Villa Salerno at Desert View

I came here and toured the property with my roommate. I have never been crazy about the area, the whole Tatum and Bell block is probably the most ghetto part of the PV neighborhood. Not to mention the fact that it feels like an Indian Village has taken over the intersection. Not trying to hate on the Indians, but dude come on… They have completely taken over Tatum and Bell, all the way up to 56^th st…
We decided not to move in because they were asking more than $ 1,000.00 in rent for a half-​way renovated two bedroom. We were really shocked when the leasing agent showed us the pricing! I’m sorry, but I can move 10 minutes east, to Scottsdale for a grand a month! It really doesn’t matter how renovated they are, it’s just the area. I am not going to pay $ 1,000.00, $ 900.00, or even shy of $ 800.00 a month to live across the street from a Walmart, Home Depot, and a 24 hour Subway!

Lived here for 3 years. It was great until we got new owners. We were forced to pay an extra $ 850 fee that built up month to month even though they made the mistake to not put it on our bill when I would go to the front office EACH month to see exactly what I owed. They are making the grounds nicer just to charge more on what are mediocre apartments. The staff honestly doesn’t seem to care about customer satisfaction. The last owners actually seemed to care about renters and their cares. After me and my roommate disagreed with our treatment the management seemed to hold a grudge against us. Stay classy Salerno.

VERY POOR SECURITY. My girl friend’s car was broken into twice in the same week!
Not only did they break the lock, but they also took a lot of personal mementos.
Move here at your own risk.
Asking the management for ANYTHING is like trying to get a drink of water at a Concentration Camp.

I lived in Villa Salerno starting in 2009 and left just this year (2013). The experience with the staff was great when I had first moved in. I’d never had any problems with them before, nor them with me. However, just in 2012 new management took over and ever since then the customer service has gone down in quality (most staff members were nice but some were downright passive aggressive). Also, financially speaking I felt taken advantage of. My roommate and I would go down to the office at the end of each month to pay rent. When we would ask how much we owed the staff they never bothered giving us the full amount. Apparently there were extra fees tacked onto our rent that we didn’t know about. This went on for over 6 months, when finally one day we were slapped with a HUGE fine (seriously, I’m talking over $ 700). When we asked why we weren’t told about this the best reply we received was «it was a glitch in our computer system». I’ve been a business owner for over 10 years, and if there is one thing I know, it’s this: If a business messes up the customer should NEVER have to pay for the business’s mistakes. I honestly felt as if it was the office’s mistake, but they refused to own up to their responsibility. They also refused to revoke the fine and threatened to sell the debt to a creditor.

I lived at Villa Salerno from February 08 to December 09 and I must say that I truly had a great experience. Like any place you live, there will be a few neighbors who might drive you crazy, however the «quad» I lived in was very quiet. The entire staff at Villa Salerno were great. The women in the rental office were fabulous and the maintenance crew would always take of any thing I needed done within 24 hours of me putting in a work order. I am still referring people to Villa Salerno because of the great service I received. So if you are in the area and looking for a great place to live, check out Villa Salerno. You just may find the place you were looking for.
P. S. The only reason I moved was due to the fact that I bought a house. Otherwise I would probably still be living there.

**Until Janauary 2008 known as Pillar at Desert View**
For most of my 3 ½ years with this apartment complex I would have rated it around 4 stars, but the end was a nightmare. I will condense this as much as I can…
We did not renew our lease (with Pillar at the time) and when we bought a house near the end of our lease were told we could give 60 days (while still under the lease) or 30 days after our lease was up. We did not renew, and became a month to month tenant, and accepted the one month extra rent +$ 200 (which was to be a glorified storage shed for that month).
Within those 30 days the complex was bought out by Villa Salerno and when we called to schedule our final walk through we were told «60 days no matter what, we know what the old management told you and we are not obligated to honor that. A lot of people are having the same problem.»
So I went to the office to verify the date on our move out form and to speak with someone a little more helpful than the gentleman on the phone and they said our last day was that day and took our keys and let me sign the final papers.
Fast forward a week later, we receive a bill for $ 1100+ citing insufficient notice. Another discussion in person with management citing AZ tenant law (month to month contracts may be terminated with only 30 days notice, whether it be by tenant or landlord) they finally conceded and only charged $ 98 for some other balance on the account. I didn’t care, it was enough to pay to never have to deal with them ever again.
So moral of the story, know you tenant law! A contract means squat if it directly violates the law.