I looked around a lot in Austin, and I feel like this apartment was the best for the price. It's brand new, energy efficient, has door-to-door trash pick up, and overall a pleasant living experience. One thing I really like is how low my energy bill is for a 1b 1b, (I haven't gone over $36), and it seems like the apartment is well insulated and holds it's temperature constantly without the a/c always running. The office staff have been helpful and polite with every interaction. I've had to call maintenance a couple of times for minor issues, and both times have gotten a response/fix within 24 hours. I can occasionally hear my neighbors vacuuming or playing music when they're blaring it, but it's very muffled and doesn't disturb me at all. I can't ever hear TVs, voices, or footsteps. The gym is excellent and usually not too busy, at least not whenever I've gone in after work about 6. The traffic heading north in the morning and south in the morning on 35 can be brutal, but living in Austin this was expected. I really like how close it is to a large shopping area, and there's pretty much everything you need shopping, dining, and entertainment wise within 10 minutes.
Although, despite the grounds being nice, I did step in dog crap on my way to work, which was infuriating, and have noticed a large number of dog piles, especially compared to my last complex. In the lease, it says animals are not allowed to defecate on the grounds at all, and the complex still provides clean up stations for pet owners, but it seems some of the people living here are lazy/don't respect the property and their neighbors. Perhaps there should be more clean up stations, but that being said, when renters fail to comply with the rules, they need to be reprimanded, and the complex needs to pick up the slack by cleaning what hasn't been.
I feel like a lot of people have made mention of not receiving their gift card and giving this place a one star rating because of that, but for someone searching for an apartment, I thought it might be helpful to talk about my actual experience living here.
