We purchased in 2006 and have been very happy there. The community was built in the 90s so it's…read morerelatively new, and the townhomes are attractive with vaulted ceilings, gas fireplaces, and modern amenities. The community itself has nice landscaping and includes a beautiful new garden area with BBQs, swimming pool (free for residents), rock garden, waterfall, etc. There's also a nice children's playground immediately nearby with jungle gyms, slides, sandbox, etc. There's a bus stop immediately outside the entrance of the community that takes you to the Pentagon City metro. To encourage green transportation, residents receive $20 pre-paid metro cards every quarter. If you prefer to drive, you can be on 395 within literally two minutes after leaving the community. Each townhome has a two-car garage, but you can rent additional spaces if you need a semi-permanent additional space (for example, for a long-term visitor or a nanny who might visit every day). About a mile down the road is historic Fort Ward Park, which features picnic areas, an outdoor performance theater, a Civil War museum, jogging tracks, park rangers, etc. It's very nice and scenic. About a mile in the other direction is the Alexandria campus of NoVA community college, so there's no shortage of dogwalkers, babysitters, etc for hire. It's also convenient to drop by the campus during the week-end and take classes in photography, foreign languages, arts, etc. if you have the time and interest. However, the campus is far enough away that the students are never a problem. There's a nice profile in the Washington Post that has more info, and can be viewed here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032300892.html Hope this review was helpful!

If you're considering buying or renting here, I would think twice about it based on your parking…read moreneeds. I have rented here for about 28 months. We live in one of the large walk up town homes and pay a premium for it. The first year we lived here, there was never guest parking and there were constantly the same seemingly abandoned cars there every day. Some of them not moving for weeks at a time. We complained about it, but that was never addressed. Fast forward a year and it's now the complete opposite. No one is allowed in guest parking. We have a child care worker that comes to our home Monday - Friday from 10AM until 6PM. Possibly the most underutilized guest parking times that exists. 98% of the time she parked in the visitor lot nearest our place, there was no one else there. She came after visitors left, and was gone before they arrived. However the parking "police" of the HOA took issue with it and decided to begin harassing us with threats to tow. We tried to utilize our owners and other neighbors to petition the HOA to give us an exemption of some sort, but there was zero help. The next closest legal street parking is not even remotely close enough. We've had to bum driveways space from neighbors and this has ultimately led to our moving out of here. It's way too expensive to have such poor management and leadership from a HOA. It's been maddening. I hadn't read the other one star reviews, and I think it's only fair that I say this is a gorgeous and unique neighborhood for where it is, and it is extremely safe. My problems are with the management, which unfortunately have overshadowed any of the positives. Again, if you don't have child care, elder care, dependent care, friends, family, or an extended visit from the Jehovahs Witnesses, you'll likely find this to be a fine community.

Went to file an architectural change today and discovered a few things about RVRA:…read more1. Google Maps shows an office less than a mile from my home. That office is not staffed. Wondering who pays the rent for that real estate. 2. They only review changes once a month. Of course, the meeting for this month just happened so at least four weeks till the next. I guess that gives me plenty of time to fill out the forms. 3. And finally, my standard gripe about HOAs: A home down the street has been missing a porch lamp for over ten years. If the goal is to prevent property decay, doesn't seem the HOA is effective.

If you are looking to buy in this area, I would not suggest the Windy Hill community, unless you…read moreare willing to try and get yourself on the HOA and overturn the current members. The current board lacks common sense, courtesy, and compassion. We recently sold our town house in the Windy Hill community. We paid to $250 for the management company to send us our 'certified' HOA papers. However, before they would send this they sent us a list of items that needed to be complete, including: 1. Painting the front door an 'approved color' (note we inherited this door when we bought it 3 years ago). When we looked at the list we saw the color of our door was listed, so we didn't paint (we completed all other items). The board brought a sample of 1 color listed on their documents and said we were not in compliance, the management company wrote back that our door was not the color they brought over, but was black. We replied, yes which is the first color listed in the approved colors below. They clearly wanted us to paint it a specific color, but because this was in their documents they had to let it go, but they had their revenge. 2. Painting the pillars a specific paint color of Duron paint that is no longer made. We color matched from the current formula, but after painting it the board came back and said it was not approved. Given that most homes close within 30 days we were naturally in a time crunch. In our specific situation it was even worse, because we had a vacation scheduled for our closing date and were gone the last 2 weeks before the closing. The board compounded our issue because they didn't email us about these changes until 2 days after they met. They didn't say the pillars were the wrong color, so at 10pm the night before we left my husband went back to the house and put another coat of paint on the pillars. A few days later (while on vacation we heard from the management company that the pillars were 'more lemony' than the formula we were given, and they then added another item to our list of things to fix that was not on the original list. My husband was able to get in touch with a handyman who knew the area and after $600 we had them painted. Again, we asked the board for their approval ( it took 4 days to get them to look at it, any they were aware our closing date was that week). We got their approval on the pillars, but they again added another item not on the list. This was 2 days before our closing. We did not get our certified papers until the day of closing. This collective group of bullies almost cost us the sale of our home (tell me how does that help home values in your neighborhood)? And I am aware they did this to at least one other family whose husband was transferred to Houston. Even the management company couldn't understand, why the board was being so unreasonable but the board the board informed us they were doing us a 'favor' because they are only obligated to look at these improvements once a month (again think about how quickly it takes to close on a property). The current board is not doing anything to help the current residents, they are obsessed with the tiny amount of power they have in the world and they use it to make other people's lives miserable.

From the owner: We are a small community located in Alexandria, Virginia, just a short drive from Washington, DC…read more Our community is made up of condominiums, townhomes and single family homes. We have a tot lot, a swimming pool and a clubhouse available for our residents.

" We didn't get back to you because we manage 12 other neighborhoods. " If you hire this company to…read moremanage your neighborhood then get use to hearing excuses like this. The VP of operations seems to be operating the company from a bar stool because only 1/3 of items requested are completed. Also we have had more community managers in one year than I can count Rippy, Dorina, Hailey, Nadia... each one either left the company or moved on to other things which tells me a lot. American Management can not keep employees likely because they treat them worse than the contracted neighborhoods.

Kudos to Rippy Gill / AMV, who took over our account in mid-January, hit the ground running, and…read morehas continued to deliver since! Her can-do attitude, courtesy, genuine efforts to help, and overall responsiveness are much appreciate. - Gary Burns, President, Terrace Townhouses of Beverly Hills, Alexandria VA

The reps are always timely, professional and courteous. However, on the back office end they have…read moretrouble communicating customer needs to the representatives. I once called about an ant infestation that developed overnight needing immediate attention. The girl on the phone said no reps were available in my area for a few days. I walked outside to get the mail a few minutes later and one of their reps was right next door answering an ant infestation call. I asked him if they told him to come to my house too and he said no, but he gladly addressed my problem on the spot. (That's where they list a star from me.) Besides that they do a good job. I always get a call, text or email the night before.

This has to be one of the worst HOA's I have ever encountered. Extremely rude, unprofessional,…read moreentitled lazy employees who are incompetent at their jobs. we have a massive water leak on our street and when you address it with the HOA they dismiss the complaints refuse to speak to the residents about our concerns. They refuse to come out and clean up the water leakage on the common ground area which is now leaking into the parking lot because the ground is so saturated. I will be filing a complaint with the county and seek legal advice. I wish Yelp allowed me to attach a video of this massive water leak that has gone on for over two months now.

I've overall been pleased with the Lake Ridge community as a whole. It has great amenities and is…read moreoverall quiet. It's the HOA I've been having a problem with. The first time I contacted them about the constant trash piles with large bulk items being thrown out on the curb all the time it was handled within 24 hours. Now the 2nd time I've contacted them in a month I'm still looking at the trash over a week later. Not only is it an eye sore, but it's been a safety hazard for our kids to play outside with the other neighbor kids. Just walking to the mailbox the current hot water heater that's been there for 3 weeks almost fell over on my toddler. I stated this in the email I sent regarding the current mess and nothing's been done. I also received a personal email back, so it's not like it's been "lost". Finally my husband went out and moved it where it's not so much a problem, but it shouldn't even have to be done. HOA should have taken care of this immediately when the safety of a child is called into question. These particular neighbors immediately pile large broken furniture, junky toys, and broken appliances outside as soon as the trash is picked up. There is never a time when there isn't big mounds of trash out there. Yet the HOA disregards it. It's like a trash dump on our street and it's ridiculous I have to pay to look at this ghetto mess. We were planning to buy a home in Lake Ridge this spring, but will definitely be looking elsewhere since I refuse to pay for the HOA not to monitor the neighborhoods as they should!m