I am a current resident and cannot stress enough to any prospective renters... DO YOUR RESEARCH!! I unfortunately have lived here on two different occasions. I remember the same apartment I have not going for $550. That was only 5 years ago! This place will create fees on top of fees, nickel and dime you and create new ways to make your bank account smaller.
Let me first start off with the fact that this complex is old... I mean REALLY old. There are buildings literally sinking into the ground, cracking and falling apart. Nearly every appliance is over 20 years old. I remember when I first got my apartment I told the office my dishwasher wasn't shutting and I needed someone to replace the latch on the door. The maintenance guy told me I just needed to slam it really hard after I start it. (-_-) thanks! My oven door rubs against the cabinet b/c its too tight of a space. It has now rubbed a pretty arc shape on the cabinet door that I will probably have to pay for. The bathrooms are horrible and tiny, they have extremely low ceilings, not to mention the AC unit is above the tub and most of them leak and rust! My closet has mold growing on the carpet against the far wall. The Cabinets in the kitchen are so old that the shelves are bowed so nothing sits straight and they're so close together you cant stack two cans of food on top of each other. The windows leak and have no weather protection what so ever. Have fun paying HUGE Electricity bills in the Summer/Winter. The walls and ceilings are PAPER thin! They have increased our rent for these fancy "upgrades'' they're implementing. They consist (at least in my apartment) painting the cabinets and putting on some hardware... and that increased my rent $120 a month. I was supposed to have wood vinyl floor in the kitchen and bathroom, new faucets, new lights/fans and a new counter stain...... never happened. The parking lot has been re-blacktopped about 3 times I think, maybe twice, in very short periods. It is a HUGE inconvenience due to the fact that they shut down VERY large areas at one time. The pool was closed for MONTHS due to pool are upgrades being done. They spent THOUSANDS of dollars on furniture, a bbq pit, a new fence/gate and some landscaping, however NOTHING was done to the ancient pool they have.
You will be forced to pay a NON-NEGOTIABLE trash valet fee of $25/month, even if you take your own trash out of live 10 feet away from a dumpster. Some people may not think that's a lot but it comes out to $300 in 12 months. Thats $300 you've just thrown away!! You have to use their specific "trash receptacle" (when I moved it I was not given one, when I brought it up they brought me a trash can that is nothing like what im supposed to have and it was DIRTY!) and you have a certain time frame they are allowed to be outside for pickup. Anything outside of that and you get a fine. I know several people who have received fines for having their trash cans outside during the day b/c they work weird schedules. The office refused to work with them. Now lets talk about the dumpsters! Have fun living around mountains of garbage twice a week for days at a time. They're too cheap to have more dumpsters placed around the complex so we have to deal with mountains of garbage flowing on to the streets and the rodents (rats, raccoons, possums and roaches) that eventually start to infiltrate your home. The "pest control" that you pay for every month is a joke. I know people who have mice and roaches and have complained several times. Nothing has been done. If you really want a TOUR come hang out in the parking lot around 7:30 on a Tuesday or Thursday, drive around and see what its really like.
I have never once called the office and spoken to a human being on the first try. (and this is not over exaggeration) They will allow them to go to a third party answering service that basically acts like an answering machine. Only to never get called back. I've had to call LITERALLY 15 times in a row to finally get someone on the phone. When you finally do good luck finding anyone who can pull themselves away from important things like pool furniture decisions and what bushes to plant. The manager --- is halfway decent and has fixed problems for me but has also given me the runaround a few times. --- (not sure of her title) she has been there for awhile, through several property owner changes and staff changes. She can be very short but has helped when I've called. The rest of the staff has no clue what they are doing. It seemed as if they hired temps every other day for awhile. So you never spoke to the same person and none of those people could really do anything for you. The office staff should really be more organized. When you mess with someones money its personal. I pay a fee to live in a dwelling that is agreed upon in a contractual setting. If you cannot give me what you said you would for what I said I would pay for then I will not be expected to pay what you said I had to. Simple as that!
All in all this complex is close to a lot of S. Austin stuff and its right off of slaughter and westgate so its super convenient. However the cost of the apartment given the state of which it is in is NOT worth it! I would pay a little more to have something A LOT nicer any day! You're rent will never go down, surprising to me b/c I believe the incentive to stay would be that your rent stay the same or go down but also surprising b/c its a crap apartment that is going to do nothing but get crappier and older while I pay them more and more!
Do yourself a favor and find somewhere else to live!!
