500 Folsom Apartments, San Francisco CA

Pretty solid experience overall. Staff is helpful and quick to respond to emails and requests. Key points include:
+ turnaround time on emails and maintenance requests are *quick*. You'll get hardware replaced, plumbing fixed, etc.all within a day or two. One really impressive highlight was getting an entire toilet replaced when snake and plunger couldn't unclog our toilet *within two days*. Easily the best maintenance team I've ever encountered.
+ Everything is well maintained. Units can be a bit small but are otherwise very nice.
- Security is a problem, (we had someone squatting in the stairwell for some time!). I get it; it's hard to vet everyone when there are hundreds of people passing the front door, but ultimately its still a problem.
- Lost packages! They use the Hello Package system for "security" but pretty frequently packages are misplaced or stolen; the one time I *did* have a package stolen, "Hello Package" did very little to help recover the package.

I ended up moving out because of cost: needed more space and a place to park my car, but otherwise the complex overall isn't so bad.

Super sketchy management! Stay away! They terminated my signed lease, 2 weeks before my move-in date, stating that the current tenant have changed their mind! They don’t provide any evidence about their claims, acting like the sign contract does not mean anything. What bothered me was how they were normalizing the situation, telling me this happens and they cancel the lease if they have to! Ignoring the damage they caused since I already scheduled the move and gave notice to my current building. Their solution for me was to rent their other units, which are way more expensive than my initial contract, and these units have been sitting in the market for a while. We would never know what the real story was, this could be very much their marketing strategy to advertise fictional units with a lower rate to attract customers, only to cancel the contract last minute and ask you to switch to more expensive units. Shady business, sad to see Essex property trust has no standards for treating tenants and honoring their contract/pricing.

Extremely poor moving-in experience:
1. Putting the wrong payment in my account
2. Do nothing about wrong-positioned payment
3. Even having problem generating the lease

First time writing negative review, but already very unsatisfied before I moving in.

Toured the property with a friend and one of the floors we toured reeked of weed. Right when we got off the elevator, the smell was extremely potent (so potent that my friend who is recovering from losing their sense of smell from covid could smell it). The unit we looked at which had its door closed also smelled faintly of weed when we entered.

Reviews from residents have mentioned this issue, and clearly management has not done anything to address it. Fortunately this happened during the tour and not after move in because we immediately decided we would not be moving here!

Moving within 500 Folsom Apartments was a breeze, all thanks to the incredible leasing office team!

They were lightning-fast and super helpful during my move. Not only did they have my back, but they also made sure I got the best deal possible, really looking out for my interests.

What I loved most was their friendly and professional attitude. They're easily the friendliest team I've come across in leasing offices of San Francisco and Bay Area.

Huge thanks to Quincey and the rest of the amazing team at 500 Folsom Apartments for their fantastic support!

My parents recently had a problem with their toilet clogging on a Sunday night- which means there’s no maintenance services available until Monday morning. I knew it wasn’t considered an emergency but what might seem like a minuscule thing to some people is a huge problem for others. I knew no one was going to bed until this problem got resolved. I went down to the concierge desk in hopes of seeing if someone had anything available and came across Jonathan Woodard who became my lifesaver tonight. I explained the situation to him and he immediately gave me the use of the plunger that they specifically kept for these type of late night problems. In less than 5 minutes peace was brought back to the household as the problem was fixed. Not only was Jonathan kind and helpful, he was also understanding when I explained the difficulties my parents had with the language barrier in these times of emergencies. I often saw Jonathan at the concierge desk greeting everyone and helping anyone that needed it whenever I came to visit my parents and never stopped to say hi. After tonight, I feel so much better knowing that my parents can ask for help from Jonathan if they needed it and I’ll definitely make a point to stop by to say hi from now on. Thanks Jonathan!

I've been living at 500 Folsom for 3yrs now and enjoyed the pleasure of interacting with Aquetta at the front desk.

From the moment I walk in, I'm always greeted with a genuine smile and welcoming attitude. She has always been able to assist with any questions or concerns I have, and her knowledge of the apartment building and its services are truly impressive.

Aquetta has made me feel like a valued resident and goes above and beyond to ensure that resident needs are met. In a world where excellent customer service can be hard to come by, she truly stands out. Her dedication and friendly disposition have made my living experience at the apartment complex all the more enjoyable. I am grateful for her outstanding service and the positive impact she has made on our community. Thank you for your exceptional work!

Edits:
Don’t come. They will let your room smell like a chimney.

Management is useless. The public area on my whole floor smell like weed and cigarettes. The ventilation system send them into my room and the smell is very potent. All the management team could say is “hard to find the source” and refuse to give me another unit until they can fix it. (So yay more free second hand smoke and weed on the house). FYI cigarettes is great for period cramping, I had to call in sick because of it.

This is far below expectations for an expensive building. (And they over charge on trash chute fees too)

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Pros: New build and nicely insulated, good neighborhood and floor to ceiling windows. Maintenance request come through quickly.

Cons:
Leasing office can be a headache to work with depending on who deals with you. (Not efficient half the time)
$80-100 bucks for trash chute for a studio. Management could not justify the price, of course.

I enjoyed living here the past year but life is taking me to move to the north bay. The office staff and concierge are always very kind and helpful, and the manager David is always available to help whenever I had a question-something which is rare to find with lots of apartment management now. Never had any issues with lost packages, maintenance was quick to complete a fix the few times I needed them. Location feels safe and convenient for commuting since you can just hop off the bridge and be home as soon as you get in the city. Apartments and amenities are good as well, overall a great experience.

My leasing experience here was Epic. Quincy is awesome and made the process super smooth.

The 1 star rating comes from my ability to receive packages.

This building has the worse package system I’ve ever seen - ever.

I’ve lived in 4 apartments and I’ve never lost a package until I moved to this “luxury” apartment.

Honestly I may not have moved here if I knew just getting my Amazon packages would be a part time job.

Imagine getting a text message from an absolutely terrible service called HelloPackage and saying your item is in zone 14.

Only to get there and see your item is not in zone 14 and you must spend anywhere from 30-50+ minutes going through more than 1,000 packages playing Where’s Waldo to find your package -

oh and to make it better, you have no idea what the package looks like. If it’s in a box or a bag.

Everything else besides this has been great.

But what’s the point of living somewhere this nice if you can’t even get the packages you order?

This was my first year living in SF, and I’m glad I was able to call 500 Folsom home. The staff (some now good friends) was incredibly helpful and swiftly took care of business. If I put in a work order, it was taken care of within a couple of days. The concierges were always very welcoming and helpful when things like being buzzed up to your floor, or helped with finding a package, were needed.

My only gripe is the HelloPackage system. I found myself many times looking for packages that were delivered but not in the right spot; the deliverers (FedEx, Amazon, etc) would scan these packages and leave them in spots that don’t match the location they’re technically scanned to.

Overall, I enjoyed this apartment and its amenities! The staff here are amazing people! 5/5 recommend

I lived here for about 2 years and loved it. The units are beautiful and have a great view of the city. The appliances are brand new and I love the washer and dryer inside the unit. The management team is great and always very responsive. I have never had an issue while living here. The concierge in the lobby Q is awesome, she is so kind and helpful. Highly recommend from my side

I just moved into 500 Folsom a few days ago and my experience has been amazing. Everyone in the leasing office is extremely friendly, and helpful. Also, I had an issue with my door not opening properly on move in day, and they had maintenance (I believe his name was Alex) come and help and fixed the door ASAP. The building is really clean and have had a very smooth experience overall. I was hesitant moving in due to the bad reviews but I believe that the new management is doing a great job and I look forward to being a resident here. Regarding other concerns brought up in the reviews, I feel like safety is good, there is also someone at the front desk (and they are all very friendly), and while the package room is a bit cluttered sometimes, it seems to be working well.

Avoid Essex at all costs. If you rent here you'll end up paying for their corporate incompetence.

They suddenly told me in an automated email that my renters insurance is non-compliant and the reason is "AM Best rating". I sent probably 10 emails trying to figure out what that means and do I need to do. There are no phone numbers for the insurance verification department either. The local people in the office are nice but they also didn't know anything and couldn't help.

About 10 days later, I got an insurance from a different company that happen to work but got charged for non-compliance by Essex in the meantime. They refused to remove the charge in another email message without even letting me speak with a human in that department. If I refuse to pay I'll get another charge.

It's not the best in every way, but a 2.9 star rating doesn't make sense at all. This apartment deserves a better evaluation.some concierge team are great, and there is no lie in what the Lease Office Manager says. Because it is not an old building, all floors except underground are clean. My room overlooks the Salesforce Tower, and the lighting in this direction is a little disappointing, but it has excellent views both day and night.

The reason for giving 4 points is the problem of the package room and the basement floor.
Hellopackage services aren't 'terrible', but they don't seem to be efficient. Carriers often don't tag my package on the device, and in this case I have to look for my stuff among so many packages. However, during the two months of living here, there was no "chaos" at the level seen in the review.
The basement floor is dark, unlike other great floors, and it smells a little bad. I think it's because there's a Trash room. Because the inefficient package room is located on the basement floor, visiting this unclean basement floor is inevitable.

I really hope that the manager of this apartment will improve these parts so that I can revise them to 5 points next time.