oWOW - Oakland, California

Emily H.

Very responsive management team around any elevator issues and were great with elevator maintenance. They put in an ADA remote operable door opener to my unit in the building. Have been impressed with their willingness to accommodate.

Sam J.

I went on a tour of one of oWOWs new developments and was impressed with the innovation - both use of sustainable materials and layouts that are more livable. They are one of the few developers innovating in affordable housing.

Janine R.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!

My wife and I were their tenants for over a year and, despite being excellent tenants, we had several problems that were never or poorly addressed.

We left the unit last month and they have exceeded the legal time to return our security deposit. We have been struggling to communicate with them over the past weeks, there’s always an excuse or empty promise and at this point they are straight up criminally holding our money.

Their employees are completely unprepared and careless. We had to reach out to the freaking CEO hoping that he will review our documents and refund our security deposit but no answer yet.

So once again, if this is the managing company of the place you’re trying to rent, run!!!

EDIT: after reaching out to the CEO, we were able to get back PART of our security deposit. We still had to battle over the amount refunded (we had proof of everything), but still they kept, with no reasonable explanation, a big chunk of our money. We were so tired of dealing with these people that we decided to just take the loss. Worst experience ever!!!

Robin H.

Notice all the good reviews are from employees, and all the bad reviews are from tenants. This is because the employees evidently don't have to do any work. Absolutely the worst experience renting with these folks. The only other good review is from a new tenant who just signed her lease, and has no idea how awful this company is to work with yet.

They will be the most communicative, friendly, responsive landlords all the way up until you sign your lease. Afterward, the building management is either nonexistent or incompetent. They will do everything to the absolute minimum. Their standard for effort is this: just not quite enough to inspire you to take legal action, but enough to wash their hands of the situation. You have to threaten them with withholding rent to get any attention from them. You are not valued nor prioritized as a tenant. Their only motivation is to get you to sign a lease. Afterward, they've achieved their goal and you no longer matter.

Laundry machines were not installed until nearly 6 months of living here. When they finally installed some, they brought in barely functional second-hand machines. The dryer doesn't even heat up, and after more months of requests to fix it, they told us it works and ignored us.

Trash is constantly piling up in the trash room and on the curb due to an inadequate amount of bins, as well as people constantly moving in and out of the building and dumping their unwanted items.

The units are so overpriced for the size. No one can afford it or wants to rent it. The building sat empty for months until they filled it with section 8 vouchers.

Avoid at all costs.

Myesha

I’m disappointed in this place. The management team doesn’t communication well at all. The maintenance team doesn’t respond to requests. It took them 5 days to check out my refrigerator and my food went bad. Ridiculous!

My kitchen sink was clogged because the garbage disposal stopped working. I put in several requests, no one called or came to fix the issue. I had to figure out how to resolve the issue myself.

The shower head drips constantly; the maintenance guy said that’s okay it’s normal. When it rained, water came in through the front door; the maintenance guy said it’s a weather strip there, so I don’t know how water got inside. Customer service is trash.

Lastly, I have 2 late charges on my portal $200/per charge for no reason; if I didn’t pay attention to my bill I would pay an extra $400. That’s not right. I’m a single mom of three young kids.

Allison C.

These people are ridiculous. Do yourself a favor, and steer clear from owow.

They can’t keep community managers, so there’s no one to turn to. Their maintenance is slow (and when they do get things fixed they nickel and dime you for repairs. Literally, they charged us for the squirt of silicon used to fix a crack in our sink.) They said the second floor would be done “in a few weeks” when we moved in at the beginning of the year… still nothing.

We constantly get INSANE charges for garbage. Earlier this year we paid $100 for just one month of garbage services. We just paid $70 for this month. The ridiculous people at the office can’t get their lie straight on those charges.

They let the lock on the front door get so bad that people would get locked out. Residents started propping the door open so they wouldn’t get locked out, until people from the street started coming in and setting up in the halls.

When we reported to our former community manager that there was a homeless person in our hallway, she deflected and lied saying it was just someone’s friend until he kept returning.

If you’re looking at a unit at 316 12th Street- TURN AROUND!! There is a nightclub that hosts outdoor day parties every weekend in the alleyway directly beneath the apartment. They are so so loud, and most of the DJs are terrible.

There is no parking, despite what their zillow ads say. street parking is generally fine, but I’ve had at least 15 tickets since moving in, so tack that on to your budget.

I can’t believe they can afford to build their new building with a helicopter!!! meanwhile this one isn’t even finished. This place is a JOKE. Don’t live here. You’re welcome.

Georgina M.

You can never reach no one from this apartment company. Maintenance never answers or for anything. Laundry room is always broken 16 machine and only 3 work at the most. Mail get stolen all the time and they never do anything to fix it. There is always dog pop every where and they dont do anything anout it. For a apartment building that only 4 years old,they don't take care of anything. Don recommend this apartments for you and you family.

dashay S.

This is a disappointing place to stay. If you need any fixes they will take so long to return calls. Additional charges are on my account & one time they made the charges to be late so they can add the extra fee saying something got delayed in the system. I tried calling all phones that’s listed snd all phones are disconnected. My place doesn’t have hot water for shower and I put this work order in but still no result in getting fixed.