Kirkham Heights Apartments

As a tenant for the past 7 months i cant say enough about how impressive this place is.
The apartments are very clean and well maintained, the view is awesome.
Pros: Maintenance team available ²⁴⁄₇ to assist you, great location very close to UCSF and a lot of attractions on Irving. Muni is walking distance.
Michelle the property manager is very good at keeping up with all requests and concerns. Move-​in and move out were very smooth and painless.
Making payments was hassle free and their rates beat the entire market. Parking is available. Laundry rooms in every building. MOST IMPORTANTLY VERY VERY VERY VERY SAFE neighborhood, never had any issues, everyone is so quiet and respectful. Neighbors r very friendly and welcoming. View from the top is awesome.
Cons: the development is built on a hill which makes the walk back home but thats no problem if you drive n is a good physical activity if you don’t.
I am sadly parting with this place and neighborhood which has become a part of me… definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to live in an awesome place in the city. If am ever back in SF would definitely rent here again.
Thanks Michelle and thanks Kirkham Heights.

Have lived here 2.5 years now, and would definitely recommend it as a place to live, of course depending on your needs:
Positives: very quiet, I rarely hear neighbors or any outside commotion whatsoever. My unit was completely renovated right before I moved in so the appliances, sinks, flooring and so forth is pretty modern. Have had almost nothing go wrong in the apartment in that 2.5 years. My living room and bedroom both have a distant ocean view (some units can see GG Bridge) as well as a very good city view, with more of a forest view out back. Get a lot of fresh air from the forest and being up and away from traffic. Being that it’s not on a street, there’s no thru-​traffic to hear or contend with. Pretty easy walking distance to UCSF, Irving, bus and N-​Judah routes. Great for an inside cat with the interesting wildlife to look at out the window. Very safe place… have never had to worry about packages left outside my door or people messing with my car. Management and maintenance are easy to deal with. Rent is subject to rent control maximum hikes. I had looked at several places in the neighborhood and it seemed to me that rent was fairly priced here, including a reasonable carport fee if you have a car (and available extra storage if you have extra stuff). Rent is easily paid via direct withdrawal each month.
Negatives: my unit has a shortage of electrical outlets (solved by power strips). If you’re up the hill, it’s a fairly steep hill you’ll have to climb when you walk places. Nothing Kirkham Heights can do about this but obviously the Sunset district gets its share of fog and cold rolling in off the ocean. Most of unit (except kitchen and bathroom) is carpet, whereas I’d prefer all hardwood/​tile. Bathroom is a bit small, and closet-​space in general is slightly smaller than one might expect for the unit size. There are a few rooms with no overhead light (bedroom and living room) so you’ll have to have a few floor lamps.
Overall, I would definitely give Kirkham Heights a thumbs up and would recommend living here if the many positives outweigh the few negatives.

I’ve lived at Kirkham Heights for a year, and for the most part like it quite a bit. I’ve got an ocean view, cheap carport parking, access to a full time maintenance man, a spacious 1 bedroom apartment, a backyard area that opens out onto Mt. Sutro and a lot of peace and quiet right in the city.
My only real complaint is that my heater and windows could use updating, making the place a little cold.
I think some of the negative reviewers are essentially just crazy people; who rents an apartment sight unseen? While it’s possible that the front desk manager was rude, she’s always been very nice to me.

As a resident of Kirkham Heights for this past year, I cannot say enough wonderful things about my time here, about the amazing sunsets over the pacific ocean, and especially about the friendly onsite manger Yolanda. I have appreciated all of the efforts of the management team to keep this place clean and beautiful. Also, It’s unbelievably quiet; all of these trees have soundproofing effect. I am now leaving for residency and job in southern California; I will miss this place!

I just called Kirkam Heights, and some crazy pissed off woman who has obviously not gotten laid in years picked up the phone. «Thank you for calling Kirkam Heights.»
I had a few questions about the place — just regular, run-​of-​the-​mill questions about whether the place had a washer/​dryer, how large the room was, and if the place had a kitchen. When I asked about the kitchen, I was met with this f – ed up, bitchy response (said in the tone of someone who obviously has a thorn the size of Mt. Everest up her a$$): «Of *course* we have a kitchen. It’s a one BR apartment.» Like I was some sort of idiot for asking. Her tone with me on the entire phone call was condescending, pissed off, and very rude.
LADY, You’re trying to rent a place, not piss everyone off who calls and is interested in a place. It sounded like I was asking if I could sell her first-​born into slavery or something. DO NOT RENT FROM THESE PEOPLE. If the management company is that terrible in the first interaction, IMAGINE what would happen if you had a leaky faucet and wanted it fixed. I’d imagine her response would be, «If you want to live in Kirkham Heights, you’ll have to deal with a leaky faucet. If you don’t like it why don’t you just move your a$$ out.»
I repeat: SAVE YOURSELF A TON OF TROUBLE AND DO NOT RENT FROM THESE PEOPLE.

I am a current resident and wanted to add a more positive take on the experience here. Positives include: 1) fabulous view of ocean and trees and lots of quiet that comes from being up on Mt. Sutro. Try to live further up on the hill if possible to have these benefits. 2) Cheap parking ($ 50) in a dedicated carport or lot space. 3) Very close to UCSF and the sunset 4) Maintenence men are full-​time so work gets done very quickly. 5) The leasing process was very fair. So long as you meet income requirements and credit check, they will rent to you, without comparing applications from multiple people, and the security deposit is less than half a month’s rent.
To respond to other concerns raised: The apartments are older, but we found our unit to be well-​maintained when we moved in last summer. Carpet was brand new (and doesn’t shed lint balls like the new carpet in our previous apartment), new linoleum, and the whole apartment was repainted cleanly. The bathroom and kitchen were very clean, though they have done a «refinishing» of the tile counters that gives them a more uneven surface than plain tile.
It’s true there is no dishwasher or garbage disposal, and certain things like the kitchen cabinets show the apartment’s age. But the 1 BD floorplan is large, with nice windows, and we have been quite happy here.
My advice: make sure to look at the actual apartment that you are renting, preferably after it has been renovated and is ready to go.

As a resident of Kirkham Heights for many years, I have to give a positive recommendation for this place. Even though I’ve added a man and a cat to my life since moving in, we can’t quite bring ourselves to move to a bigger place — who would give up this view?! Sun and trees out the windows on one side, ocean and park out the other.
Free covered parking space is included. Since 5^th is a dead-​end street, it’s amazingly quiet… we feel like we’re in another city altogether (a much more peaceful one!). A quick 1-​block walk to the buses or 2-​block walk to the N-​Judah. The one-​bedroom apartment sq ft measurements include the small outdoor storage closets, which do boost the calculations.
When I was considering moving in here, while still living on the East Coast and trying to secure an apartment, I spoke with two ladies who had lived in my building for decades. You don’t get people sticking around for that long unless they’re on to something good!

WHAT A NIGHTMARE.
I foolishly signed up to lease an apartment at Kirkham Heights, site unseen. (The landlord couldn’t show me a unit, but instead showed me a brochure with pictures and floorplans — don’t fall for this!) The brochure is a big fat lie. The apartments are advertised as being 783 sq. feet (HUGE for a one-​bedroom in SF), but when I finally got to see the unit (2 weeks later!) I discovered it was waaaay smaller. I had to go there myself with a tape measure to figure out that the true square footage was 630. That’s the difference of an entire 2^nd bedroom.
Considering the condition of the building, there was NO WAY I was gonna pay $ 1650 for that size one-​bedroom (not to mention my furniture wouldn’t even fit).
Too bad I had already signed a pre-​lease agreement…
I went all the way to the top to try to get my money back. The VP/​GM of the property, Steve McDonald, ADMITTED that they lie in the brochure, but still refused to give me my money back. Now he won’t return my calls.
Super shady.
Had I known how much time/​money I would waste dealing with these people I would NEVER have answered that ad.
Take a lesson from me. AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!