move in was awesome. Eric was very professional along with Amy. They were very clear about everything that was needed for move in. So it made our move in process stress free. Also, as we were getting our keys and finalizing everything in the office, the apartment Manager took it upon herself to come and introduce herself and welcome us to our new home. WOW. I have never experienced an apartment manager be so welcoming and personal. What a great feeling.
So far we feel very happy with our new place and the community.
Its an older community and its not fancy but its very quiet and convenient and very comfortable. We love it!

SAFE, QUIET, IN NATURE AND DOG-​FRIENDLY — If you want a safe, quiet place to live close to nature with respectful neighbors and excellent management, this is the place. I am so thankful we found Villa Solana when me moved out of Dana Point six months ago. No, it’s not the newest or the fanciest place in town, but there’s nowhere else that offers this kind of living, either. It’s located RIGHT ON a nature trail that connects to 3500 acres of wilderness (the Aliso Creek Wilderness Trail) so you can go biking and hiking and walking any time you want. It’s also close to excellent shopping and a hospital is less than 3 minutes away. I LOVE that I have a view of trees and trails out my living room window and patio windows. it is so relaxing and my friends from LA love it.
The complex is fairly small and low density, so there’s not a ton of people making noise. Where I live it is completely quiet during the day and at night, which is so amazing. The place is older and the walls are made of concrete, so that keeps the noise down. Everyone in my building is super respectful and courteous and keeps to themselves, but are friendly. I never hear anything from the people who share a wall with me, but I do occasionally hear the people upstairs walking around and playing their TV a little loud. That’s pretty normal. But everyone around here is working families and they do take really good care of their kids and there’s no drugs or loud parties or anything like that. I feel very safe walking around the complex at night. There’s plenty of lights everywhere and never any problem.
The maintenance and leasing staff are 100% top-​notch and address your needs or concerns immediately (if you have lived in an apartment, you know this is usually not the case). Now, I have to say that I was a total snob when I moved in here. I came from a big fancy house and this is ¼ of the size I had, and the units are old. They are far from perfect, even though they do give you all new appliances, carpet and flooring. The layout of the place isn’t the best, and there is very little storage. I was looking at a newer, shinier, sister property that had a garage, but I chose this place because of the location and the feel. It is just so peaceful here, and there it would have been like living in a parking lot. The staff could have been defensive or mean about my attitude, but Amy, Michelle and Eric have all been nothing but sweet, kind and patient with me. Jorge and Jason and the other maintenance people are wonderful too. Jorge and I bonded on my first maintenance call (when I knocked the blinds completely off the wall by accident) and he has a great sense of humor, and so does Amy. They know what is good about the place and what is not, and they never, ever tried to sell me on anything other than what it is: a quiet, safe, place to live as close to nature as you can get. They are also WAY dog-​friendly, and accepted our pets with no problem. I don’t like paying pet rent, but that’s they way it is. There is also a huge grassy park area attached to the complex so you can play with your kids or dogs and everybody gets along. People also mostly pick up their dog waste, so it’s pretty clean and doesn’t smell bad.
I work from home so peace and quiet are everything to me, and this place delivers that in spades. They also do free movie nights and barbecues and craft fairs and nice events that get everyone together.
They turned a snobby complainer into a complete fan by giving the VERY BEST in customer service, every day, no matter what, and going the extra mile to show that they actually care about me and my family — and I can’t ask for more than that, wherever I am. :)

This place is a total dump. I only left positive review so the Unilocaler above me would take over my lease. See ya, suckas!

We just moved out of our apartment a few weeks ago. Do not live here.
NEVER enough visitor permits even if they say they do. Call the office to put your name the list (first one for the day), never got a phone call to get a parking permit. Guests can never park after 6 without a permit cause they will tow your car!!! (i’ve seen it happen).
At the final inspection they claim everything is dirty and they will take ALL of your deposit. Breakdown is $ 90 for cleaning (even though the house was clean), $ 95 for paint (even though the walls were cleaned, didn’t put up pictures, etc) and 95 for carpet cleaning. According to them it has to be 100% spotless even though it’s wear and tear.
Called and asked about it and was told too bad it’s in your lease. Don’t live here, they take your money.
Neighbors are hit and miss. Smoking cigarettes/​marijuana, kids on bikes and scooters, loud neighbors arguing at 4 in the morning.
Leasing office is a mess, huge turn around.
At the end of the lease they raise rent A LOT.
My opinion: go elsewhere.

These are beautiful condo-​like apartments. When so many communities have no views and look directly at your neighbors or at buildings, these look at woods, creeks and mountains. The staff is friendly and helpful, especially Amy. Keep up the great work guys!

In August I reached out to the leasing office for information. I was contacted by Amy B. who set me up with a tour. I told her when I was hoping to be moved in by, which layout I wanted and that with my husband being deployed I’d be signing on his behalf with his POA and that I wanted everything to be set up before he got home.
I was happy to find out that they do a «Home Town Hero Program» for our military which is $ 200 off security deposit. It was very helpful for us!
We got the layout we wanted at a VERY affordable monthly rate, although the upstairs unit didn’t have the hardwood floor option we originally wanted since it was upstairs (I heard that could possibly be changing!), the high ceilings definitely made up for it! And the fact that we had the wilderness trail as our backyard (so amazing!). We were blessed with an amazing neighbor, who was a pleasure to live next to. Couldn’t have asked for a better neighbor, no problems what so ever, her kids were awesome too!
As far as the staff here, WOW. I’ve never lived in an apartment complex where I could at the end of it all praise not only the leasing staff but also the maintenance staff. Especially Amy & Jorge. Amy from day one was always there to answer my questions, and believe me… I had a lot. She always was the person I went to for anything because I knew she’d handle it. I did speak with Eric a few times and he was also very nice and helpful. Overall I never had a bad experience with any of the leasing staff and I think that it’s very rare! With maintenance, I didn’t really need much but whenever I did Jorge and his staff were always there quickly and got whatever I needed done. I’d always see them doing some sort of upkeep to the complex and making sure it was clean and up to date. I know from experience Jorge really goes above and beyond to make Villa Solana the best it can be for its residents.
Now for those negative reviews in regards to pests, bugs & children… You’re living near a very active wilderness path that will sometimes bring in those pests & bugs… Especially after rainfall but EVERY week there is someone out spraying to make sure residents don’t have to deal with any bugs. Some spiders will come and go but nothing bad AT ALL. The one thing that can get to be much are the skunks, but again, you’re near a wilderness park and you live in California, they’re going to come out at night and if they get scared… You’ll definitely smell them LOL. And for the kids, sure, during their school breaks you’ll probably hear and see them a lot more, some of the parents are careless and just let their kids run a muck but that’s going to happen anywhere, even if you owned a house. Kids will be kids.
We had our move out inspection last week, which Jorge scheduled with me. I made sure to have the place in excellent condition because I know my California tenant laws but also because I respect where I live and this complex enough to leave it in the same condition I moved in, if not better. The maintenance staff works so hard here that if I could take some of the work off their hands, I didn’t mind going above and beyond for them. It’s been a little over a week since the move out and I already have my invoice for my full deposit being returned, they have 21 days but it just shows how great they are by already informing and getting my money out to me quickly! I’m just very grateful and happy with the customer service I received from this complex from day 1 and it continued during our whole short stay here. If my husband hadn’t got orders for us to move cross country we would’ve definitely kept this place as «home» for as long as we could!
Amy, Jorge & the rest of the staff. Thank you so much for making Villa Solana the way it is. You guys definitely are one of a kind and I would recommend this property to anyone looking for their next apartment!

So my roommate & I have been residing here for 8 months now. We smell weed from the neighbors sometimes but that’s the worst I can say… I’ve never used the pool or gym, they look kinda small. We time to time have noisy kids but they’re usually all friendly, and inside by sunset. We have a few neighbors who have all of their things stored outside like lots and lots of children’s bikes. But other than that, we are busy working girls so maybe we aren’t home enough but I feel safe in these apartments. If you want the apartment with like a metropolitan style this isn’t for you. This is a cozy more condo like place with a trail right in the back. I love the location. Haven’t had issues with parking yet, usually if you’re home by 6 – 7 you can find parking. We also don’t have a lot of things (as you can see from the pics I posted) so we have enough room. Then again it’s just the 2 of us some people here have 6+ ppl living in their 2 bedroom so obviously it’s gonna get cluttered! I’d renew my lease. I like it here :)

Lived here for a year. Great place to live, friendly and prompt staff. Had written my deposit off from all the bad reviews and got more than half of it back. Pleasantly surprised. I would have stayed if something hadn’t fallen in my lap that I just couldn’t pass up.

Dont live here.
Why?
We lived here for 1 year. very old apartments. be prepared to pay around 1000 or more on the lease end even if you have not done anything bad to the apartment because they would send you pictures of their very old walls, washer dryer and everything else and want you to pay for them. the place is very very old and very ugly. the manager Michelle is a bad manager. the only good thing is their maintenance staff is good.
Also on renewing the lease, be prepared for an increase of more than 200 dollars because they want to punish you for being a resident there
Tip: Be sure to take pictures of every single spot when you move in.

I have lived in these apartments for 3 months and all I can say is its amazing! When I first saw the reviews, there was no question about it because it was already a no. However I got off work early and called to take a tour Amy told me to come in and I fell in the love with place. The trails, I am a runner so this was already amazing. The apartments itself is perfect size with brand new carpet, countertops etc. It is always quiet, I can always find a parking spot, There aren’t any insects or rats in my apartment like everyone else says, good staff, great location 8 miles from the beach, laundry and dryer inside apartment, good size patio, great price for rent. For my first apartment as a newly wed, my wife and I couldn’t be happier. I am in the military and until I change duty stations I will live here.
Cons: 1. Every now and then I have to pick up trash outside the dumpster because people are to lazy to open the gate and actually throw it inside but not every place is perfect.

I was very skeptical about moving here because of the bad reviews I found online. But after living in Villa Solana for a year, I can honestly say that it’s a nice place to live and I would recommend it! I also work from home, so I am in my apartment a LOT. I see the complex day and night and regularly interact with the staff to get guest parking passes (you need to go to their office to get guest parking permits). Here are my pros and cons:
—— PROS ——
+ The complex is VERY quiet. Working from home is no problem here. It’s literally silent right now (12pm on a Wednesday). It’s also quiet at night. Most of my neighbors are singles or couples and I barely, if ever, hear them. I might live in a section with mostly one-​bedroom apartments (because that’s what I live in), so maybe it would get noisier if you lived in an area with larger apartments (i.e. more people), but I haven’t heard much noise anywhere.
+ Maintenance is AWESOME! I don’t often need to call maintenance, but I’ve had a couple times when my disposal was clogged or a vertical blind fell off. They usually come the same day, are very friendly and quick, and the service is free.
+ It’s SAFE. As a girl living alone, this was one of my #1 concerns, especially because I walk my dog right before bed sometimes. The community feels very safe and like I said, it’s quiet. I never feel unsafe taking my dog outside or walking around. The neighbors generally stay indoors and are friendly.
+ It’s very dog-​friendly. Of the 8 apartments in my section of the complex, 7 of them have a dog. There are lots of dog stations around the complex with poop bags, too. Also, the dogs are generally friendly and not yappy. They are very pleasant.
+ The complex has a HUGE grassy field attached to it and also borders a nature trail. Many people use the field to play with their dogs after work and I see kids playing there, too. I also see joggers, walkers, etc. The trail that borders the apartment is really pretty. I do feel like they should do something with the grassy field (like make part of it into a dog park!), but it’s nice to have it nonetheless.
+ The staff. The staff is friendly and will make an effort to remember your name.
+ I’m actually moving out soon (only because I want to live in LA) and a maintenance worker recently came to inspect my apartment for damage and let me know what kind of fees might be taken out of my deposit. There wasn’t much damage and the fees he told me about sounded reasonable. I can’t really say that they’ll actually be reasonable, as I haven’t gotten a bill for that yet, but based on his assumption, it didn’t feel like they were looking for ways to nickel and dime my deposit.
+ The location is nice. It’s my first time living in Laguna Hills (I’ve lived in Newport and Irvine previously), so I really had no idea what was here. The apartment complex is close to lots of restaurants, a mall, grocery stores, yoga studios, and the freeway! Very convenient.
—— CONS ——
+ Guest parking. This is the worst part about living here, but it’s manageable. Here’s how it works: you get reserved parking for your apartment (I think one pass for each bedroom you have?), but guests need a guest parking permit to park here after about 6pm (during the day is fine). There are a VERY limited number of guest permits (like 5?!) and you need to call in the morning to reserve one before other people do. If you get one, then great! You just need to pick it up from the office before they close and your guest can park in any uncovered spot (there are a lot). If you DON’T get a guest permit (because they’re out), then your guest pretty much has nowhere to park. Don’t try parking without a permit — my friend got towed for doing that. There is no street parking because the complex is a little secluded, BUT my boyfriend and I found a nearby residential street where we park his car and I pick him up and bring him back to my apartment. Not ideal, of course, but it’s not that big of a deal either. (***By the way, if you want to park there, turn right on Alicia out of the complex, then it’s your second left into a residential area. You can park on the street there most days!). Anyways, if you plan to have lots of friends over at night, this might be an issue for you. It is manageable though.
+ Bugs… I guess? I don’t really mind bugs every now and then and definitely wouldn’t rule a place out just because I might see a spider every couple months. However, I have had a centipede in my house twice and occasionally see some house spiders. Nothing big or scary though. They also have an insect guy who comes each week and can spray your apartment (for free) if you see bugs.
— — — —
All in all, I think Villa Solana is a good place to live. I’ll leave here with very few complaints and would recommend it to anyone looking for a new apartment. :)

I had a two bedroom The management was awesome. Maintenance was very good. Very much enjoyed living here. When we moved in there were parking issues, but since then the parking has gotten better. Watch out for people parking in your covered. You can have hem towed. I had two occasions where someone parked in my covered when I moved in and a month ago. I did not have them towed because we found out who’s car they were and got themo moved. The only bad is the kids playing on the stairs. But if you call management they take care of it. For an apartment it was quiet.

Do I like living here? Yes, I kind of love it BUT…
Michelle is not a good manager. She did not return my calls when my lease renewal needed to be signed within 15 days. I called and left messages over 4 times. For renewal they send you a horrendous price in the mail, over $ 100 dollars on top of the HIGHEST rental rate on their website, great way to get a tenant to re-​sign, right? Then the next price they give you doesn’t seem so bad. Well I wanted to negotiate with them but they told me they would not even look into it if it was over 45 days before my renewal date, the tricky thing here is you have to let them know within 30 days if you’re going to re-​new. So that gives you 15 *ucking days to make a decision.
Tom specifically told me that prices would go up. This was not the case. Anyways they suckered me into signing for another year at the highest rate I’ve ever seen on their site, the next day prices were over $ 30 dollars less a month for the same exact unit, funny because Tom originally said I couldn’t compare any of the units with mine, until one came up just like mine, then he had to go with the «well rates will go up if you don’t sign now» speech. Unfortunately I trusted him. To say it left a bad taste in my mouth would be an understatement.
They need to actually regulate the hot tub, there are idiot tenants with their 1 – 4 year olds in there all the time. 10 lb baby in 104 degree water. Not safe, not sanitary and not cool. After hours people smoke in it which completely ruins most peoples experience. The pool is routinely packed with yelling kids and families that all apparently have 7 kids. Overcrowded is another word to describe this complex at times. See water communisum below.
Maintenance is amazing. 2^nd Floor and never had an issue with bugs etc.
They still need to fix parking and allow overnight guests with an online sign-​up like other apartments. Instead you have to get a pass before they close at 6 (which are for some reason extremely limited) or check whats available on the front office door. How about an online component to this? DO we live in the 80’s?
DO NOT trust them if they tell you they have plenty of parking, it has gotten better for a few months now, but I remember what it was like when I first moved in, they have stopped enforcing parking now and it WILL return to that. If you leave your covered spot open for more than a few days the squatters will take your spot. These are the people secretly living in the apartments but not on the lease. There seem to be hundreds of them and they are using your water to shower, $hit, eat, brush their teeth and swim.
They charge you what building you live in for water, some kind of CA communist thing. I live by myself, Im paying more than someone that has 5 kids and 2 adults (and there quite a few of them in this complex) but has a slightly smaller apartment. Does not make a whole lot of sense to me and I’m not cool with it.
Water sewer and trash is consistently over $ 110 dollars a month, this is non-​negotiable, unpreventable and rising :(

The apartments themselves aren’t completely horrendous. They’re old and pretty ugly but the price for the sq. ft got me to move here.
The parking situation is completely out of control!!! They have since updated their parking policy 6 months into me moving in (awesome so now I’m screwed and stuck!!!). Guest parking is limited to those who obtain a limited amount of guest parking passes– but you must pick up before the office closes, if they even still have any left. There isn’t ANY street parking ANYWHERE as alternative parking for guests, so it completely infringes upon your personal life, there are literally no alternative options for a guest/​visitor/​3^rd roommate to park. Good luck on having any unplanned friends or family visit!!! This place is total crap, I’m beyond upset I am even stuck in this position and will be moving ASAP!!!

My fiancé and I have been looking for apartments every chance we get. It’s hard for both of us to coordinate times because of our work schedules. A few weeks ago we went into the leasing office hoping to see an apartment.
The agent was friendly until he realized we weren’t moving until March 2014. I explained to him that we rarely have time to look together and needed to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. His tone changed all of a sudden to be very rude and he asked if we had an appointment.
That’s a first.
I told him that we didn’t and didn’t realize that you needed one since literally no where else requires them. He said they did a villa solana and he could set one up.
Needless to say, we have no interest in setting up an appointment.
Also, an additional tidbit: walking up to the leasing office I was almost ran into by two nasty teens aggressively riding their skateboards on the sidewalk. Classy.

Long story short: Villa Solana is infested and poorly managed, allows dogs, and is conveniently located.
We lived there three years. In that time we removed an alien caterpillar from our bathroom, a tarantula and a black widow from our balcony, plenty of earwigs (pincherbugs) from our floors, but the kicker? FIVE different SWARMS OF TERMITES INSIDE OUR APARTMENT.
You’re a Unilocaler, so you probably like food. Imagine sitting at your dining room table eating a freshly prepared salad, and then noticing something moving in your bowl – it’s a winged termite. Then you realize they are swarming EVERYwhere, and you can’t even figure out where the hell they’re coming from. You call the office to report it, and they say someone can come Tuesday. That’s four days later…
Those four days go by, and then a strange man tracks his dirty boots all over your apartment, climbs into your attic, and announces he’s found the source above your bathroom. He tells you he can come back to spray the area – three days later. (Why not right then, since he’s already there? No clue.) Sooo, you’ll have a few more days – a total of seven days until anyone will start killing the bugs that have been flying and crawling all over your apartment.
Imagine the same scenario, four more times. After two or three times spraying the same place, one would suspect a different strategy might need to be employed. They’re still landing on your legs while you’re watching tv, on your breast while you’re studying for an exam on your couch, crawl all over your belongings and you find them in the cupboards. What gives? You find out your apartment manager is married to the termite guy… which explains why they keep hiring the same incompetent exterminators…
Big sigh.
Not all apartments have vinyl entryways or Berber carpet. Make sure you see the ACTUAL unit you will rent, because ours didn’t, as promised. Don’t believe anything they tell you while showing the apartment, because talk is cheap.
Dogs bark all day long. Watch where you step outside, because they poop outside too.
Parking is competitive and only one spot per apartment is guaranteed. Having guests park their car there is a nightmare.
Tenants are charged for water, sewer, trash, gas, and pet rent. Yeah, nonrefundable pet rent, per pet, on top of a pet deposit.
Maintenance is shoddy and they usually stand you up for appointments.
Villa Solana contracts with the lowest bidders and you get crappy craftsmanship. Layers of vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms that breed mold. New roofs that leak. Football sized bubbles in the ceiling from the rain and they patch it up from the outside only and call it «repaired». A front door that needs to be fixed three times before it opens and closes properly.
Kids play in the parking lots and use your car to play handball. They leave candy wrappers all over the place. They loiter in staircases and don’t yield to you on their bikes while walking on the footpaths.
People wash their cars parked in the red zone. They use the water that the residents are billed collectively.
Oh, they got a new paint job about 8 months ago. But new paint on a dilapidated old building is just a dilapidated old building with new paint.
Am I missing anything? They’re close to the freeway and a lot of stores, restaurants, Costco and schools. There’s a nice bike and walking path behind the complex.
They increased our rent over 5% after three years of tenancy even after all the problems. We tried to negotiate but they insisted that was the best they could do. Turns out the new tenants in our old apartment are paying $ 70 or so less than we were before they tried to raise our rate. Bad way to do business, but it was the push we needed to find something a little higher class – and better priced! Woot woot!
I’m too exhausted to outline allllll the B.S. going on there. I’m sure you get the picture. Just wanted to inform potential future tenants that the place kinda sucks. It’s all about making the largest profits at the expense of the tenants. Management doesn’t live on site. Moving out of Villa Solana was the right decision for us. Later, suckas.