I do realize that some people like to moan and complain about every little thing (usually because they're spoiled), but after reading so many poor reviews on this complex I felt compelled to give a COMPLETE, HONEST, UNBIASED review of the Keystone Apartments. I've been here since summer of 2006, and so far I have no complaints about these apartments. I highly recommend Keystone Apartments if not for the apartments themselves, but for its convenience, location, and bargain price.


Anyway, here's the bad stuff:

The 'Strip'

My apartment is located in the very back facing 183, where I get a complete view of the 'Strip.'

And the 'Strip' I'm referring to consists of a few shady shops:

- A 'News' store, where people mainly go to buy pornography
- A lingerie shop, where you have models who try out the outfits for you, and preform extra services if you pay them enough money. I remember one night looking out the window to discover a few cops escorting some of the models out into their squad cars.
- A tattoo and piercing parlor
- A gift store that sells 'water pipes' among other things. This is a popular spot with college kids and high school students.
- And a Mom & Pop Chinese food restaurant... which is probably the cleanest business you can find on the 'Strip'

And all this is rather jarring, especially when you have a few churches and I believe an Elementary school a few blocks over.

Also because it's near 183, you're going to hear ongoing traffic, garbage trucks, and random sirens in the background, but if you're a heavy sleeper, such as myself, or can drown out distant noises, then these things aren't going to bother you much.


Older Buildings

The apartments are old (I believe these were made in the 80's), with that being said, things are going to fall apart. Personally, my garabage disposal is not working (which is a common apartment thing), the turntable in my microwave doesn't work, one of the doors of the drawers of my sink fell off, my toilet keeps on leaking, and the stopper on my sink is broken.

The front office doesn't really care about anything. They're basically there to make sure that everyone pays one time and that's about it. Good luck trying to get things fixed unless you constantly remind the front office. I would have the maintenance come by more often, but as someone mentioned before, the maintenance looks rather shady and appear to not have close ties with the front office.

It's rather odd, but the maintenance is 100% on top of keeping the outer appearance of the apartments presentable (I'm almost afraid to think that most of their budget is wasted on this), as the crew makes sure that there's always new wood on your balcony a fresh coat of is applied on the buildings.


Safety

Perhaps I'm just a lucky person, or I moved in right when the crime began to stop, but I've never felt that the area was ever 'dangerous,' even at night. Fortunately, I haven't had my car or apartment broken into, but my experience could be completely different from others.

There's always this strange lady walking around the area at night (I've heard stories about some prostitute living here, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's her). She's not dangerous or anything... just rather odd to see.

This is not a 'gated community'. There are enough fences to give you some sense of privacy, but that's about it. However, I've always found gated apartments to be a false sense of security - anyone can enter in those complexes by waiting for someone else to open the gate for them.


...Now, onto the Good stuff:

- I'm paying for a one bed room that would cost me about the same amount for an efficiency at other locations.

- Parking is never a problem, as there are plenty of spaces for the residents as well as any of their guests.

- While there are no fitness rooms, there's a park about four blocks away (easy walking distance), where you can bring your children to play.

- The location is quite prime, you've got 183 on the side, a portion of 183 where the morning traffic isn't as congested as other parts. You can also hit North Mopac by making a quick drive down Duval (in the morning, I can get to the Northridge Austin Community College campus taking this route in under 10 minutes. It's ridiculous).

- Haven't had too many noise problems aside from the 183 traffic and the people hanging out in from of the gift store.

- I never had a pest problem here at all. There was a brief period where I had a few ants coming in, but that's nothing a can of Raid couldn't fix. And as sloppily as I live, I've never come across a roach or rat since I've been here.

- This complex recycles, and has dumpsters on almost every corner of the complex.


Convenience

Everything, and I mean everything that you need is within a two block radius (i.e., easy walking distance):

- You've got two gas stations right around the corner (one with a 24 hour foodmart), so you never have to worry about driving out of the way in order to fill your tank.

- There's a 24 hour Walgreen's on the opposite corner of Duval, for all your late night grocery needs.

- Never once had I ever used the laundry room in the complex, there's conveniently a laundromat (which claims to close at 11pm, but always remains unlocked) right around the corner of the 'Strip'.

- There are plenty of restaurants within walking distance: Super China, Bone Daddy's, Razoo's, Chuy's, an IHop, and Short Stop.

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