Davis Housing 101

[chickenboo]

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For those of you going to Davis, I wanted to direct you to one of the most useful sites on Davis housing, which is NOT listed in the school's info. about housing. Here it is: http://www.daviswiki.org/Housing_Guide

The wiki site in general is extremely useful for getting to know what's in and around Davis, I highly recommend it! I would also suggest you start looking for housing ASAP, as many of the apartment complexes start leasing apartments for the fall in February. The more popular complexes start to fill up very quickly because of the ginormous undergrad population in the town. If you have big dogs like me and would rather live somewhere with a backyard, the houses/duplexes are usually leased in the spring and summer, so there's still plenty of time for those. Most leases start Sept. 1st, which is unfortunate, since that's our first day of orientation.

I would also STRONGLY caution you against the smaller property managers in Davis: there's more info./"testimonials" on the wiki site, but I personally have had nothing but bad experiences with both Acadian and Dowling properties. I've not had personal experiences with any of the other property management companies, but have heard bad things about them as well.

If anyone has any questions about living in Davis, different areas of town, etc. I'd be happy to answer them if I can. I've lived in Davis for 6 years, in all different parts of the town. Cheers!

BTW, did everyone notice how total costs are >$40K a year now?

 

[snowyegret]

Thanks for the info, chickenboo! I stumbled across daviswiki.org a couple of days ago and found it to be really interesting....

What specifically were your bad experiences with Acadia and Downing? Have you heard of anyone having better experiences with other property managers? Who then takes care of the houses/duplexes with backyards? Are those dealt with on an individual basis?

 

[snowyegret]

BTW, did everyone notice how total costs are >$40K a year now?

Yeah, pretty soon it won't be cost effective for Californians to go to their in-state school....

 

[chickenboo]

What specifically were your bad experiences with Acadia and Downing? Have you heard of anyone having better experiences with other property managers? Who then takes care of the houses/duplexes with backyards? Are those dealt with on an individual basis?

Oh goodness, don't get me started! OK, here goes: my boyfriend and I have been living in the same duplex for almost 2 years now. It's been managed by both Dowling and Acadian at different times. We had Dowling first; at our lease signing, we made agreements with the management to have some improvements done. The property changed hands over the sumemr to Acadian before we even moved in. Dowling never informed us of this, and neglected to forward the deposit (and it was a huge deposit, too!) to Acadian, so there was this whole mess that we then had to sort out. When we did move in, the improvements hadn't been done (this had obviously been lost in translation as well), there was literally trash all along the side of the house from the previous tenant (it took Acadian a week or so to finally clean it up), the previous tenant also had obviously not cleaned thoroughly--and Acadian hadn't hired anyone to clean it either, except for shampooing the carpets and putting new paint on the cabinets), the painters they hired left permanent marks all over the kitchen floor, the heater is incredibly old and was not even up to code when we moved in, and the worst of it was, when we actually tried to contact them over these problems, no one would address them. We got a different person each time; the only way we could even SOME of our complaints addressed was to write formal letters. There were a lot more things wrong with the house that we tried to get addressed too...they're escaping me at the moment, though. Anyway, management changed hands again (several times, but I'll leave out the middlemen) and we're now with just a couple that owns the house and they do all the management.

Now, this couple is no cup of tea, either, unfortunately. They're supposed to take care of the lawn and they don't--at least not on a regular basis, our roof started leaking and they didn't fix it, they just put a tarp over it, our dryer was broken (it came with the house) and it took over a month for them to hire someone to fix it, they'll go away on vacation for weeks without telling us, they won't take care of our disgusting cockroach problem....UGH!!! The list goes on and on, I'm sure you get the idea.

So the point is, I've heard/experienced uniformly BAD things with the property management companies in Davis. I've had one good (my last house) and one bad (this house) experience with renting directly from the person who owns the house. It's more of a crapshoot, obviously, but at least that way you have a chance of getting someone good. Plus I think there's less of chance for you to get lost in the shuffle if you're just dealing with one person. I mean, as bad as my current managers are, they're better than either of the companies we had.

To answer your other question, yes, to get someplace with a yard you do either have to rent through one of the property management companies or through an individual. It sucks. And there's no month-to-month leases that I've heard of, so wherever you are, you're stuck for the year.

In summary, there are a lot of property managers in Davis who WILL try to screw you over, especially when it comes to a) getting your deposit back, and b) getting repairs done. Take pictures when you move in. Know your rights. Don't be afraid to get legal help if necessary (sadly, I'm not joking!). I know I'm painting a bad picture, but for a lot of the managers it's the truth. They do this because it's largely a student population with a HUGE turnover, who don't know their rights, or don't bother take the time to find out and really follow through.

Silver lining: there ARE good property managers out there, I promise! Some of the apartment complexes in Davis are well-managed with good maintenance people. And I'm positive there are good "private citizen" property managers out there too. Just make sure you do your research and ask the right questions. But I would steer clear of the property management companies for sure.

Sorry for such a long post, for anyone who's actually still reading after all that!! 🙂

 

[chickenboo]

I do actually have an addendum to my last email (if you can believe it!). I forgot to mention, we BRIEFLY had one other property management company handle our place, which was C.L. Davies property management (C.L. Davies is the name of the lady who owns the company). While we never really had any complaints that needed to be handled while she managed our place, so I can't comment on how she handles repairs, she was very professional and courteous when we did meet with her. She came out to the property to inspect it once management got transferred to her, and was very good about keeping in touch with us and notifying us of anything (i.e. when the property changed hands again!). She might be one to try...but again, I can't comment on how she is when the going gets rough.

 

[RTHA06]

A great book published by NOLO press is " Californian tenant guide" It has all you need to protect yourself and your investments in deposits and the like. Very worth checking out!!!!

 

[Gr8DaneGirl]

A great book published by NOLO press is " Californian tenant guide" It has all you need to protect yourself and your investments in deposits and the like. Very worth checking out!!!!

Hey,
My husband and I will be purchasing a home, probably in west sac. We plan to get a 3 bedroom, so we can get a roomate. I really hoping to get another vet student. The commute will be under 10 miles. I have a great dane (duh) and two cats. Were hoping for someone w/ either a small dog or not pets. I think my kittties might protest!!! If anyone is interested, I'll keep you posted. Were supposed to go look at homes in may, so then I'll know all the details. Sounds like that beats a rental w/ poor management.

also, if anyone know what the going rate is for a room rental that would be helpful.

 

[verbal_kint]

i'm way too lazy to read through everything, but do most leases end august 31st? if so, that means we can't really move into a place till September?

 

[chickenboo]

i'm way too lazy to read through everything, but do most leases end august 31st? if so, that means we can't really move into a place till September?

Yep. Most leases go 9/1-8/31, because the rest of the campus (except the law school and the med school) starts at the END of September, so they have plenty of time to move.

 

[verbal_kint]

This may be a dumb question, but I'm finding conflicting data on the Davis website...

when is the first day of class? Or maybe I should be asking... when is orientation???

I'm trying to figure out how much time I have to actually move in/get settled before school starts.

Thanks!

 

[snowyegret]

This may be a dumb question, but I'm finding conflicting data on the Davis website...

when is the first day of class? Or maybe I should be asking... when is orientation???

As far as I can tell, the first day of orientation is the 1st of September, followed by the Labor Day Weekend; the retreat is then the 5th-9th. Classes begin on the 11th. I was finding that the academic calendar link through the main page goes to the 2005-2006 academic year. But, if you link through the 411/new student checklist page, it gets you to the right calendar....

 

[verbal_kint]

grrr... that really stinks. that basically means we have no time to move in.

 

[chickenboo]

Basically. I don't what the administration was thinking, having orientation start on Sept. 1st! There are a few places I've seen that start leasing in July or August, but those will usually be places that are managed by the owner or property management companies. I think the apartment complexes pretty much all start Sept. 1st...at least, I haven't heard of any that will start you at other times.

 

[chickenboo]

Correction to the above: just today, I saw 2 apartment complexes advertising in the campus newspaper for apts. available in July and August...so it is possible! Just not common, I guess. It might be a little more common now that the rental market has eased up a bit (vacancy rates are almost 5%, I think...in the 90s the vacancy rate was something like 0.2%, so property managers had even more of a stranglehold on the student population...some of that mentality still exists, unfortunately).

 

[snowyegret]

In my extremely limited search, I've found that property managers/apartment complexes are fairly helpful in trying to line up places that will open up before September 1st. If they're nice enough and you explain your situation, it seems like one should be able to find a place before the start of orientation....

 

[friesian02]

Howdy classmates!

So. About this whole housing thing. I'm from Maryland, so I'm going to have to move across country... I'm kind of planning on doing this during June and subleasing something for a little bit so I can give myself some time to find a place to live (and get a job in CA so I can be instate next year...). Do you think June is too late to find a decent place? Any suggestions for how to go about this would be appreciated! I've discovered Davis Wiki, which seems to give some good suggestions for housing...

Also, if anyone is looking for a room/housemate, that would be awesome! I do have a large dog (quiet, friendly, has his Canine Good Citizen, gets along well with other dogs) and a cat. Contact me for more info. I clean bathrooms!

Anyway. I'm superexcited to be going to Davis! See you in September.

 

[snowyegret]

Do you think June is too late to find a decent place? Any suggestions for how to go about this would be appreciated!

I have a cousin who found a 1BR apartment across the street from campus in the few days before the start of fall quarter, so starting in June might not be that late. But, I was just up there this past Friday, and a few of the apartment complexes I visited had no 1BRs available and only a few 2BRs available (the only ones that were available were apparently due to those who backed out just recently). I also went around with two property managers (C.L. Davies and the Sousas), who seemed very nice, but have limited availability on their properties (for my price range). Overall, it seems like a lot of places are being booked up pretty quickly. In addition to Daviswiki.org, you can check out apartmentratings.com to get some idea of the experiences of other tenants in apartment complexes (no mention of rates or floorplans, just ratings). Also, if you put in "Davis" as a search term in the apartments section of the Sacramento craigslist.org site, you might be able to find some places that do not necessarily follow the Sep. 1st to Aug. 31st cycle of leases, since they might be rented out by people who are not students. Hope this helps! Look forward to seeing you in the fall....