La Serena Apartments

I would have to say my experience at La Serena Apartments has been quite a pleasant one. The apartment itself, is very spacious (loving the walk-​in closets), in fact every room is spacious. It makes living there more relaxing and cozy. It should be mentioned that La Serena staff is very friendly and helpful. When I have called for assistance, those guys are attentive and prompt. The property is well maintained, quiet and my neighbors are friendly. I am happy to say that I love where I stay. Thank you guys!

What I love about La Serena Apartments is the living space, pool & BBQ area, and convenience. Nearby are excellent schools and lots of shopping!
The assistant property manager was very helpful and kind. I found the complex neat, clean and well kept. What a great location and wonderful community to live!

I absolutely love living at La Serena. The units are large and clean with a great layout on a beautiful well-​kept property.
Nice, quiet, friendly neighbors who seem to stay for years.
Adreanne and Herlyn, the office staff, are cheerful, helpful, and really care about the tenants. They take the time to answer questions not only about the apartments, but also the surrounding area.
I only had to call for the maintenance staff twice, and Ruben was courteous, efficient, and quick to respond. He replaced a fluorescent light in my kitchen and told me to call if I needed anything else. Who doesn’t want to hear that?
A couple of items that would make it better are a kitchen cabinet upgrade, and an electronic rent payment. These are minor things in an already wonderful apartment community.

My experience with La Serena, overall has been pleasant. The office staff are friendly and maintenance is prompt.
Some of the things i was looking for in a place to live were square footage, washer/​dryer in unit, central a/​c and parking availability. La Serena had all of these for a pretty reasonable price. I took a look at surrounding complexes and La Serena seemed to be the best deal.
The apartment itself is nice and spacious. Plenty of space for my girlfriend and I. She especially loves it because of the huge walk in closet. However, I do think the kitchen could use a makeover, mainly the cabinets and refrigerator.
For the year that i’ve been here, they have made a handful of improvements/​repairs. They have repaved the parking lot. They painted the exteriors of the buildings and also worked on the landscaping. They also upgraded the gate system to allow cell phone function.
Some of the things i wish they would upgrade would have to be the gym. It is small which limits the workouts you can do. They also don’t allow pets of any kind.
But all in all La Serena is a nice place to live.

I lived there almost 2 years. It is a very nice apartment complex with spacious floor plan and beautiful landscape. The management is very polite and maintenance guys service was very quick and prompt. The location is very convenient to everything. There is a lot of shopping plazas, businesses, restaurants and services. Very safety community and I felt absolutely safe to walk around after sunset.

Pros:
It’s a pretty nice neighborhood dominated by mostly upper middle class families (educated but unpretentious). Neighbors are friendly but mostly keep to themselves. The apartments are huge, with lots of storage and great soundproofing. I live by the pool and I can’t ever hear a thing outside. Contrary to previous reviews (but I don’t speak for the others), I’ve found the staff friendly and pretty helpful. They’ll leave you little gifts and notes around the holiday time (the mailman will too). They’ll call you if you after three days miss a rent payment, but they’re nice about it. Moral of the story, don’t be a deadbeat. Pool is nice for playing around in, tennis courts are nice, and all the public facilities are well maintained. Living here gives you membership at the community club, which has a bigger pool/​hot tub/​gym, a pool (billiards) lounge, and more tennis courts. Parking is abundant.
Cons:
No pets — really guys? This is by far the worst part of living here. Fitness center leaves something to be desired. The showers — my showerhead is about 5′ 6″ from the floor of the tub. If you are above average height, you’ll have to bend over to wash your hair. Community is pretty dull, but that’s the general atmosphere of Rancho Bernardo in general. Yes, they leave the gates open during business hours, but it’s not like there are criminals outside waiting to sneak in and steal your shit. Kids can be loud when school is out. Usually, they’ll sit around and talk loudly. Expect to find the pool dominated by toddlers and their parents during the summer. Sometimes, they’ll do pretty dumb shit like skateboard in the middle of the parking lot, but they’re not dicks about it and they’ll get out of the way. They’re all good kids — no problems with vandalism or harassment. The apartment is right across the street from the high school and middle school. Expect traffic during pick up/​drop off.
Things to consider:
Apartments can be dark. They’re really well shaded, which is good for saving on energy bills, but if you like the sun, you’ll find yourself outside a lot. Apartments are old. The build quality and maintenance are good, but shit will break.

Friendly staff and neighbors, nice amenities. We have a roomy two bedroom with a large patio. We like it here!

This place is RIDICULOUS! They call themselves a gated community. I have not seen the gate closed once the past week alone. I have maybe seen it shut 30 times in the past year, and that is only after I complained. Thank you for opening up my home to solicitors and peddling. So annoying. You can’t tell the leasing managers anything because THEY DON’T CARE nor do they listen! This complex can be very noisy at times. Again, don’t complain because the office will write you a nasty letter in retaliation for your complaint. There are also kids galore. Don’t expect a quiet summer out at the pool, you will get 20 kids screaming and squirting you in the face with squirt guns… not even joking! The landscape needs major work! Lots of dirt areas not even filled in. I wish I could say better to get some nicer tenants in here instead but unfortunately I can’t.
On a brighter note, the units are beautiful and sparkling clean. Whoever designed the interiors did a fantastic job! They are very spacious, open, and bright. The walls are pretty thick; however, the air conditioning units are ancient and are very very noisy, especially in the summer when they run morning, noon, and night. Most units face out to the street or parking lot, which can get very old very quickly.
Overall, I would say that if you don’t care about living in a community with a D service level leasing manager and want something decent then this is your place.