I have lived at Sycamore Tree since September '05. When I moved in, we had a nice place, well-manicured and landscaped yards, a clean pool, well-lit parking and solid communication from the office. All of these things have gone into decline.

Management: Since moving in here, we're on our third manager. It seems that there are a lot of unanswered questions about who owns it, who to contact for maintenance requests, etc. The first and second manager were great with keeping us up to speed on things; the current manager, though a nice guy, doesn't communicate anything to us at all.

Grounds: They continue to mow the yards, but landscaping is no more. What were once nice beds with flowers/plants in them are dirt hills with dog waste in them. The sprinkler system is heavily flawed, from coming on in the middle of the day when one might be walking to your door to the sprayers that just shoot jets rather than mists, causing erosion around the grounds. Speaking of dog mess, there are many residents who do not clean up after their dogs. It's a complaint not only from residents, but for workers from the utility companies that have to walk through our yards to check out meters.

Parking: Parking has never been a problem, even when you have the occasional guest. The long-standing problem is the lighting. There are safety lights on the utility poles that run through the middle of the complex. None of them work, and I can say that this has been brought to the attention of the management on numerous occasions. The last I heard was that it was on TXU (utility company) to remedy this, but nothing has been done, and no further communication has been made to any of the residents regarding this situation.

Safety: Besides the issue with lighting, the drive-up gate does not close any longer. I believe this is due to some damage caused by some workers who were using our complex drive to access an adjacent complex. Not only was our fence open for a couple weeks, but now we have the gap in the gate. When I moved here, we had security alarms on each apartment, but now those have been removed by the complex owners, meaning our only security is our deadbolts and the gates. One of our cars was broken into, along with several others around the complex, but we never recieved communication about what they are doing to increase safety.

Amenities: The pool was a disaster earlier in the summer, but after some pressure from the residents, it's nice and clean and is a great place to relax. If you are uncomfortable with the lifestyle around the area, then you might not like it, but if you can handle the "alternative lifestyle," you're fine. Maybe not the best place for kids, but kids need a house anyway, right'

The fixtures are cheap. We've had to have nearly all our faucet handles replaced after they crumbled. The toilet hardware doesn't last, and the air conditioning units are old and inefficient. A utility bill in the summer that hits $300 a month is scary. Part of that is due to the a/c units, but much of it is due to the poor insulation. We're pretty sure there's nothing between the apartments but drywall, as we can sometimes actually follow the story line of a neighbor's TV show.

Basically, we've seen nothing but decline here. The kitchen floor tile has gradually slid so that there is a gap in it. It's a good thing that you can paint the apartments any way you want, because chances are it won't get done otherwise. To their credit, they are doing stuff to the vacant apartments (which there are more and more of), like replacing carpets, but they are giving the existing renters nothing to cheer about. We'll be moving out this year, regardless. For $965/month, we should be getting more of a return on our investment than headaches and using pliers to turn on the cold water.

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