I'll start with the conclusion: I wouldn't live here again, and I wouldn't recommend it to others. Our unit also had issues with a leak a month after moving in, like other reviewer Nicholas mentioned - I'm not sure if Nicholas was our upstairs neighbor, or if there is just a serial spree of leaks and plumbing issues, but worth noting. After living here for 4 weeks, we were relocated to a nearby hotel for 3 weeks for leak renovations - the leasing office was very responsive and helpful during that time for what it's worth, and our renter's insurance covered all costs. Still frustrating to live out of a hotel for 3 weeks. We frequently have bugs and critters in our unit and garage. Spiders in the garage are expected, but we had a cricket infestation and frequently saw roaches. The first pest control call did not successfully address the crickets, but the second call did. We still get the occasional roach in the garage. Inside the apartment, we see at least one spider, silverfish, or other bug I can't identify per day. It's not overwhelming, but I've never had issues with bugs to this extent in any place we've lived before (including Anacapa + Centerpointe, also in Irvine). Most recently, my partner's car was towed overnight, which was parked next to the mailbox (a valid parking spot when we moved in). Turns out this, and other spots nearby, are no longer parking spots after the road was repaved - we were never notified this was the case, and $425 in towing fees later we learned that lesson the hard way. After notifying management and asking if this change was communicated to residents (and also unsuccessfully asking for reimbursement...), we received a response that did not take responsibility at all for failing to communicate this change. You can see for yourself on Google Maps in street view (particularly May 2024): the black truck, green Rav4, and gray/blue jeep are all parked in the fire lane (as you can see from signs next to the spots), BUT THE APARTMENT HAS PAINTED PARKING SPACES IN THE FIRE LANE ANYWAYS! I've attached a screenshot demonstrating the painted spots in a fire lane. We have parked in these spots no problem for 9 months, then after a repaving they were no longer spots and you may be towed. With how tight parking can be (even with a parking pass!), it is a tremendous risk to live here if you have two cars. It wasn't all bad though! We really liked the location - it's nice to be able to walk to get groceries, a coffee, to the nearby parks, or a loop towards and around San Paulo (which is where the leasing office is actually! there is no onsite leasing office for San Mateo, if that matters to you). We were directly across from the gas station, and there wasn't _too_ much noise, though at least once a month you do hear a car accident in that intersection due to the unprotected lefts (drive carefully!). I also thought the maintenance folks here were top notch - very fast to respond to problems, and always happy to do the job no matter how trivial/difficult. For the price, I think you could do worse in Irvine, but you can absolutely do better. We only lived here for 10 months as of time of writing (I guess 9 months with the time spent in the hotel during leak renovation), but to encounter this many little issues in that time? I'd probably look elsewhere. read more

San Mateo Apartment Homes - apartment has painted parking spaces in fire lane - residents reasonably assume they can park there until told otherwise - Apartments Near Me - Irvine, California

Would not recommend this apartment complex. Within days of moving in, we experienced a major leak. Management initially told us it would take 3 days to repair, but the issue dragged on for 9 days instead. Throughout the process, communication was poor, updates were inconsistent, and management was rude and dismissive rather than helpful. Dealing with a significant maintenance issue is frustrating enough without being treated poorly by the people responsible for resolving it. Very disappointing experience overall. read more

Omar is one of the top maintenance people here at San Mateo. He's always very helpful and efficient which makes any of the problems I have with my apt a walk in the park! read more

The manager there is very unprofessional. He is rude and stupid, not seeking to help residents fix the problem in the apartment unit, while tenants are paying so much for that tiny apartment. read more

Straight up hate where I live. The construction noises are so loud and they put a hole through my wall during it. My lease ending can't happen soon enough. Avoid avoid avoid read more

Service Maintenance is great! Our repairman Jonathan was able to fix our service really fast. He was very informative and went beyond on repairing one of our doors. read more

A lot of fleas! I signed my lease in April 2019 and moved my furnitures in the apartment in May. During my move-in, I got terrible fleas bites. I haven't live in the apartment for the whole May but only come by four times to kill fleas and I set a flea trap. San Mateo also sent pest control company twice. When I actually live in the apartment on May 29, 2019, my trap caught two alive fleas. Before renting the apartment, I was told that the carpet was brand new. Obviously, they lied to me. DO NOT believe Angie. She was the person who rent the apartment to me. Be very careful if you wanna rent an apt in San Mateo. Here is the update. In the morning on May 30, 2019, I went to San Mateo office. Ron offered the third treatment and explained to me that nobody lied to me. He said my carpet was new and Angie was not a lier. He does not know why my new carpet has fleas. I don't know whether I should believe or not. I decide to do the treatment to see how things going. Although San Mateo covered all the fleas treatment, I paid rent over a month for an apartment which I cannot stay in (because of the fleas). And I have to vacuum the apt many many times which wasted my time. Everything else of San Mateo is good. They have quick response, great maintenance people, quiet and good environment, perfect location, but I just be careful when you plan to rent in San Mateo. When you rent, ask more questions and visit apt which you are going to rent in person. read more

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Maintenance team at San Mateo is amazing. All the guys are super friendly and very responsive to maintenance requests. Yovany helped me out with two different requests and was very communicative and professional. Gives my boys a raise read more

I chose to move to San Mateo for the first time back in 2017; it was the ideal Irvine location for me. However, back in the day, the resident services office wasn't up to par. I had several issues with my leaking ceiling, which led to me switching units. Fast forward to 2021, when I decided to move back to San Mateo (obviously, my experience wasn't all that awful). I genuinely do love the location and the apartment layouts. And this time, I was able to snag a great unit at a great rate pre-inflation pricing. This time around, their resident services office has been incredibly responsive and even installed a bike rack near my team at my request, which I greatly appreciate. The only con that I have is that during a two-month period, the complex had to do so many inspections that it was starting to interfere with my work-from-home setup; it was necessary but just very inconvenient. But, I recognize that they need to do these things to keep the apartments in code and up-to-date. Also, the maintenance team has been very responsive to my requests and fixes things promptly. I am truly enjoying my stay here at San Mateo and am thankful to the team for their responsiveness. read more

Our family rents two apartments in the San Matteo community in Irvine and during the last week we have needed a lot of stuff done i.e. plumbing, raking leaves, Air conditioning issues, changing lightbulbs, etc. and the resident office and maintenance crew came through for us big time. So here's a shout out to these wonderful people who work so hard on our behalf. If I leave anybody out, please forgive me. Thank you Manager Rob and this amazing staff that are so talented and helpful: Anai, Dynasty, Erika, Janella, Miguel, Ricardo, Gil, Jaime, Cesar, Geovani, Anna, Juan, Hamilton, Fernando. Roberta, Nick, Jackie, Mia read more

To anyone considering relocating there. There are been multiple instances of residents with mentally ill residents and it's not uncommon to see police vehicles in the complex every few days with domestic disturbance complaints. If piece of mind is important to you I would look elsewhere, which is what I plan to do as soon as lease ends. A++ for the maintenance folks but otherwise I would stay away. read more

Yovany was great, he was so quick, he knows what he is doing, and very friendly. Thank you Yovany!

Jonathan, Yovany, and Omar were incredibly helpful in servicing our unit and resolved the issues the day they were requested.

The maintenance team at San Mateo, specifically Ana is extremely nice and helpful. She is always ready to help or answer any questions with a big smile on her face. It is nice during stressful days to walk around and meet people like her. The rest of the team is also really nice. Every time we file a maintenance request, they are very fast to come to the apartment and fix the problem very professionally. Thank you! read more

My husband and I live in San Leon for almost two years. We live in the loft. Love it!!! Layout & Apartment: Perfect layout for the couple even with 1 kid. We love the big windows with sunshine. It is amazing that we live in an apartment home and still get pretty good privacy. The building is right next to the other one but we only see trees when we look through the window. Environment: Beautiful neighborhood and friendly neighbors. The maintenance crew is anyways on the top. We apprentice their service so much. They are professional and always keep work area clean before they leave. Parking: We have trouble with parking all the time. Day time is totally fine. Lots of spots open. However, It is so hard to find a spot at night time and weekend. Some household has so many ppl and many cars. My husband and I had to move the cars and switching the parking permit every night depends on who gets home late... Five stars for the maintenance crew and beautiful apartment and environment, not for parking!! read more

The upkeep and grounds are very good. Just wait until you move out. I left the apartment is great condition and I was expecting money back from my security deposit. I found out that I owe money !!!!! they claim that they use top contractors to recondition the apartment. They also send my account to collections. I will share my story with the rest of the world. San Mateo Irvine California is good to when move in but not good to ( me at least ) when I moved out. Thank goodness we have freedom of speech here so I can Share with the rest of the world. You will see how many likes on this review which also a great indication of what others may have experienced at San Mateo Apartments in Irvine California which as of this date of writing this review is part of the Irvine Company. read more

My experience in these apartments has been magnificent. It's truly a beautiful place to live in with great staff and maintenance support I wanted to give a shout out to Anita! She is always so kind, greets me every morning. She makes sure to meet standards and goes beyond with her hospitality and cleanliness. Very hard working individual!! Please let her know my mom and I appreciate all she does. read more

The maintenance team here is always supportive and quick. Special mention to Yovani who is an awesome guy. He not only fixes stuff but stays to make sure things are actually fixed. Love the maintenance team here. Guys are very polite and helpful. People like Yovani make you live tension-free. read more

I'm sharing my negative experience from living at San Mateo apartments to make the public aware of what I've been through. 1. There's lots of spiders, roaches, centipedes, and rats. I've gone through 3 cycles of pesticides at my apartment and the bugs have not gone away. The man who came to conduct the pesticide sprays told me that there will always be bugs and rodents at my apartment because of all the bushes around the complex and the river creek attracts them. 2. My amazon and usps packages have been stolen and this is out of management's hands. I had to call the police to file a police reports for each incident. 3. I know garages have been broken into. Police recommends placing video surveillance cameras within your garage to protect your valuables and to record keep all serial numbers of all your belongings for them to make an arrest. 4. The siren of firefighters is loud because the fire station is around the corner from here. You can also hear when your neighbor takes a shower because the water pipes are not insulated. I think they did this to cut down on costs. 5. The stackable washers do not fill up with water all the way to the top. They only fill up with water half way for water conservancy reasons. I was not made aware of this when I moved here which was a huge disappointment. 6. Windows are not double panned so dust, wind, and sound gets through. Which sucks if you have allergies. read more

Ramiro Alba is a great maintenance worker for the community.Hard worker with a smile . I have never seen BBq grills look so clean. The amenities including the gym and restrooms also so of the hard work that all throughout the community show. Thank you for your service! read more

Great place, the apartment's amenities are always nice and clean. The maintenance crew are great in particular Anna and Ricardo. They are both really helpful and want to make sure you are enjoying your time at home. The office people on the other hand is a different story. Some could be really helpful and others like main manager are not very professional when taking to their tenants. read more

Do NOT rent this place: 1. Super Expensive. 2. They will not tell additional fees until you move in. 3. Some officers/staff are very rude. 4. Different officers/staff will have different answers for you. And end up, you will be someone entangled with troubles. read more

I've lived in San Mateo for over 10 years now and the living conditions have gone downhill over the last few years for two reasons that make me want to move out asap: 1) NOISE. If you want to live in a very noisy place during weekdays, choose San Mateo. There is loud maintenance work every single day (tree trimming, roof work, stairwell replacements, asphalting, leaf blowing... you name it). You will live in a clean community where you cannot enjoy a day of silence during the week. I'd much rather live in a peaceful community even if there were 3 leaves on the ground. 2) RESTRICTIONS. COVID started and I understand that they needed to implement some new safety standards. All those safety standards have been defined around The Irvine Company staff's convenience. So residents have to adjust to the "new normal", but The Irvine Company staff doesn't. 2a) Pool restrictions. They claim that there is a new limit of 29 people at the pool, which I understand. As a result, they have reduced the swimming pool hours from 8AM-10PM to 10AM-5PM. Also, you can only reserve a spot at the swimming pool once a week for 1.5h. You cannot bring in ANY guests. You cannot reserve the pool after 11AM on the day you want to reserve it. They claim that they apply these measures to keep us safe. The truth is that in the 10 years I've lived in San Mateo I have never seen 29+ people at the same time at the pool. 2b) Tennis court restrictions. We can only book the court 10-5 during weekdays and 12-5 on Sundays. So if you have a regular work schedule of 8 to 5, forget about being able to play tennis at your own community. And if you want to play in the morning on Sunday, you won't be allowed because they are keeping us "safe"... I'm laughing at these rules as I type them up. So don't be fooled, they are not keeping us safer, they are keeping us from using the amenities we pay for (because they didn't reduce our rent as a result of COVID). They "kindly" offered a rent renewal to all residents at their current rate ("due to the harsh times, we are so awesome that we are allowing you to renew your lease at your current rate...") while they were offering apartments to new residents at lower rates than what all current residents I've talked to are paying right now. Talk about loyalty and caring about your residents. Ok, and now I will wait for management to read this review, reply to it apologizing (so they look like they actually care) and then do nothing to address their mistakes. read more

Update 4/17/17 So it's been about 6 months since my last update on parking here at this apartment complex and nothing has changed. I was contacted by Dinh after I had posted my last update about what could be done to help alleviate the parking and to be honest, other than being able to get a temporary permit for my sister when she visits, nothing else has changed. They do not ticket or patrol the area, and if they do, they don't follow up on the actions. There have been cars that I noticed parked for months on end with the occasional movement from one spot to another and nothing is done about that. People also use their garages as storage so it takes up more parking spaces and nothing is done about that. They say they do garage inspections, but that's like maybe twice a year and it's announced. People who live here are also inconsiderate and park in two spaces, especially the big trucks and commercial vehicles, and nothing is done about that. I even notice people from San Remo park here and walk to their apartment complex. Every time I contact the Resident Office concerning the parked vehicles, it's a "Yes, we're looking into that." But nothing gets done. I've also tried calling the Resident Office, asking what should I do when I come home and there's no parking for me. All I got was to call the Courtesy Patrol, which doesn't help either. There needs to be a system where every tenants' car is registered and those parking overnight in the streets or guest parking has to call in to register with the apartment it is associated with for the night. If not, it gets towed. I also have a noise issues, which has also escalated to calling the cops, but I'll delve into that next time. For a company that touts "Love where you live," they don't really do anything to make you feel that way. read more

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THIS REVIEW IS FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY!!! I've lived here for almost five years and all of the maintenance team has been so great (Jaime and the other gentleman!!!). However, there is one young man who stands out, to me, the most. And as I plan to move I wanted to give him a public thank you! Ricardo is the most amazing, helpful and caring maintenance technicians I've ever come across; out of all of the apartments I've ever lived in. He remembers you and your concerns and truly cares about your well-being & comfort, in your place. I was dealing with a personal issues (before COVID); he checked on me and my sister to make sure we were ok, until things got better. That's just the type of above and beyond human being he is!! Ricardo comes to answer our maintenance requests with such immediacy; and if he sees any other issues, he doesn't ignore them. He will let us know to put in an official request, so that he can come back, asap, to fix it. That's a benefit to the apartment owners because if it gets out of control it could cost them more money than needed. He truly has integrity & morals. I wish I could take him to the next apartment I move to because I see the reviews for these apartments today and their number one issue is maintenance not coming on time, if at all. Thank you Ricardo!! read more

Today I met the service manger Fernando, he took care of all items from out work order. I originally put the request for slow drain in my restroom only, I also asked Fernando to look at other concerns I had and with much profession and efficiency he completed all our concerns in a great and timely manner. I will recommend for the maintenance team. read more

I have lived at San Mateo apartment for two years and I am very pleased living here. The Resident Services staff has always been very helpful, friendly and prompt to respond to any question or need. The complex is conveniently located and well maintained. read more

Janella helped me with the entire move in and start up process and it was super helpful! She is super friendly, great with follow ups and she takes great care of resident's needs and questions. Made everything so easy for residents. Thank you Janella! Kaz read more

Do not recommend to live here. The office was completely unhelpful. My neighbor said we seemed to live in a slum !!!!!!!!!!! After 3 months bare, we don't want to bear such a noisy of huge construction anymore. We don't want to bear any second. The noisy drives us crazy. The noise came down all day, and I felt headache. I seldom had headaches. The sound of the drilling machine revolved in my sleep at night, making me sleepless. I need to see a doctor. Our HOME's major construction started after we moved in 1 month in Sept. There are at least 2 residents moved in at the same time like us. We have the same problems. We all felt that if we knew in advance that such a huge construction, we would not choose to live here. This situation is not fair. We signed the lease contract for the house and fell into a trap that required complete and unconditional house repairs. If it is general few days and quiet maintenance, we will accept it. But the entire building was removal of the entire staircase that was a major repair. We live on the site and have seriously affected everyone's life, health ,spiritual, safety. The house was not ready for rent, and the tenants have not been informed take such long time of the major repairs to the stairs and fences on the 1st to 3rd floors of the building. It has been 3 months and we can no longer bear it. We have not been informed of such a major repair before we signed lease agreement. The noise and unsafe environment of daily construction make us feel uncomfortable, unsafe and angry. This major repair should have been planned, but we signed lease without being told. If we knew it, we would not live in it. Neighbors in the same building have the same views. We tried to communicate with office, but nothing helped. read more

Erika was really helpful to have myself and my new roommate sign the lease today so last minute. She went above and beyond to make sure we are done on time to keep the renewal offer. read more

I highly recommend we live her for a year the maintenance excellent and the office so amazing the always get the phone and consider everything we really love it her read more

So far we've been living here for two years and maintenance has always been good to us. We did our own cleaning service when we moved in; we're just particular like that. We had the carpets and bathrooms deep cleaned when we moved in. I always make appointments for repairs and they have always come on time. They give you a time window and they have met it every time. Fernando was a great help recently and all the other guys have been extremely helpful as well. They always put covers on their shoes when they come in the apartment (never take this for granted)! It's an apartment and there's always going to be issues. It's just a matter of how they address the issues and I think they've done a fine job so far. I'll provide an update later if necessary. read more

The whole maintenance crew is always professional, keeping great attitudes on the hottest of days to the coldest. Special recognition to Mario who is always dependable and there when you need him. Thanks guys! read more

I would like to thank to all the team at San Mateo community but specially to "Ana " that lady is always on top of details and keep the community clean and organized than you for been so good at what you do !! read more

upon requesting an appointment for a self guided tour, everything went smoothly, from checking out the place, to the application process. the gentlemen who helped me was named James?mario? Super courteous and explained everything patiently, his great customer service got me excited about moving in to San Mateo and that it was a right choice. It was suuper clean before move in day(how it should always be) and it was all an easy process. Pros: - convenient location - brightly lit halls at night, I felt really safe living here. I've even spotted police patrolling our complex twice around 3am(bc that's usually the time burglaries happen) - parking spaces everywhere, I got my own garage. - you get your own mini balcony, which doesn't have privacy but it's still nice. - There's ALWAYS hot water. I never had an issue with hot water running out while showering. -maintenance crew shows up to fix repairs day of appointment created (depends how busy they are) but the 3 times I've put it in, it was always fixed the day of. they are on top of that Cons: -if you have allergies, this place might not be the most suitable place to live as there are cracks in the doors and windows. Not big enough for bugs to crawl through, but I can def feel the air breeze from the front door. And that time there was a fire in Irvine, my place REEKED of smoke. I had to use plastic wrap to block the tiny crevices in between the windows/doors to help with the smell of smoke bc it was THAT BAD. -WALLS ARE EXTREMELY THIN. You can hear your upstairs or downstairs neighbors if they are shouting. I generally can't hear that well, but boy are these walls too thin for me. My upstairs neighbors walk around like big foot and they stomp as they walk often waking me up at night. It even gets annoying during the day, that's how thin it is. I say it's a great place to live if you just starting off living in your own. it's pretty quiet here ( unless you have loud neighbors) Minus 1 star because there's too much gap in the doors/windows, it's definitely not ideal for people with allergies. Walls are pretty thin, I had a downstairs neighbor who was constantly shouting at his girlfriend and I could understand everything he was saying. Also, they can sweep a bit more often. The year that I was there, I think the stairs were swept only twice. read more

Soooooooo sick of hearing pounding, hammering and machines going off for two months straight for these new roofs. Come to find out they aren't going to be done until the end of November so I have to more months of getting no sleep. I'm slowing losing my sanity ...this is ridiculous for people who don't work the "average" 9-5 job. I don't care if you are keeping our apt aren't a up to date you should spread out the work and not do it all at once. Because it's annoying! Losing by mind, losing my sanity, and losing sleep ...I can't function anymore. BYE SAN MATEO while I take ten sleeping pills so I can sleep around here! NOT A VERY HAPPY RESIDENT!!! Oh, and you had some strange maintenance guy knock at my apt door and then no one answers so he just let's himself right in while I'm sleep next to the front door with my bedroom door open for no reason at all....no one gave you permission to enter!!!! Scared the shit out of me ....and you blamed it all on "miscommunication". Lies lies lies read more

ve been living in this apartment complex for 6 years now and have had a great experience so far. The resident service office is efficient and quick at responding to concerns or questions - Ian has been great and professional. Their maintenance team is also quick at responding to any service requests - thank you Jaime for your professional and great service. The only con about the complex would be not enough parking spots for visitors, but aside from that, I look forward to continuing my stay here. read more

I absolutely do not recommend. The management here is horrible. When I first moved in, they had me complete a separate parking addendum, when all the other paperwork was online. I requested, in writing, a copy of the paperwork multiple times. They never responded. In the 2 years I lived there, there were 9 major repairs, including my fridge dying and taking my food with it...twice (to which they offered a mere $200 credit and it took over a year to get. That did not cover the amount to restock my fridge even once.) I also had 2 floods, washer and sprinkler system. When I called out all the issues I was having I was told that I should EXPECT issues like this in older places. To which my response is: take some of the money from rent that you are gouging from your residents and put it to more than repaving the streets every year. Oh, and the parking paper work I never received? It was advising that there is no guest parking outside the hours of 8 am to 5 pm. All overnight guests need to have a parking pass from the San Remo office (even more inconvenient that we can't even pick it up from the on site leasing office) otherwise they can be towed. Read that again: you need to go to the apartment leasing office to pick up a pass for each overnight guest that you want at your place. read more

We live in San Mateo apartments since 2014.we live this place a lot. The service is great and the location, school and service are the best!

Nice area to live in. Target, Albertsons and Starbucks all within walking distance. I lived in the 2 bedroom "G" plan in second floor. Love the layout of the apartment, it's a quiet area, maintenance is quick to respond and everyone in the office (especially Teran) has always been extremely helpful. Negatives: can very easily hear the upstairs neighbors do anything, and there's a resident selling cars in the parking lot, which has yet to be resolved. Aside from those things, I'd recommend San Mateo Apartments. read more