This place sucks
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
10/6/2005
Years at this apartment:
2005
-
2005
I hard to know where to begin. This is a long review, so please only read sections that interest you.
LEASING STAFF: Mexican day laborers in Houston have greater job security than the office staff at 9900. Its like a episode of MTV's "Next." The incompetence of the leasing office staff is breathtaking, no matter who they hire. For example, all residents recently had their parking spaces reassigned because the office had lost track of what spots were available. This leads to the parking section below...
PARKING: Keep in mind it was the incompetence of the leasing office that created this problem. The spot you had outside your door is now 30 yards (or more) away. If you comply with the new parking regime you may find yourself confronted with a resident who is protesting (with good reason) the new scheme. If you complied, you were issued a new blue tag. Apparently, the "blue tags" were quickly outdated and residents had to return, for a second time for a new "new" tag. If it sounds confusing, it is. Moreover, neighbors have been swapping their "new" spots for their "old" spots. This will be problematic when new residents move in and the leasing office issues tags without knowing or caring about the trades. Trades, it should be noted, were encouraged by the leasing office. Ideally you will have a spot, and you may be happy with it.....visitor parking, however, is a problem. There is none. God forgive you if you park in the wrong spot, because there will be a hard to remove sticker on your car. Or your car was towed.
SECURITY: Actually, I think it is quite good. The apartments are in the middle of one of Houston's richest neighborhoods. HPD maintains a visible presence for the rich crowd and we benefit. When there is a problem (area home invasions, car vandalism etc.) the leasing office, to their credit, provides notice and specifics of the crimes. The 3rd party security guards are, for the most part, polite and professional. They patrol on foot as well as in their cars...and they are armed. During the recent eveacuation of Houston (for Rita) I was pleasently surprised to see security guards on duty throughout the ordeal. There may be some bad apple guards (I have heard some stories of sleeping guards) but it seems that if you complain about them, they disappear. One guard is so nice that whenever he sees a resident walking their dog, he offers them a tennis ball that got hit over from the neighboring tennis club. There there are many families here and crime among the residents, to my knowledge, does not happen often if at all. I would warn that the "caliber" of the new residents has been going down lately...shady people that got a deal and are stuffing their freinds/family into the units. Bottom line, I keep the door locked, but I feel safe.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY: As noted, having families here helps. People with kids, generally, want the place to be safe. I dont see people having late parties or playing loud music into the night. It might happen, but I dont see it. Some parents let their kids go too crazy and scream in the pool...but this is a minor problem at best. Turnover is quite high, however, so you never know who will move in next. And, as noted, new residents of late live here only because its cheap (or can be if you get a deal). Hurricane Rita brought out the best of the people living here, so the overall good will may fade...especially because of the new parking SNAFU. (see above).
AIR CONDITIONING: It sucks. It's broken at least 1-2 times per week in the summer. And "summer" can last half the year in Houston. When it does "work," the AC struggles to keep the place around 77 when temp outside is in the 90's. Granted we live in a top floor unit, but we have to run the AC on high 24/7. Bottom line, the chilled water systems in place need to go. They are inefficient when working and contribute to our inflated community billing. To be fair, I have seen 3rd party AC repar crews working to fix the units late at night....so they do respond. But the units dont stay fixed for very long.
COMMUNITY BILLING: This needs to go! They do run the AC and leave lights on in unoccupied units...so you help pay for that. Then, as of late, apartments meant for 1-2 people are housing 4-9. That's not because of the recent hurricanes, its because of certain "cultural characteristics" that many of our newer neighbors share. In effect, two people sharing a two-bedroom apt. will pay the same electricity bill as five (all adults btw). So, if you want to lower your bill by sweating it out....you wont save money because your neighbors next door crank their AC, and they get to split the bill five ways. And now I hear some new residents have all bills paid in their rent (which is probably lower than long-term residents). If you think the leasing office is sophisticated enough to account for, in an effort to ensure the fairness of your utility bill, the all-bills-paid residents and the empty apartments running AC, then please see my "leasing staff" section above.
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