Saddleback Ranch Apartments

This complex has devolved to total crap. After everything aforementioned already… the front office refused to respond to any maintenance request I made for the final 3 months of our tenancy here. I emailed, I called, even dropped in a time or two. I sent photos. NOTHING.
We moved and there was no one in the office when we were ready to drop off the keys, so my husband locked the door handle and left them on the counter. We knew from friends who had moved out that we’d be charged cleaning fees and other misc. BS, so we figured our deposit was forfeit and didn’t even try to get it back.
What we didn’t expect was for them to suddenly remember our contact information and try to invoice us for $ 280 in addition to keeping our security deposit. Their accounting doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever… I figure it’s probably the amount it would cost to repair all the stuff I asked for that they ignored.
TL;DR — complex ignored their contractual obligation (for THREE MONTHS!) to provide maintenance and pest control, then tried to bill me later when they finally got around to doing it after we moved out.
Seriously, don’t waste your time here.

If there was a way to give NO stars, I would.
We’ve lived here since Dec. 2011, and let me just say that the review that Lynn G. wrote could NOT be more accurate.
There are two «camps» as I call them: the main one where we live and the one that extends up into the hills, across this cute little bridge over a stagnant creek. The creek, the bridge, and the nature in this location are LITERALLY the only nice things. Generally, if you get a place in the main camp, realize that you’ve basically moved into Little Tijuana and if you’re anything but Hispanic, you will be ostracized. I can literally count two different people who’ve been nice this whole time we’ve been here. Be prepared for children who are ridiculously misbehaved and there’s so much bike riding and skateboarding on the already too-​narrow sidewalks that it borders on the unsafe.
In the last two months, we’ve had to file two noise complaints on two separate apartments at 11pm and midnight and with summer it only stays louder later.
My wife’s car has been vandalized. She’s had foot prints on her drivers side window where they tried to kick her window in — messed up the whole window mechanism — and she’s had her tai lights smashed. Thankfully, neither of us has had a break in yet, I think it helps that we keep our cars clean and there’s nothing inside worth stealing.
Parking. Don’t live here if you’re uncomfortable with leaving your car sometimes on dirt or in the sketchiest places. Oh and if you have a job or a social life that keeps you out past roughly 7pm/​8pm, GOOD LUCK FINDING LEGAL PARKING. It stands to mention too that only about 50% of the people in Little Tijuana even use their assigned carport and management has done nothing but leave notes on everyone’s door saying that they need to start using them. There’s always constants threats of towing, but no follow through. And that whole «two cars per apartment thing» is complete BS; I call it Little Tijuana for a reason. And what did management do about an already limited parking situation? They took 20 spots and made them «Reserved»: for an extra $ 25/​month, you get a second guaranteed spot. NO ONE USES THESE EITHER.
We’ve also recently noticed things are not quite right with our apartment when we haven’t been there. Mystery stains on the walls, a bathroom that had obviously just been used when we had been gone for hours, and a Marlboro cigarette butt that did not belong to us in our ashtray outside. So it’s safe to say someone is entering our home without our permission.
So far, we’ve only been only been plagued by spiders of unusual size, termites (our balcony is a hazard), ants, and nasty pincher bugs. The minute I see the cockroaches or rats that Lynn mentioned, I will flip a bitch!
Doing laundry is ridiculous. There’s like 8 washers and 10 dryers and there are plenty of people who take over all of the washers at once and flood the laundry room. Their «remodel» where they shut both rooms down for two weeks just got us some shiny new laminate and a new sink — and a new higher rate…$ 3/​load is outrageous.
Don’t get me started on their «gym» either. I wouldn’t use it if it was the last one in the city. They don’t clean it at ALL. There’s a 24 Hour Fitness up the street and it’s so much better.
It also stands to mention that while we are suffering through this drought, they’re not only watering all the lawns but they’re watering them to the point of FLOODING them. Most times when the landscape crew comes around, their lawn mowers leave tracks in the mud/​lawn until the next week when they come back. Completely irresponsible and disrespectful.
Basically, if we weren’t stuck here until April we’d be gone already. Don’t fall for their comparatively low rates. We moved in when they were $ 1050/​month and we’re now paying significantly more for an apartment that hasn’t improved in the slightest.

I’ve lived here for almost 5 years now. It used to be a better place to live, but unfortunately it has gone downhill. In December when I renewed my lease they raised my rent $ 90. If i renewed my lease again in june my rent was going to go up another $ 60 just within 6 months. Nothing has been upgraded in 6 months. & despite my complaints of roaches & rats they still exist. TO THE MANAGEMENT: YOU NEED TO FUMIGATE THE ENTIRE BUILDING 10 IN PHASE ONE!!! OUR INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS DO NOT WORK!!! We’ve had roaches & rats since beginning of 2014. I can hear the rats in the walls now. I fumigate my own apartment every couple months, but it’s gotten out of control recently with the roaches. I killed about 20 roaches just tonight. It’s quite disgusting really.
The previous manager Denise was nice. She did a good job cleaning up this place in terms of the shady tenants. She also listened & took action if i called with an issue. She is very accomodating.
The new manager since feb 2015 i havent had much interaction with. I can tell you that since she took over, our community laundry rooms have been disgustingly dirty (including graffiti on the walls) & our grass has died, i don’t see or hear our sprinklers come on anymore. She did however have the laundry room closed for 2 weeks so they put new linoleum in & now it is $ 3 a load if you wash & dry. Downside is we don’t have in unit washer & dryer so we had 300 units using 6 washers for a while… but as always they are sorry for any inconvenience. For 2 people we spend about $ 50 a month to get quarters for the laundry room, so add that to your rent cost. I don’t even really know her so maybe I’m not giving her enough credit. I just know what i see.
The maintenance men seem to think they can remove a board in my patio to enter my patio without notice, even if I’m home they do this. I’ve busted them doing this twice & despite my complaints to the ppl in the office they continue to tresspass. I really don’t know why they just don’t knock on my door & ask to enter. It’s really creepy to me. Maintenance does half ass jobs. They will often forget to paint, patch but dont paint, that kind of stuff. They left a hole in my ceiling once from a leak. I thought they were just letting it air out. But then i had to call the office to find out why they hadn’t been back to fix the hole… oh the work order showed completed! Wow! Really? They replaced my bedroom carpet but didn’t give me the same color as the livingroom. So those are different. My ceiling is different colors from all the leaks they fixed. Some parts on my walls and doors are different. My tub is 2 colors cuz they painted (yes painted) my tub & the paint peeled then clogged the drain. & i didnt know this but if you renew your lease you can get your carpet steam cleaned free of charge! 5 years & they never told me this. .so don’t be shy to ask.
Our neighbors are nice, I’ve made some great friends here. It’s a very dog friendly community, so really if you are not a dog person it’s probably not the place for you. Kids play all over the place, ride their bikes & scooters along the walkway without parental supervision. & kids don’t give a hoot if you are walking in the walkway they will come right at you.
Here’s some pluses… the apartments are huge. My patio is huge; part cement & part grass. I have felt safe living here. I haven’t had any issues such as break ins or things like that happen to me here. Parking has never been an issue for me, but I only have 1 car & i get an assigned carport.
There are coyotes (by the hiking trail… but I’ve seen 1 in our parking lot), rats, gophers, bunnies, squirrels, frogs (by the creek), roaches, crazy looking spiders, ohhhh the ants… lots & lots of ants.
Two years ago if I was writing this review I’d have given it 4 stars. Unfortunately I can’t do that today. Glad yet sad that my lease is up. I do hope that my next home is pest free.

So I lived here so about 2 years…
2 good things about the apartment
1. The managers are really cool people
2. The nature
Literally everything else sucks
No parking — either in the dirt or grass & when you park in the front overnight the sprinklers get your car and they have the hardest water here. Just horrible. not to mention ur dishes are f*cked unless you buy the most intense chemicals to get the grime off
Whites are minority here so be expected to get treated like shit by everyone in here at least that was my experience.
Bugs bugs bugs — mainly ants. Aweful
Lock your cars and keep your kids close because there have been several break-​ins and drug dealing. I know this cause I saw it right in front of me & then watched them snort whatever it was after. Ew. All my friends cars where broken into as well.
Dog poop is a common thing
I also had to deal with listening to my downstairs neighbors abusing their kids/​dogs and their stupid noisy chickens.
Now for the apartment
They are decent sizes which is the only benefit
The carpet, flooring, cabinets, windows — all cheap as fuck. U will be replacing the flooring no matter what.
There is no air conditioning — that fan in the wall doesn’t do shit except cost you more $$
Walls are super thin
Piping sucks. They had to turn the water off multiple times when I lived here.
Point being: don’t rent here, pay a few extra 100 for a place thats safer, nicer, and cleaner.

I wish i could give this place zero stars. My mom has lived here for almost 20 years and the only upgrades they’ve every done are the carpets (once) and a new stove (she had the same stove for almost 20 years) and one bathroom counter because a corner of it broke. THAT IS ALL!!! She doesn’t complain because the manager has always been very nice and has allowed her watch my dogs when I’m out of town. My mom recently went in to meet the new manager and she said she was very rude to her. I can’t wait until her lease is over so I can get her out of this «exceptional mission viejo apartment»

Prob the worst place I lived poor management and cheap owners. It’s pretty clear maintenance is under staffed I can’t blame them. Car break in’s is regular thing. Old building with a very poor plumbing and thin walls.

Horrible! If I could give it a negative star I would. Do not waste your money!
I am writing this email on behalf of my parent’s who stayed there for a whole year and were miserable!
When we first moved into the apartment, July 2013, they were having problems with the water pipes, the kitchen floors were so hot from those pipes. They consistently were turning off the water for hours and hours without any advance notice to fix them. My dad even had to go grab water from the pool one Sunday morning because they had turned the water off without notice and we needed to flush the toilet.
Secondly, we had a rat that got into the apartment which was due to the fact that there was a huge whole underneath the sink that had not been properly patched and when we called the office they called the exterminator who all he did was set up rat traps around the whole place. When we asked the hole underneath the sink to be patched up we were told they could not do that until the rat in the apartment was caught (makes no sense, why would you leave it as is so that other rodents could get in).
Thridly, we just received the deposit refund since we did not renew the lease due to the fact that these apartments are horrible! Their maintenance employee informed my dad that if he were to fix a few things himself he could get a lot more of his refund back. So my dad replace the blinds that were broken in the living room (was still charged for every single one) and had the carpet cleaned (was still charged $ 160 becuase the hallway still had spots). In addition to this he was charged $ 50 for a light fixure that was broken in the bathroom by one of their own maintenance employees when he came into our apartment to take a look at a leak and for whatever reason did not bring it to the office’s attention that it was broken. My father called the leasing office as soon as he received the check with $ 1,000 and itemized receipt for the $ 1,000 that was taken out wanting an explination if he did some of the stuff and paid out of his own pocket. The leasing office referred him to Val at the Corportate Triumph Properties Group who manages these apartments. My father did yell and hang up on her as he was irritated about the charges.
My mom tried calling Val hoping to be the voice of reason but was initially told by the receptionist that VAL WOULD NOT TAKE HER CALL BECAUSE MY FATHER HUNG UP ON HER (I’M SORRY BUT I HAVE NEVER EVER HEARD OF SOMEONE SO RUDE IN MY LIFE). WHEN VAL FINALLY TOOK THE CALL SHE RAISED HER VOICE AT HER AND INFORMED HER SHE WOULD NOT TALK TO HER THAT SHE COULD WRITE A LETTER. MY MOM OF COURSE EXPLAINED THAT IS WHY SHE WAS CALLING BECAUSE MY DAD WAS A BIT UPSET AND SHE JUST WANTED AN EXPLINATION OVER THE CHARGES. AGAIN VAL KEPT ON TALKING OVER MY MOM AND WOULD NOT LET HER SPEAK. AT THE END VAL ENDED UP HANGING UP ON HER!!! MY MOM T RIED CALLING BACK BUT WAS TOLD BY THE RECEPTIONIST THAT VAL HAD NOTHING TO SPEAK TO HER ABOUT, SHE ASKED FOR A SUPERVISOR AND WAS TOLD THAT NOONE ELSE WAS THERE. MY MOM AGAIN ASKED TO SPEAK TO VAL AND WHEN THE RECEPTIONIST FINALLY DID TRANSFER HER SHE ENDED UP HANGING UP ON HER. MY MOM ONCE AGAIN CALLED BACK AND WAS TOLD NOONE ELSE COULD TALK TO HER AND HUNG UP ON HER. I definately do not know what kind of business they are running but stay away!!! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!!! SPEND YOUR MONEY SOMEWHERE ELSE!

I’ve been here for almost 3 years. I still believe this place is 5 stars for the overall space you’re getting, at the price you’re paying. Denise it always so helpful. Really no complaints. I just wish my rent could stay the same forever (wishful thinking, right?).

This place might of been great when they had all the move in specials about two years ago but since then it has really gone down. A lot of theft and it makes tenants not feel safe. All the other bad comments were somehow deleted but all I can say is do your research everyone and dont make the mistake we made :(

They must have removed the other bad posts from here. Basically the pricing is the best part, the apartments aren’t in very good condition and the maintenance is not very good. They have slab leaks often and if it happens in your apartment, they won’t put things together they way they used to. Also, thanks to the creek we had a break in happen and now I feel very unsafe taking my dogs out, they broke in while I was gone for an hour walk, a freaking hour! They are very dog friendly though, which is the reason we moved in and have been here for so long. We’re moving though at the end of July and could not be more excited!

These apartments are far from being the best in Mission Viejo. Nice landscape that reminds you of the mountains but not always the cleanest area. There are a lot of problems with drugs in this complex especially on the creek side further into the complex. Cops are always there. May not be the safest area for children.
Very pet friendly but beware lots of coyotes here. Buy ant traps before moving, there are tons in all of the apartments! If you need something fixed and put a request into maintenance be prepared to wait they are not very efficient. The apartments are old and falling apart they need a major remodel not just a face lift. Amenities are not great.
Just do your homework before moving here. If you have other opportunities in other areas i would say go there instead of here.

I just moved in a month ago and so far have had a relatively positive experience. This is a very family oriented complex. Not a positive or negative but something to keep in mind for your situation.
Positives: Price, for a one bedroom apartment with a dog in the area we did not find anything remotely similar in price. Bike path, as a bike commuter this was big for me, the complex is right on the Los Alisos Creek bike path. Office manager, she is fantastic, having had very bad admin staff in our last complex we were delighted to encounter a competent office manager here. Parking, you got a car, they got parking. Pets, they have some of the best dog policies we came across in our apartment hunt.
Negatives: The place isn’t perfect. While the units are perfectly functional they are older. You won’t find granite counter tops and hardwood cabinets here. The few maintenance issues we had moving in (garbage disposal issues) took a few days to get fixed and was not terribly well communicated.
All in all I’m looking forward to the next few years here.