Saratoga Ridge

Current Resident 908955

Resident • 2003 - 2004

Skip This Overpriced Place!

I "served" a year sentence/lease in Canyon Hell. I wanted a ground floor apt - it was ground floor on one side, but not on the other. The girl who lived under me BOOMED her stereo non-stop from about 7am until 1am and sometimes later. I tried speaking to her, but it degenerated into a confrontation, so I went to the office to get them to enforce their own lease regarding nuisances. What a joke! Yeah, they're very nice folks - friendly, etc. But, I don't pay a lease (and subsequently their wages) for them to be my friend. They did NOTHING about the situation and told me to call the police, that after three noise complaints they can evict. They even had the number to the APD sector commander for me - coincidence? (btw..an eviction process can take up to a year) Then the girl downstairs was puffing pot on her patio, the fumes of which wafted into my apartment. Again, I went to the office - and to my surprise, all I was told was "We're aware of it - it's being watched." ????? Again - the folks in the office are really nice folks, but a bit lame when it comes to getting down and dirty with problem children. <br>Parking?? FORGET IT. Unless you've staked out your parking spot by 6pm, you won't be able to park anywhere NEAR your apartment. The ratio of the covered parking spots (which you have to pay extra for) compared to free spots is ludicrous, and tow trucks DO troll this place. Some Friday and Saturday nights I could not find a free space on my side of the complex and ended up having to stumble through the unlit center courtyard (VERY hazardous) after parking on the opposite side of the complex. The garbage dumpsters often went unemptied for several days, resulting in an unsightly and smelly pile of trash about them. I had a 1-br apartment, which I thought for $649 a month was poor quality (AND that included a $150 break for a 1yr lease), and rather small (now that I see what else is available.) Bottom line (finally!): This place is TOO expensive, run-down, resident unfriendly, and centered in a rotten part of town with lots of vagrants in the area. Of all the nice things they say are in Austin, none are in this neighborhood.

Current Resident 218399

Resident • 2004

Hating my life

In the past month, I've been woken up to a woman screaming for help and to call the police (they came, stayed outside for 45 minutes and I have no idea what happened b/c this apartment complex doesn't notify its residents of things like this), had the police helicopter searching over the complex twice, had to listen to people constantly yelling and smell the pot they were smoking, and now to top it off, my apartment has standing water in it for the second time this WEEK! When I called the office, I was told that they would fix the gutter that broke off and caused the first round of water inside. Well, by "fix" they meant rip the gutter off and place a rock under the area where the gutter used to be in hopes that the rushing water will flow into a drainage vent right outside my door. That plan failed and now I have water in here again. <br> <br>But the best thing is... in about an hour, the sprinklers will go off and since the trash who lives here thinks it's cool to kick off the sprinkler heads, water will be shooting up from the ground to the third floor like a fire hydrant... causing more water to come into my house. DO NOT MOVE HERE! I am counting the days until I move out.

Current Resident 971738

Resident • 2003

Decent for area of town- Great office staff!

I have read some of the comments others have left about this property and haven´t experienced any of these things. I have lived at CH for a couple of months now- and haven´t encountered any major problems yet. Infact, I´ve been pretty happy. My apt. is huge and my rent is cheap. I have never once had to walk more than 20 ft. from my bldg. when parking, so I´m not sure what area of the property has such bad parking. As for people who complain about the area of town- did you have a blind fold on when you came to lease? Hello.... everyone knows this is not the best area of town- deal with it- if you don´t like the area of town why did you move there in the first place? Also, I have never felt unsafe here. So what, if the gates break occasionaly- that´s life- things break... take responsibility for your own safety and stop depending on an iron,mechanical gate to do it for you. If you want to get a big apt. at a good price- and your not too concerened about living in a fancy area of town- I would reccomend this place. Also, the staff has been soooo friendly!! They have gone out of there way to be helpful since I moved in!

Current Resident 63994

Resident • 2002 - 2003

Avoid at all costs

The apartments look nice from the outside, and the insides are nice, rather plain, but decent, but theyre over priced for the area of town its in. Parking is a JOKE! If you get home after 9, forget about parking near your actual apartment, and im not talking you have to walk a few extra yards, im talking half way across the complex. My car got broken into, they seriously need lights to compensate for the dark parking lot, its really unsafe, the gate is always broken so anyone can get in as well. The people who occupy the apartment complex are a little shady. We had an ant problem and it seems like the maintance people have to come in like twice a month. Theyre are alot of required visits by the staff and maintaince to fix various things and inspect. There was actually a drug apartment across the parking lot from us, and we heard gunshots twice in 8 months. I wouldnt recomment this place to anyone.

Current Resident 45425

Resident • 2001 - 2003

i wouldnt live here again

If you would like to park near your apartment forget about it. The parking is horrible. They are way overpriced for the area of town they are in and they let anyone move in it seems like. My car was stripped and i couldnt belive it they stole my lights tail lights and busted mirrors. I had to get a different car and my stereo was stolen. A big part is there isnt enough lighting and the so called entrance gate has like a 3 foot clearance underneath it so anyone can get in!! I wouldnt recommend this to anyone at all.

princessofsocks

Resident • 2001 - 2002

an okay complex, nothing special and a bit too expensive

This is the first apartment I have lived in. For it´s age, it´s rather run down. They don´t offer a fitness room but rather a garbage dump of broken down equipment. The upside is the 24 hour pool and hot tub that they keep pretty clean during the summer. The office staff is very nice and the maitenence are more than willing to fix things. However, there are more and more families moving in. Their sprinklers are more like gysers at least over by my old apartment. I hated the HEB that was near, you could walk in at midnight and have to stand in line for 15 minutes. The price was kind of high but you do get a very spacious apartment, in my case a 2 bedroom 1 bath with almost 1000 sq. feet to give. Overall, I say its a decent complex but I think maybe it´s past its prime.

new2austin

Resident • 1999 - 2002

Getting kinda seedy

When I first moved in, Canyon Hills was full of nothing but young professionals. But, with the falling occupancy rates, it seems the standards have been lowered. There are some very seedy folks moving in lately. Some are downright scary. This is no doubt due to the concessions (free and reduced rent) the complex is making to get apartments occupied, seemingly at any price. Meanwhile, oldtimers like me are paying out the nose. As mentioned by others, the complex is not in the best part of town. Thankfully, it is gated ... although there have been times where the gate has been broken for a week or more. When that happens, anyone can drive in. There´s a homeless camp in the wooded area across the street from Canyon Hills, behind the Target store. I assume they´re the folks responsible for the car break-ins, which seem to come in spurts. The fitness room is awful. Virtually every piece of equipment is broken to some degree. It also took a really long time for repairs to be made after the tornado whipped across south Austin last fall. Carports and roofs stayed damaged for several months before they were finally fixed. Parking is a problem in some parts of the complex ... I say pay the extra $20 to ensure you have a space each night. I must say that the manager and staff are excellent. They have always been willing to work with me. They´re the reason I´ve stayed as long as I have.

FAladan

Resident • 2002 - 2005

Great aside from location.

But, I´ve only heard it´s a bad neighborhood, I haven´t really seen anything to form an opinion, myself.<br> I moved in in June, so I haven´t been here long enough to discuss rent hikes. I WILL say that the managers were very flexible and I am paying $599 a month for an 8-month lease with a concession of $166. Essentially that means I´m living in a $765 apartment. I don´t think my rent will be raised, as much as I think the concession will be lowered. They also let me leave off paying the pet deposit until July, and I´m paying it $100 a month for two more months. So, they are flexible as long as you get the rent in on time. There were two parties they´ve held since I´ve been here, one for the Fourth, which I missed, and a pool party. Good turnout, good food, and good DJ. In fact, the pool party was supposed to end at 8, but they rented the DJ an extra hour and partied on. They´re cool in my book.<br> There is ample parking most of the time, I´ve rarely had to park far from my apt. Reserved parking is available for $20 more a month which I´m considering as I work until 11PM and it can be difficult to find a place, though I have rarely had any trouble.<br> I have a washer/dryer unit in my unit, so I´m not aware of the condition of the laundry areas.<br> I haven´t been very fitness minded, nor very adventurous, so I don´t know where the gym is, or even if we have such facilities.<br> I put it´s noisy, but that´s because somewhere above me is a room full of children who like to stomp. It hasn´t ever kept me up, so there´s no problem. No voices ever, and there´s the occasional water being let out of the shower/bath, but I live on the first floor so what do you expect.<br> Security? I´m it, basically.<br> The only problems I have are lack of water pressure:I pay the water, why can´t I have more of it? And in my opinion, water temperature;I could pass gas in the water and raise it a couple of degrees, I always say. But then, I revel in hot water. They pay the gas bill though, so I don´t complain about that too much<br> So, yeah, all in all this place is great. I´m not guaranteeing you´ll get what I did, but I do believe they´ll work with you. Happy hunting!<br><br>P.S.: I had a nasty run-in with some steps, so they don´t get a good rating in safety w/ me.<br><br><br>10/16/2005<br> ::Update::<br> The place has been turned over from Cornerstone to Colonial Village; we've gone corporate. New faces in the office and they're not seeming too helpful, complaining that we have too much freedom, (went in to turn in my rent in September to walk in on a conversation between two employees complaining over the fact that some residents, such as myself, have keys to the fences. They felt that was illegal, but that's the only way to get in or out without a car or card key. So, there's that to think about before renting. They won't give you a key and you'll have to stand outside the gates waiting for a car entering or exiting to get in or out.<br> Across the street from us is the back side of Target. This site is a frequent rest stop for the homeless; I have often glimpsed a mattress and the occasional sleeper in a depression there.

Current Resident 781431

Resident • 1998 - 1999

Pretty Good Overall but Unsafe Area of Town

I had to call the police once when living there because a drunken or drugged man had fallen asleep in the middle of the courtyard. There were also numerous car break-ins and apt. break-ins. The apt itself is nice just not in the best area of town. The staff was snobby for the most part but there were a few nice ones. Nice pool with water volleyball net and they had some nice parties for all the residents. Price on the high side for being in this area of town as the last reviewer mentioned. It is a gated community.

Current Resident 734032

Resident • 2001 - 2002

Great apartment, a little expensive for the neighborhood

The management has been great. The units are decent size, but too expensive for the location. Then again, it´s the nicest in the area and the high price probably keeps it nice.