The stars rating is not really usable here, as things may vary from the best to the worst, so read the text and do not look at the ratings...

The apartments are located in a quiet place (only noise is the dog in the apartment below, or the emergency trucks on Lamar Bd sometimes, and - most disturbing - the gardeners), have a very convenient floor plan. The appliances are not modern, but do work as expected. So the apartment is quite OK in itself. The insulation though does not seem to be very good, and you will have high electricity bills for the air-conditioning (heating or cooling).
The swimming pool would be nice if they cleaned it regularly (they clean it before the high seasons of renting - when new students arrive in Austin, etc... - but rarely otherwise).
There is ample parking, but not always close to your apartment. And the cars without sticker (friends that come for 1 night, ...) have to park along the outer fence of the complex, otherwise they can be towed away.
As for the people working here, this is another story.
First, the gardeners, from November to April (at least), blow the fallen leaves from the ground. Not only does it make a lot of noise in the morning on the days they do it, but it also covers your car with a quite thick layer of dust (unpleasant when you use your car afterwards, and if you are allergic, you surely do not like pollens to be blown into the air).
Second, the management. They are very nice as long as you give them your check and just ask them to repair what might be wrong in you apartment (water not flowing, air conditioning, ...). But 1) Never forget to pay your rental fee. They will not give you a reminder, but wait until the last day for you to pay it so that they can charge the highest late fees and give you a leave notice. They say they have too many lodgers to keep track of who has paid or not before the 4th of the month (as if having a list and checking the names when they give the check were difficult). 2) Never ask them something they do not want to do or question their behavior. The apartments have a very old alarm system that they can deactivate (wow this is so useful for me...). Therefore, when they have a repair to do, they can enter your apartment when they want. Which explains sometimes why things disappear in your apartment (in my case a PC software box). If you tell them that you are staying the whole morning long so that you can be here when they come, they just tell you that they do not take appointments and enter your apartment when they feel like it, after they finish their other repairs. I tried to explain them that keeping a list with the previous repairs and the average time they took, plus another list with people waiting for repairs would give an approximate repair time at your apartment, so that you can be here. I explained them that I did not like people entering my apartment without my being here. Answer : "That's not our policy". No explanations. Everyone knows that a bad policy should never be changed. And they became very rude.
Some time ago, I also made another request. They pest control was to go into my apartment when I was on holiday. I asked them either to delay it for my apartment (they do it every month for a different building, so that finally every apartment should be checked 4 times a year), but it was not possible. No explanation given, once more. Therefore, I asked then to activate again my alarm after the pest control had left, as I did not want the apartment to stay one week without alarm. "We do not touch the alarms in the apartments, they will stay in test mode until you come back". So they touch it to unactivate it, but do not want to reactivate it.
Not to mention their trick for you to stay in the apartment. The rental fees are quite high theoretically (around $680 for 1 bedroom), but they tell you they give you a discount (so that it is around $550 afterwards). But their contract says two important things:
- if you do not tell them three months in advance that you are leaving, you have to pay for those three full months, or to refund them for every buck of the discount during the previous 9 months (which is still more than two months of rent)
- if you do not renew in advance, they may prerent your apartment to another person, so that you could not stay if you wanted to.
With these two steps, they almost force you to renew 3 months in advance, so that if you do not know you have another place to move 3 months before you contract expires, you will be obliged to renew with them.
More could be written here, but I am sure other people will do it for me...

SO it might be a good place for a newcomer who wants to stay there just 6 months or one year, without contact with the management...

User Responses
From: turnerjenn	Date: 04/27/2006
i was told that if i want the discounted rent (495) which is still 30 more than what i pay now, i needed to resign three months ahead of time if not the offered rate would go up about 80 bucks or so i think to like 540 (i have the smallest 1 bedroom)if i signed by the regular 2 months notice. i did receive notice before my two months was up as a reminder. my lease said two months notice and i am not anticipating any problems, if yes, then i know where to call to fix that.

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