Essex House Apartments 1330 Southwest 3rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97201

"Ashley gave me a tour on 2/20 and was such a wonderful person to work with! Not only was she incredibly kind and personable, she was also incredibly knowledgeable and was able to answer every single question I had. She also was able to help me decide the best day to start my lease to get the best deal on the unit, and walked me through what it would all look like. I already liked the unit and the location, but Ashley made me feel confident in my decision to sign a lease here. Thank you Ashley!!"

"REVIEW OF TOUR ON 8AUG23: Ashley was amazing during my showing. She was knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and patient. Because of my interaction with her Essex House went from being 8th on my list to being 2nd on my list to rent from. I researched 17 and toured 12 Apartments in the downtown Portland area. PROS: Essex pricing was comparable to other 1-BRs on the market and the facilities & amenities were well maintained and attractive overall. CONS: Downside was the location of the building. Being surrounded by high rises on most sides did not help with the views or privacy from within the apartment. Additionally, there is no roof top lounge, which is the market standard for this price point. As such the amenities are comparable to others but not competitive. Finally, the AC unit in the only apartment unit I was interested in looked fairly old, power hungry and not energy efficient. Overall, because of the above reason, the pricing of units, even though comparable to others was not competitive or attractive. If it wasn't for Ashley, Essex would not even have been in my top 3 choices to sign the lease. She is also the reason I changed my review from 1* on the old review to 4*s here. My reason for going with another apartment was their $150 lower price point, access to a rooftop lounge & open city/mountain views from within the apartment. OLD REVIEW: This review is regarding pricing only! Regular leasing rates for the available 1-BR units were between $1400 to $1800. I needed a month-to-month option, pending my job project outcome, before settling on a long term lease. I had planned and was ready to pay a reasonable premium over the regular rent for it. However, I was gobsmacked to see that the month-to-month rates for the same units were $5000/month at the Essex House! Yes, $5000! Thank God, I checked their site before my scheduled tour. Cancelled my showing, after leasing office confirmed that bit of ridiculousness. Saved precious time. Found a more central location in the downtown arts district which had a more reasonable premium, adding only $100-$150 more to their month-to-month lease option."

"Your shadow credit score might not be not up to standards. I would like to start out this review by saying that all staff interactions I had throughout this ordeal were always very friendly and professional. We toured the unit and the facilities and all were very nice and well maintained. I applied for a unit with a friend in the hopes of signing a lease. We both have decent credit, no criminal history, and valid proof of substantial income. We were declined by their third-party screening service, Leasing Desk. This is a Texas based screening company which utilizes A.I. to decide whether or not you'll be a good tenant and then creates a "leasing desk score" based on their algorithm. I asked if we could provide any further information to help shift the situation in our favor and was given the run around for a week while they waited for feedback from a portfolio manager... just to tell us we were definitely not approved. When I asked why I was told to check with Leasing Desk. Fine. So after retrieving a copy of the screening company's report, it cited my credit history was "too recent" which simply does not make any sense. I have good credit which I built off of a loan. It is illegal in the state of Oregon to deny someone an apartment based on credit history but I guess these third party screening services are a legal loophole? It was actually suggested to me that I find someone who was willing to co-sign. Though this all seemed completely ridiculous I actually found someone who would and the three of us sent our information. We were then given the run around yet again for a 2nd week, calling multiple times, before I finally spoke to someone who was willing to "expedite" my request. I'm sorry, but in my world two weeks is not expediting anything. Plus you had all three applicant's information and you were just sitting on it for a week? By that time we had already applied for and been approved somewhere else, so they might have accomplished what they set themselves out to do, who knows? It's almost like their leasing office is stuck in beurocratic hell. Nobody can do anything without their higher-up's approval and the overseers are clearly overburdened. It all seemed so unnecessary when a simple reference check to my three previous landlords would show that I've always been a good tenant with no issue & always paid rent on time. We were told the unit had been on the market for quite a while and I guess we figured out why. They don't even need to follow the shadow credit score. Case in point, we applied at a different apartment complex across the river which also uses Leasing Desk to screen. While they found the same (bs) notifications, we were immediately approved and signed the same day. This reads as elitist and gatekeeping. If someone else applied and were approved they would think nothing of it. It begs the question, what are they refusing applicants based on? It certainly couldn't be discriminatory, right? That would just be unethical."

"I recently took a tour of Essex house,and I was very impressed with the help I received from your staff, the individual that helped me ,her name was Tyra, she was very knowledgeable of the property, she answered all my questions and made it easy to communicate with her.she is a find. The property was very clean ,and the units were very inviting. Looking forward to visiting the property again"

"I have lived here since 2020 and I can safely say that I have never been happier with an apartment. The management team is always insightful and willing to answer questions and the maintenance team is very punctual with answering requests. I thoroughly enjoy living at The Essex!"