Oak View Apartments

Just moved here this summer and its been great! Our apartment was completely renovated so there hasn’t been any maintenance issues. My bf and I are renting a 1 bedroom, and rent is definitely a lot cheaper than many comparable complexes in San Mateo. The apt provided carts when we moved in making the process smooth. Sometimes we can spot deer from our balcony, which is pretty neat :)
PROS
— Quiet building
— Managers on site
— Beautiful views of the bay
— Pool and gym available but are tiny
— Lots of parking, and 1 garage parking per apt
— Conveniently located next to a shopping center
— 4 washer and dryers per floor (takes quarters)
— Close to the ⁹²⁄₂₈₀
CONS
— none so far, but I’ll update this list if I can find anything wrong.

[[[edit (Feb 1, 2016): Rob, the guy who was managing the place when I lived there (in late 2012) is no longer the manager. Given that he was a lot of the cause of the low rating I gave on the review, I’m posting this addition up top. Looking through my review, there were other negatives (e.g. the noise level with garbage trucks nearby if you don’t wake up before 7 or 8am). Read through other reviews (some are quite positive) including the ones Unilocal likes to hide, and check out the place yourself, but I’ll leave up my original review beyond this. If the changes are that great, naturally, there will soon be lots of 4 and 5 star reviews.]]]
Overall, I do not recommend the place.
The main issue is that the manager, Rob, is a control freak, and a complete and utter dick. That’s my opinion, and I’m sure he’d disagree.
That said, here’s how I’ve formed my opinion.
First of all, he expresses glib and superficial charm. Entertaining the first time you meet him. Nothing wrong with that. Except for the fact that he’s just been rude after getting the lease signed.
He’s pretty good at selling, as well. Nothing wrong with that either.
What is wrong is that once you come to meet him to sign the lease, he pulls out this ridiculously long list of rules for the apartment complex. Nothing wrong with that, either. Except that should have been my first warning sign that the dude was weird and issues would be stumbled upon down the road.
Here’s a list of things that ARE actually weird about the guy:
(1) at some point when he realized I had friends in town, and he saw them in the lobby, he got extremely angry and spoke to them super rudely, while I was outside giving something I had sold on Craigslist. He later told me that he got very angry that I gave anyone the keypad entry code, which is SUPER easy to guess anyway. I’m sorry, but if your buzz-​in system cannot be programmed to be openable from my apartment or cell phone, don’t expect me to go to the front door to let my friends in. He also says something to the extent of «Your friends look like hoodlums» which is ironic (as well as disrespectful) as one of them makes far more money than an apartment landlord.
(2) at some point when I was walking from my apartment to the McDonald’s nearby, he was leaving the building at the same time. He made some comment about some little kids in the distance saying «dur dur, girls from College of San Mateo.» I respond saying something like «Funny my friend who went there for a semester said there weren’t many girls there. He responds «Well your friend is an idiot, because there are a lot of girls there.» Uhh, I don’t care who’s right, but no need to be a jackass. As a tenant am I supposed to be like «Hey, man, who I have to rely on to fix shit in my apartment… actually, my friend is super cool, and you’re a frikkin dick»???
(3) he kept my deposit after leading me to believe that he would return it. I don’t care about it that much, except the method he used in order to keep it, involved my staying slightly longer than I would have otherwise. If I knew I’d be losing my $ 1000 deposit anyway, I’d have just moved out without giving the 30 day notice, and you can feel free to use that $ 1000 to pay rent til you find a new tenant. And to be clear, the contract and law was on his side, so he did no wrong, legally. He just made several subtle lies.
Check out Unilocal’s 2 (as of 4÷24÷2013) censored reviews as well. One of them is a low star rating that agrees with this.
Oh yeah, as for the apartments themselves, they’re decent. What you see is what you get. The main thing you won’t notice is that there are actually super noisy garbage trucks that will wake you up – it is impossible to sleep past 8AM. And they will tell you «Oh this side of the building is actually quiet because of XYZ…» But its actually both sides and all floors which are noisy. What they’re doing there is bringing up an objection before it comes up (basic sales tactic), which was funny as I after looking at the apartment in person, saw a comment saying something like «Its noisy here» online, so I actually really did conclude «Oh I guess its like Rob said, the other side is noisy».
I will say, the nicest thing about the whole situation was their lease was pretty flexible. 6 months, and it was «semi month to month» — which means if you wanted to break it in the first 6 months, that was fine, except you wouldn’t be due back your deposit.
Yup, housing in the bay area is a pain in the butt, and the management at the Oak View Apartments doesn’t make it any easier. :D

I absolutely love living in Oak View! This is a quiet, gorgeous and clean place to live. Robert, the property manager and his father (they both live here) do a great job at taking care of the residents.
Of course, like in every home, there are things to repair from time to time, but our requests are answered pretty quickly. There is absolutely nothing negative I can say about this place. I highly recommend it to everybody who is looking for a HOME and not just a place to rent. Views are stunning in many of the apartments and I can see the bay from my balcony. LOVE OAK VIEW!!! Deserves five stars and more!!!

I too have been a long time renter. I’ve rented a studio here. Studios are small, but nice and face the freeway. I moved after my rent continued to increase each year.
Would not trust the management here. They have strict, odd rental rules and they try to keep as much of your deposit as possible.