Source
r/Reno•
Atomichawk

Looking for apartment opinions

To keep it brief, I'm a recent college grad that got a job offer in Sparks and am relocating. I'm coming into town to tour the below apartments this week and was wondering if anyone here lives/have lived in/know about any of these apartments and can share opinions? I'm primarily looking at 1BR, not studios.

  • Fountainhouse Victorian Square
  • The Bridges at Victorian Square
  • Azure Sparks
  • Parq Crossing

From what I've seen on here y'all think these places are overpriced and that Sparks is a dump. But since I'm commuting out to the Tesla Factory and trying to stay below $1600 a month as a max. These seem to be the best nexus for commute time, quality of space, and cost (as much as I agree they're overpriced). I'd rather not spend $1600 a month, but I don't really see any alternatives that offer the same value/price ratio these do. Even if overall they're cheaper.

Especially since looking else where, all I saw was that craigslist was full of spam and that hotpads had a ton of unrenovated houses or Apts asking between $1300-1600 for way less included value. It doesn't seem like a great deal to me all the way around.

Maybe my perspective is warped, but coming from Dallas and St Louis. (Where even in popular areas my rent was cheaper than this.) It doesn't seem like there's any middle of the road options at all? Am I doing my searching wrong? Am I missing something? Are there better options than these within a 30 minute commute out east? Should I look further west/south in Reno proper?

I'm sorry to bother y'all with another post about someone out of state looking for advice. But I feel I've reached the extent of what I can do online by myself. And it's frustrating how few options there seem to be. So I apologize that this is basically a rant.

Posted Apr 6, 2021, 6:12 AM UTC

536
Miserable-Shake4052•

The Bridges are horrible, please don't stay there. Walls of cardboard would be an improvement. You will hear every noise from your upstairs neighbors (and they will probably hear yours.) Well above typical apartment noise, and I've lived in some pretty shit apartments over the years.

Azure are beautiful (toured but didn't live there.) Watch the fees. Their advertised rent doesn't include a myriad of other charges that will easily be at least $100 more.

3
AtomichawkOP•

Aww that sucks to hear :/ But thank you for letting me know!

And that’s interesting, I’ve heard that of a few of these places. Do you know what the fees cover?

2
Miserable-Shake4052•

IIRC, there was a technology set up fee for the app control of the HVAC, a monthly fee for using it, a monthly water/sewer/maintenance charge that was divided amongst all units in a building, and one other one that I can't recall. These types of fees are becoming commonplace now (like resort fees) so I'm not sure you can really avoid them at most newer complexes.

They were upfront about them when we toured, I'm sure they would email you a breakdown if you asked.

The bridges was all included but was also terrible, so yeah.

4
blubirdie•

Life long resident and I’ve never rented an apartment so I can’t advise you about that, but yes “older” Sparks kinda sucks. If you’re commuting to Tesla, it would be a little bit farther, but I would look at rentals in Southeast/South Reno. The prices might be comparable to the newer fancy apartments in Sparks, but it’ll have better shopping and a nicer area to live in. The Southeast Connecter aka Veterans Parkway is an easy, direct way to get from there to I80 east. I don’t know if that’ll open up more rental options for you, the housing market is insane here right now, but I’d much rather live there than Sparks.

3
Drewbieee•

I disagree, I’ve rented two houses in sparks and while the neighborhood isn’t amazing near the bus station/“downtown” sparks, over on the other side of pyramid isn’t bad. And rent is way cheaper. I have a few friends with families in the area and it’s not amazing but it’s not dangerous or anything. Worst experience I had was my neighbors fought once and the cops came.

2
blubirdie•

Agreed. By “kinda sucks” I didn’t mean to imply it was dangerous. I can just imagine if I moved from somewhere else, I would be pretty depressed to pay $1600 a month in rent for a 1 bedroom to live in Sparks

1
AtomichawkOP•

I appreciate the input, that certainly makes sense.

We got here this morning and drove around Sparks, it’s not the worst I’ve lived in. If anything it was way nicer than I expected. But I’ll give the southeast another look. Thank you!

0
GoldenDiamond•

Sparks is a dump? News to me.

3
AtomichawkOP•

No kidding, after driving around today I feel like a lot of people have warped ideas of what a shitty part of town is. Sparks seems really clean and nice to me.

2
GoldenDiamond•

West Sparks = East Reno. Guess Reno is ghetto by that logic too.

3
Yeisourgod•

Fountain house isn’t bad nice interior spacious. But prices have been going up on apartments everywhere in the area. You could check different areas south or north of Reno. The vineyard apartments I believe have a deal for Tesla employees and for around $1300 a month that’s a nice area

2
AtomichawkOP•

Thanks for the response. Is the noise at fountain house bad from the flight path? Or unnoticeable once inside?

And I’ll check the vineyard, so thanks for the recommendation. I’m actually with Panasonic so hopefully the deal still holds true haha

1
Yeisourgod•

Not at all. I’d check apartments.com and go from there with your price range search if you haven’t already. Not sure if places are doing some kind of incentives or anything.

As far that deal hopefully I had a friend move there not too long ago and I don’t remember if they asked for a paystub or anything. He told me that he told them he works for Tesla.

2
AtomichawkOP•

Ya apartments.con was where I started. Lots of places have move in deals from calling around. But some won’t return calls and others aren’t being transparent. I suspect a lot of these luxury apartments aren’t filling as much as they want to, but they won’t budge on price aside from the temp move in specials.

And ok that’s good to know! Btw these are the ones up north near Costco right? Thanks again!

EDIT: looking at the drive times up there I guess I wrongly assumed that going that far north would impact my commute badly. Really thankful you pointed them out!

5
Yeisourgod•

That sucks, when I stayed at the fountain house I’d pay 1250 for 1b1b and when I stayed at park vista I’d pay 1275 total for same 1b1b. I know right now you’d probably pay 1300 something in total in some spots.

Yes, that’s are the ones up by Costco.

2
crevassier•

You get used to the airport pretty quick. Outside of the air national guard occasionally firing up the afterburners it quickly becomes background noise.

2
Journey4th•

Check out Willowcreek villas. I looked at those when I was apartment hunting and they were super cute.

1
chrisdmc1649•

Rosewood apartments is on the cheaper side and still a very convenient drive to the tesla factory

1
AtomichawkOP•

I’ll check them out, thanks!

1
starsh00ter24•

I moved from Minneapolis to Sparks last month for work. We live in Parq Crossing and so far we enjoy it. The only thing that kinda sucks is the parking. It comes with one free covered parking spot so if it's just you with one car you should be fine, but if you have more than one car or if you have visitors, it's pretty hard to find a parking spot at night.

They currently have a $500 referral program, so if you give them my name when you schedule your tour and you end up signing a lease here, we can split it :)

1
AtomichawkOP•

Good thing it’s just me then! And that’s nice to know! I’ll certainly let you know if I decide to apply with them!

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
wbhlv•

Azure or DECO

1
AtomichawkOP•

Have you toured either? Or lived at either?

2
wbhlv•

Yes You can have a full new apartment They are not still at 100% so they are (still) hosting events You may be paying 100 usd more / month but will have a view, a community, a nice pool and a full new place! Go for it

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AtomichawkOP•

Ok thanks, appreciate the advice!

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alilyra•

I weep for people paying $1600 a month to live in Victorian Square.

People say sparks isn’t great because the area between prater and I-80 is where the majority of our homeless population lives, and it’s one of the older areas in town that doesn’t quite have the same charm as, say, southwest reno does.

Try looking along the southeast part of town, anywhere with quick access to Veterans Parkway. The difference in commute between Victorian square and s meadows is almost negligible

1
AtomichawkOP•

That’s fair, but I’ve been looking throughout the day between driving around. And I can’t really seem to find comparable places. Lots of places I’m seeing in SE Reno lack one of the following if not more: Central HVAC, in unit washer/dryer, modern appliances/renovations in general, decent reviews, etc. at least a lot of these expensive places have all those items from what I’m seeing.

I’m kinda getting the feeling all the good places around there have already been snatched up. I found one pretty nice one along veterans parkway, but it only has washer and dryer hook ups. And I’m definitely not in a position to be committing to buying a washer/dryer set at this point in my life.

0
alilyra•

For your price point, no, you won’t be getting everything on that list. Honestly even at $1800 you’d still find some iffy reviews on most places. Best of luck to you

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AtomichawkOP•

That’s disappointing to hear. It seems absurd to me that central HVAC is harder to find period, but I guess y’all’s summers aren’t as bad as In Texas? Or at least as long?

Anyways, thanks for your advice, I do appreciate it!

1
Doctor_M_Toboggan•

Anything newer will have HVAC, but rent prices have been going crazy lately. That being said, you should still be able to find a newer 1bd/1ba for $1600/mo. My friend moved in to a 1bd/1ba at The Enclave in South Reno a year and paid $1100 I think (definitely underpriced, but I guess the owners don't know that). Not sure what they raised it to with her renewal coming up. It's not brand new (built around 2000), but has everything you mentioned (AC, in-unit W/D, spacious). It would be a bit more of a drive, but there are other places like that out there.

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