Ive lived at El Markay apartments for a few years now (since 2018 to now in 2021) and have been very happy with the way Ive been treated by the owners (we deal with them directly, not with non-motivated prop managers). Theyve been prompt with repair requests, reasonable with anual rent adjustments, and they keep the place pretty well maintained. My neighbors are all quiet and nice and most seem to be corporate employees like me. Every time Ive checked out the market, theyve almost always been the best deal for around here.

I used to live here from Jun 2016 to Jun 2017. The only pros are that the apartment is large and the location is nice (close to Castro and Stevens Creek Trail)CONS:1. Its a fairly old apartment with paper thin walls.2. No security measures (the area is quite safe though)3. Poor waste management. I had to spend hours every weekend breaking down boxes to some tiny dimension they had asked for4. Coin operated washer and dryer that dont do a good job. The dryer needs to go twice to dry your clothes5. Very high security deposit (a full months rent!)6. When we moved out, we were slapped with a hefty bill totaling more than a months rent! Apart from standard cleaning (which I was still okay with), they decided the redo the entire kitchen counter-top and blamed it on the few stains we left behind. Our requests to lower the cost were rejected.For a place that charges an entire months rent as security deposit, you would think you would get a decent refund at the end. It was shocking that the move out expense was even more than the high security deposit.It seems like their model is to suck money out of 1-2 year renters because their old time renters have locked down their rents at low price.