The Potter Apartments

I have FOUR friends in FOUR SEPARATE studio/​apartments, well three, one just moved in with her boyfriend last week… in this building and not one of them has has had all the problems described below. It’s not the fanciest place in the world, but the closets are very roomy and the studios/​apartments are cute. For how little the rent is here, you shouldn’t expect the shang-​ri-​la. None of them have popcorn ceilings, that I’ve seen at least. Space is limited in the studios, but you can do a lot if you do some planning.
I’ve never seen a roach. Not one. (Knock on wood). Yes, I have smelled the occasional person smoking weed, but I’ve smelled that in my «luxury» condo complex too. Eh, no big deal. It’s San Diego…
The landlady is a bit strict (I once brought a small dog in, and I didn’t know they didn’t allow dogs), but she was nice in the end and just keeping an eye out for the property. She even decorates the entrance area according to the season, which I think is nice.
The building is old and historic. Used to be a brothel, I believe. The plumbing is dated, yes, from what they’ve told me. Hopefully they work to improve that, but my opinion from my many visits is nothing like that of my Unilocal counterpart below.

Moved here from NJ and went through great pains to try and reserve this place based off it’s pictures and lack of reviews. Bad idea. I looked around but couldn’t find a single review so I’m going to try and put this place out there as being a bad option in renting.
1) ROACHES! Now I know downtown SD has some roach problems and this may be an ongoing issue, and while this unit I rented wasn’t crawling with them, it certainly had more than it’s fair share, more than any studio should for how clean we kept it. We found one to two roaches a month. I moved in the middle of November and we left April mostly because of the roach problem. The last one we saw in April was the biggest thing I’ve seen. It was beyond disgusting and made living there beyond uncomfortable.
2) It smells in the hallway — usually of one of the four odors: Body odor, weed, cigarettes, cheap incense. Almost all the time, maybe that attracts the roaches
3) The land lord posts up annoying/​threatening memos by the entrance door about stupid things (not exactly good business for future tenants to see) like leaving the laundry door open, meanwhile more than 60% of the time the actual front gate is open. Some security! I’m sure if anyone wanted to get in they could, so pardon me if I’m less worried about the laundry door being opened as opposed to the security front door. And why anyone would get ‘evicted’ (as she so often threatens) due to leaving the laundry door open over the front gate is beyond me. Sorry Gestapo, if I find your memos less than justified.
4) Landlord is almost never available and makes everything seem like it is such a hassle for her. I guess because she’s old or doesn’t like living there herself but she’s lazy. When my wife moved in, in December we had her sign the lease and numerous times we contacted the land lord to finalize things and while she went on and on about how we’d all sit down, she was never available. Meanwhile it is May and we’ve already left without my wife ever signing the lease. So in 4 months this woman who pretends to make herself available didn’t have the time/​decency to meet with us to write her signature real fast.
When I complained about the roaches she blamed it on the fact that they switched to an organic cleaner… well…switch back!!! Obviously it was a decision made in good conscious but if a product doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work. We found roaches in the hallway and in the laundry room too. The building obviously is infested with them and more of an aggressive spraying régime needs to take place, but that brings me back to how the land lord is lazy and doesn’t want to be bothered.
5) The stove pictured is smaller than it looks, it’s a kitchenette stove so don’t plan on doing any legit baking/​cooking in there.
6) Water pressure is extremely week and the toilet clogs so easily that if you flush the toilet twice in a row (even after waiting a bit between flushes and having nothing in the actual bowl either time) it will overflow and spill onto your floor. There is no vent in the bathroom either so everything gets steamed and moist.
7) The electric seems like it’s about to fail almost everyday especially in the bathroom, the ceiling light flickers so much it makes you feel like you are in the bates motel or something.
8) No ceiling fans, and on the lease it states you can’t use window fans or AC units. Not that SD is notorious for getting really hot, but when the middle of the day comes around the studios can get pretty hot and uncomfortable. So you may need a standing fan, but you can’t have that running with too many other things otherwise you’ll probably blow a fuse.
Overall this place is just gross, frustrating, and petty. They paint over everything in white paint with popcorn-​style walls and ceilings and everything is outdated and small. They claim they are really clean and maybe at first glance they are, but then as you start living there for a few weeks you’ll notice how nasty the windows are, the metal fixtures around the shower are all rusted and the carpets are stained. Hence why I’m not paying for a shampoo company to come prior to my move out — even though it comes out of my security. So while the rent may be low, it’s not worth it, and what you don’t pay for in utility you’ll pay in going out for dinner because it’s too small to cook there, or you’ll pay in cleaning supplies as things get so dirty so quickly, or in laundry. The other Bowden Properties may be worth living in, but the Potter Building is not. I wasted too much time and money on that place.