Even though it is situated so close to UCSD, the vibe from the management is strongly anti-student. Short-tempered, condescending, and downright rude at times, I suppose "the management" thinks it's an easy way to keep tenants from talking to "the management" about "the management's" mismanaged responsibilities. Somehow, as a tenant, you are always wasting the management's time by being in the office, or by calling with a repair request, or by asking a question, regardless of what it's about. The management is constantly begrudging tenants, because "the management" is so busy taking care of more important things. This was apparent from the very beginning after going over the housing contract. I'd really like to know what the management does besides sit behind a desk all day stressed out, yelling at college students. The only thing I know the management does really well is cash my rent checks. The parking is a problem unless you only have one car for the apartment. If you have more than one, you'll need to get a school permit to park in the Regents parking lot. And if you have more than two, don't expect to get anything but a $250 towing bill from the oh-so-friendly management. For college students, the location is prime, as long as you are willing to put up with excessive noise and the aforementioned lousy management. Every day, anywhere between 5 and 10 Air Force jets fly directly overhead, creating a truly deafening sound as the canyon provides the perfect resonance chamber. The local police and fire stations are a block away, and every call that goes to them is heard right outside your window. Luckily, there are also two hospitals half a mile down Genesee, so every ambulance that doesn't take the freeway to an emergency can receive your silent blessing. On a good day, when there are only a handful of sirens and sonic booms, you can appreciate the fact that Genesee is one of the busiest rush hour streets in the area. The rent is reasonably cheap compared to other local complexes and deservedly so. The place reaks of cheapness. As a college student, I don't really mind, except that the cheap countertops absorb everything you set on them and the cheap bathtub likewise is easily stained (ritual cleaning is necessary) and the cheap carpet is really quite thin (the nails can be felt in the floorboards when walking barefoot) and the cheap cottage cheese ceiling crumbles at your touch and the cheap paint job is splattered on every doorhandle and the cheap walls are thin enough to hear the neighbor's heavy footsteps and the cheap maintenance workers won't fix anything without breaking something else and somehow fail to leave the "fixed" thing any better off than when it was broken. I thought I didn't mind; I guess it's the little things. Our "newly redone" apartment had a leaky fridge, two leaky sinks, a leaky sliding glass door, and a beautiful, cascading flood of a leak through the top of the kitchen cabinets when the upstairs toilet was flushed on a hot day. Now, of course, our apartment has a leaky fridge, one self-repaired (with tape) leaky sink, a self-repaired (with tape, paper towels, and parts of a cereal box) leaky sliding glass door, and a beautiful, gaping hole where the top of our kitchen cabinets opens onto the water drainage pipes. The management is content. It is nice to have a balcony, and there is a commendable amount of storage space. I happen to have a lot of stuff, so I can appreciate this, but it would likely go unnoticed otherwise due to the smallish nature of the apartment. The pros and cons of a two-story versus a one-story place are self-explanatory; however, it's worth noting that I've hit my head more than once on the low overhang of the stairs and now prefer one story. Proximity to campus cannot be beat, and it is a great convenience. This is good, because studying in the din of the apartment complex is fruitless. As a student, I am conflicted about my final judgement on this place as a small blunder or a sanity-threatening mistake. Maybe if you got lucky, it would work out perfectly for a year or two of stress-free class attendance and non-stop Geisel parties, but then you would still have to deal with the knowledge that every month you hand $1400 over to the condescending, power-tripping, uncompassionate and antagonistic "management", who could give a rat's assets about how pleasant it's been for you. I might be willing to pay $1600 for a nicer place. I don't know about $1800. That's pretty much what it comes down to. I rented from summer '07 through summer '08. ...