Apartment Review for La Vida Buena Apartments - Albuquerque, NM

Most of the issues could be easily fixed by a decent manager. But in my time here, the primary focus has dwindled to "give me your money and leave me alone." Parking isn't that bad. Break ins have occurred, but it's no better or worse than other places in this neighborhood, and people who take care to have an empty car generally avoid problems. The buildings are supposed to be controlled entry, but doors are often propped open for hours on end for no apparent reason, so anyone can just wander inside. Also doors don't always shut properly, due to having been propped open with rocks in the joints and thus end up with hinge problems. So even closed doors sometimes permit key less entry. From a distance, the place looks fine, but once you get around, you realize that people put garbage next to the main entries because they can't be bothered to walk to the dumpsters and back. And the pool is a real eye-sore half the year. Each year LVB takes its sweet time getting whatever permits are required to open the pool, and until then, the outdoor pool is unkempt and full of debris and algae, looking horrible. The maintenance staff does a fair job, but the office seems to just appease you with "we'll be there Tuesday" when what they mean is whenever they feel like it. It isn't maintenance's fault, but rather the office's inability to evaluate the reality of the situation. LVB was built in 1968 and it shows. Entry doors are perhaps the worst. They are functional and mostly secure, but they are only dealt with when complaints occur instead of routinely. So, they are in generally bad shape, and the ones on the 1st floor all tend to slam unexpectedly, irritating tenants living near them. Noise is the worst problem by far. It's an interesting mix between old deaf people who think wind chimes are awesome and young people who think blasting bass defines their identity. The net result is noise chaos. And if you happen to live on the west side of building 2 or 4, then you get 8+ months of the extraordinarily loud chiller fans which are very unlikely to be up to code in this regard. There isn't much regarding noise in the lease, and management has in the last couple years been completely irreverent about the issue. Each building has its own antenna on the roof. The one in my building isn't getting signal to my apartment, and I have complained about this issue to every manager since my arrival. The problem remains unresolved. One recent manager actually thought they weren't useful after the digital conversion. I had to restrain my self from laughing in front of her, but apparently all the government advertising on the subject was money wasted, since the conversion makes outdoor antennas more important than ever.