This is just to say that any transition period in management is not going to be worked out in a matter of three months.
I've read all the reviews. I agree with some of the points. Others seem overreactions, and I apologize to anyone who thinks otherwise. I will say I've lived here five years, so I have grounds for my opinions.

I also know people who have worked in corporate apartment management. You think you're screwed as a *resident'* Baby, you have NO idea.

My June rent *was* processed two weeks late after they insisted on it being in by June 2 unless we all wanted late fees. July was a week better. We will see how August goes. One note I will add here is that we turned in our rent on the 4th (late by two days) for August because we had what can be termed a medium-scale medical crisis, to avoid "over-sharing." ;) Connie in the front office, one of the desk reps we've talked to several times now, OK'ed this with the manager, so we didn't have to pay late fees. This is the sort of treatment we came to expect from Spraddle Creek.

As for turnover in the front office, we have lived here since this apartment was built. There has ALWAYS been rep turnover. It's a fact of life in corporate-owned complexes. Unfortunately, they did fire everyone when Ventana came in, just about the time the staff seemed to have really settled in. I found this absurd, I'll agree. Greg Marsh, the assistant manager, was one of those guys who'd bend over backward for you. Plus we have all new maintenance guys -- fix-it, gardening, the works. So now they've set themselves up a big hill to climb.

This is NOT THE OFFICE'S FAULT. This was a decision made at corporate level, for stupid corporate reasons (a.k.a., profits, period), I can assure you. The staff are not rude. OK, one girl was rude. She's not there any more. Mostly they're flustered and ignorant. So cut 'em some slack.

The one person who worried me was a desk jockey I called to report finding two black widow spiders in our garage. We find one every summer. Again, not news in Texas. Spraddle Creek always said they'd get right on it. And they did. Kids die from these bites. Ventana seemed less concerned, and I was talking to a native Austinite. I told her to tell her manager about it and no, not to wait two weeks to spray. She was noncommittal. This has bothered me more than anything. There are a ton of young families with kids under 10 here. (Speaking of, I haven't met a resident here who wasn't at least polite, if not good and friendly, the latter being the usual case.)

I expect it'll be another three to six months before things are humming along again, if they're going to. So if you're looking to move soon, you might give Ventana a pass, but keep an eye on it for the future.

Our maintenance requests were always dealt with within 48 hours unless there was just a gigantic rush. The guys who came in were always friendly. I never worried about being in the apartment alone with them. The new guys are slower (they're still adjusting too) but are still friendly and professional.

General pluses for the complex:

1. Great views. The builders worked hard to keep a lot of the natural trees and brushwork around while still making things safe at night. We have a beautiful old pecan tree outside our living room window.
2. Quiet. Yeah, you can hear your neighbor's Doberman thumping around. (That's apartment life.) But there's no highway sound. Things are being built up around us, but there's a goat ranch behind the property, and I suspect it's going to stay a goat ranch.
3. Safety. Lots of lights at night. No shady characters. The brushy bits are dark, I grant you. But I've walked around this complex in the evenings off and on for five years now, 30 minutes each time, and never had any problems.
4. Big windows. On the down side, if you need total dark to sleep like I do, you're going to need blackout curtains or use chenille blankets, hung like curtains, like we do.
5. HUUUUUUUUGE balconies! HUUUUUUGE closets! This place is not cheap, but you get a lot of square footage for your buck here. And it's ARRANGED well. I've lived in apartments with 1300 square feet to play with, but they designed it so poorly it might as well be 700. This is the first kitchen I've been able to cook in without moving things into the laundry room. And I cook a lot.
6. Low electricity rates. I've paid $130 and up per month in various Austin apartments. We haven't topped $90 in five years. It's usually around $65. Granted, we're the ham in the sandwich, stealing heat from the first floor and insulation from the third.
7. DSL. Yaaaaaay! Second phone lines already wired in. Double yay if you need 'em!

Ehhhh things:

1. The berber carpet is a cheaper version that pulls easily. They're replacing this.
2. Parking is easy if you've got a garage or at least one assigned parking slot. Parking is crappy if you use the open, unassigned slots. There aren't enough of them.
3. The power flickers here on occasion. This is not the complex's fault. The transformer unit down the way from us put on its own little fireworks display about eight months ago. The county has yet to fix the bloody thing. Get good surge protectors.
4. This is not a complex for poor people. I lost my job recently, so we're moving. We are strongly considering staying in-complex, though, just a smaller unit.

Bad t'ings:
1. Some of the construction quality, especially last-minute details, is highly debatable. The paint on the walls does not have a finish on it, like most new, "fabulous luxury" Austin apartments, so if it marks, it stays. The paint on the built-in shelves and on the floor molding isn't sealed, so things stick to it all the time. This gets disgusting in the bathrooms. You can't clean it with anything. The cabinet doors smack into each other because the builders didn't leave spaces for them to swing.
2. There was supposed to be a walking trail. Still ain't one.
3. Do not have any packages delivered here by the post office. I can't stress this enough. This is the Dallas clearinghouse's fault. They can't seem to decide whether our zip code exists or not. Go through UPS or FedEx. Pay your bills online. And don't expect even in-town mail to get to you within a week. The local post office is small, understaffed, and, well, incompetent, for all their well-meaning. Christmas is especially bad. Nothing like finding a surly teenager spotting in for your mail delivery.

In summary' National-chain-owned complexes are always a crap shoot. We've been very lucky with this one so far, and are hoping the new folks do as well. No guarantees. So keep an eye on this place, because if it stays at its previous performance level, you won't mind the extra gas mileage.

If you want staff you can count on from year to year, the kind of folk you invite to parties and hang out with; higher quality workmanship in the construction; something other than, again, the incredibly over-hyped "new wave" of "luxury apartments"; something with FLAVOR you don't have to import; a place you'll really really really hate to leave, even when you land that far, far away dream job... in short, sumthin' Austin... look south, young man, look south. And west. North ain't it.

User Responses
From: disagreewyou	Date: 08/09/2005
I beg to differ on the change in staff. Most of the staff from the leasing office to maintenance had been there from 3-4 years. Spraddle Creek had the lowest turnover in staff I have ever seen in an apartment complex.
From: unhappyrenter1908	Date: 10/04/2005
UhPlease Get Real and wake up and smell the coffee opps..the ghettoism.....You can't sit here and tell me that there are positives at ventana oaks...At least they have professional signs at the projects in east austin. Ghetto people don't like anything nice and it goes much deeper in that they don't think they deserve luxury. This management is pure and simple ghetto. They are cheap.. How much does it cost for buckets of paint when people are paying you near 1,000 dollars a month. There is no hope for ghetto people and they are just concerned about the dollar. Lord knows what would happen if Donald Trump came in and offered then a donut they would know what to do with it they wouldn't know luxury if it hit them.
From: outtaVentana	Date: 10/31/2005
About the noise...you must live in the very back end of the complex. Where I live I get to enjoy the sound of those giant mufflers, blaring stereo's and the banging of these cars as they hit the speed bumps at highway speed! I have neighbors that fight on a regular basis at 3 in the morning. And as for the type of people that are occupying the property now...they flooded the bathrooms in the leasing office after hours, have messed up the community computers, and there have been several car break in's in the last couple of months. It was NEVER like this before the Sherman idiots moved in!!!

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates