my husband and i moved to austin last year on a whim and a locating service helped us find this apartment complex. $635 a month for 672 square feet (the smallest 1 bedroom apt. they have here) isn't a bad price (however, they raised our rent when we signed a new 6 month lease). overall, with shared utilities (gas, water) and electricity, we probably ended up paying between $725-800 a month total.

parking: adequate. i've never felt unsafe in the parking lots at night, nor have i had any trouble finding an open space.

noise: i can hear my neighbors, but only when they play the electric guitar or drums. honestly, neither bother me because they are both very good and i'd much rather hear music then screaming children or fighting couples (neither of which i've heard since moving here). however, i have heard some loud and annoying parties going on randomly throughout the week on the other side of the complex. there are a lot of students here, so it all depends on who your neighbors are to how noisy or how annoying they'll be.

grounds: this could be improved. the back area next to the creek is nice and green, but some of the "grassy" areas are dead and could use a little more care.

safety: i have never felt unsafe here. my husband and i live on the second floor, which probably helps in this aspect.

construction: this place is over 30 years old, and it shows. there are about 20 coats of paint on the walls, doors, cabinets, and ac vents. the same goes for the caulking around the sinks, bathtub, and floors. the hot water takes forever to get hot which is completely annoying for people who don't like to waste water or money! we had a leaky bathtub faucet when we first moved in...there was a constant drip that took about 3 weeks and 3 maintenance guys to fix. the first two didn't speak english so we couldn't communicate the actual problem and then finally, 2 weeks later, the head maintenance guy came and fixed the problem. they should probably have just replaced the whole facet, but they didn't. also, the dishwasher looks like it was recently installed because they cut away the linoleum in the kitchen to put the dishwasher in, and then didn't fill the linoleum back in. good news though, there weren't any holes in the walls or stains on the carpet, and the whole apartment was pretty clean when we moved in. however, parts of the wall in the our living room and bedroom looked like they were cut away and then glued back together again. on the plus side, we haven't had many bug problems (2 silverfish and maybe 5 cockroaches total).

maintenance: if you get a maintenance manager or someone you recognize (i.e., the guys you see actually around the apartment complex), then they seem to know what they are doing and they are very nice. the only real issue we had was a leaky faucet, and that was when we first moved in. we also had a leaky roof when we first moved in, but that was fixed within the week.

pets: they pretty much allow any and all pets (even if they are a restricted breed). if you like dogs, that's a plus, but if you don't like stepping in poop, well then that would be a con.

laundry: can be annoying if people don't take their clothes out of the dryer (typical in any apt. complex probably). the laundry card is a pain in the butt. you have to load it with money (it doesn't take one dollar bills) in the office during office hours (which conveniently, isn't open whenever i need to do laundry).

staff: never had any problems with any of the staff. they have all been friendly and helpful. the water and gas bills are passed out through the complex, though, so you'll probably be paying for more than you actually use. my husband and i have actually tried to conserve water here, but alas, we end up paying the same amount as everyone else (which i think is a load of crap).

overall: it was a pretty decent apartment complex considering the price. the size of the place was great. it worked very well for my husband and i when we first moved to austin, but now we are looking for something a little more updated. also, i think they screw you over a bit with the community water and gas bills. 6TrHFn6pn7poyqNlKEgn

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/01/2009
Good review. Considering you just moved there you may not know that the complex is over 40 years old and the water system is ancient. You all have a boiler system. Saving water is impossible. It is completely legal to bill you like they do. You are paying for all the community areas using water. Ask someone who is experienced in apartment maintenance and speaks english and you will get an earful of how difficult it is to maintain it. Since most of the residents are students, they don't care about much. You are considerably lucky you haven't encountered a violent fight in the parking lot or a fire in the dumpster or any number of other things that have happened on the property. Take a look at some of the other reviews. There are many other apartments more modern with the same room for less rent. If you can afford to move, do it as soon as you are able. Before your ceiling caves in or the balcony above you colapses or a transformer explodes and catches the trees on fire or the creek floods into your apartment or it rains so much the drainage backs up in your plumbing or in the parking lot and causes your car to be carried away or your next door neighbor uses their porch for training their dogs to fight or a rat makes a nest behind your stove or roaches take over or before your ac stops working in the middle of summer and you are unable to tell them what you need done because of the language barrier or a rat gets stuck in your wall and dies or your upstairs neighbors toliet leaks into your ceiling or your car is broken into or your next door neighbor is arrested in a large drug bust or whatever you make on the outside grill tastes weird because one of the college students used it as a urinal. You get the idea. Get out while you can. They will continue to raise your rent. They will never hire an experienced contractor for any job. Ask if any of the maintc. staff are qualified electricians or ac technician. Better yet why don't you ask the office how many fires have happened in the last 10 years and for your own safety ask about if they REALLY do criminal or background checks. If hearing your neighbors in any way is okay and you really feel safe there and you are confident your ceiling won't cave in next time it rains more than 5 minutes then you are in a good place. Shocking that anyone has anything good to say about that hell hole.

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