This review is for Lakeside Place Apts, located at 301/201 Wilcrest Dr, Houston, TX 77042.

PROS: I went to all the properties in this area, and in comparison with other properties in this price range, it's one of the better ones. It boasts larger than average floor plans for your dollar and mature landscaping. Also, the tenants could be worse - this will make sense when you drive by other properties in the area. They also let you have a BBQ on your balcony and mount a dish on the railing. Earlier this year, they also put in high efficency electronics, which I noticed in my electic bill.

CONS: I have been at this property for 4yrs and there are far more CONS than PROs, but over that period of time there have been 4 property managers. In retrospect, the first one was the best and the current one (I think her name is Deb or Bev) is arrogant and treats any tenant who does not agree with her like they are stupid - you will see this if you sign. Here is a list of the problems I have had over this period of time:
1. BATS - yes, that is not a typo, I said bats! A couple summers ago, they were dealing with "rodents", although I did not know what they meant until the summer of '07, when I had multiple bats in my apartment over a 4 days period, and even til now, I can not sleep well in this apartment. Also, when I went into the office, there was another girl there also complaining about bats. They have been having this problem for years and you can not even kill the darn things because they are protected animals, even though they carry rabbis and are a health hazard. These people will also try to blame the tenants and say they should keep their doors and windows closed and keep a clean apartment, and I do all of those things, so if they say it's my fault, it shows they don't accept responsibility and they are liars.
2. NO Emergency Maintenance - they say they have emergency maintenance, and have a 24hr answering service, but in 4yrs I have left over 10 emergency maintenance calls, and they have only responded to one - the first call about the bats - but they ignored all other calls and played dumb (or maybe they really are) and said they didn't get the calls. In addition to the bats, one of the worst situations is when my fridge went bad and they took two days to come and I had to throw away so much food I just bought. I have also had several rain related leaks that took several days for them to respond to and ruined my stuff. They just don't care about you at Lakeside Place Apts! :(
3. Unsafe water - I hope you like buying water from the store because the water at this property has a rust orange tint on most days, but is often clumpy and brown. For your own safety, do not take a chance drinking or cooking with this water.
4. Unkept Contract Promises - they never changed the carpet before I moved in and it's probably 8-10 yrs old. They have also promised me annual painting touch-ups and accent walls and have never done it in 4yrs.
5. Billing issues - I have let them charge my credit card for rent and water/trash/etc. and somehow I still have unbilled charges and late fees I have to fight on a frequent basis. They have also posted several notices to evict because of failure to pay, when it was their failure to do their job and charge the right amounts.
6. Parking - Hope you like lots of door dings if you can actually find a parking spot. There are so few parking spaces, compared with tenants that they made the spaces really narrow and you can barely open your door. Hope you also only have guests over in the middle of the day, because it's almost impossible at night.
7. Laundry - bring your quarters and lots of them, because one cycle in the dryer won't even be close to enough unless you have a really small load.
8. Drafty - with the rising cost of energy, this one can be a bad one. This property is really old and drafty, so expect your a/c and heater to be running often and to be paying more in electricity.
9. Stolen Cars - This property has more than its fair share of stolen cars (including mine) and stolen wheels. Make sure you have a very, very, very loud alarm and one that is very sensitive because if your car does not get stolen, your wheels will.
10. Safety - Everyone (guys AND girls), carry protection at all times. There have been daytime car jackings and nighttime assaults on girls - very sad situations. :( Don't be a hero but please protect yourself and know how is around you at all times. I also, highly recommend you pull the police report for this property. What is even worse is that despite all these problems, they are not even very good about keeping up with the lighting around the property. There were so many blown bulbs in the common areas, I took it upon myself to walk around and make a list of every blown light on my side, and submit a maintenance request for each one. Now there are more, so I have to do it again.
11. Grounds - If you like to swim, beware of the high allege levels. The pool by Bldg 73 has cracks in the wall which one maintenance guy admitted was leading to waste water leaking into the pool. Also, watch out for all the potholes or you'll be spending your money to fix your alignment and wheels often. They also have dog poop all over the place, so watch where you walk and where you let your kids play. Forget about mature landscaping, in my opinion, the ant hills, lack of sufficient handicap parking, animal poop, etc. are inexcusable. I know that animals belong to their owners, but they should have more dog poop stations around the property and actually put something in them - they're always empty. The only one on my side of the property is by the mailboxes, which is by the pool - great smell in the summer!!!! :(
12. Sub-flooring - the sub-flooring in my apartment is the worst. It's soft, squeaky, and clanky throughout the entire apartment. I have told the staff repeatedly and even offered to move to another empty unit so they can fix it, but they didn't care. Hope you don't live under me!!!
13. Smells - there are some crazy smells that smell like human waste coming from the drain in the bathroom. I recommend you keep a healthy supply of bleach under the counter, because the staff won't do anything to fix it. Also, I can smell smoke from my neighbor's apartments when the a/c and heater turn on.
14. Fires - there was fire here a year ago because their refrigerators were catching on fire. Make sure you check for warning signs frequently. Also, there have been other fires related to resident fault, but smoke damage can affect you and painting it is not good enough. They also had a huge amount of storm damage from Ike with lots of mold. All they did was scrape the outter part of the sheetrock and paint over it with something called Kilz.
15. Thin Windows - the walls are pretty good, and you don't hear too much unless your neighbors are having a fight or they have their stereo up really loud, but that can happen at any property. The problem I have with this property is how thin the windows are. They are so thin, I can hear people walking in tennis shoes on the ground level, and I am on the 3rd floor, when the windows are closed!!!! These windows are so thin, I can hear my downstairs neighbors' alarm clock every morning - THROUGH THE WINDOW! Forget it if your neighbors are having a party on the balcony outside your window or people are talking. Hope you are a very heavy sleeper.
16. REHAB - this property went through what they call a rehab a couple years ago, and instead of covering my car or giving me notice to move it, they sprayed paint on the whole backside and refused to take blame for it, which just shows they don't care about you and they won't admit to doing anything wrong. Hope you have extra money for overspray removal, and new paintjob, or an attorney to get them to fix it.
17. UNETHICAL - The current property manager (again, I think her name is Deb or Bev), is very unethical. I went in to complain about leaks and health concerns and she said she would only move me to another unit if I signed a lease extension. She's a real slum lord. All these property managers come in and say they've been with the company for years but they all stink! Just as bad are the leasing agents. I went in twice recently with my maintenance requests, had them signed (by a wanne-be blond called Jennifer and the leasing manager - nice black lady) and nothing was done. During my conversation with the property manager, she said there were no maintenance requests in my file, which shows both those ladies just tossed my requests in the trash.

ADVICE - look a little further out of town, if you can. I hear there are some newer properties for a little bit more, but it has to be worth not dealing with all this garbage. Also, know your policy and your rights - in section 31 of the lease agreement, they list their responsibilities. Make sure your maintenance requests are in writing or nothing will get done. Also read this website on your rights: http://www.taa.org/renterinfo/faqs/'catID=8

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/10/2008
My question to you is: why have you stayed so long?!
From: sueann29	Date: 03/23/2008
Jag, you're a putz. I agree with every single issue in the "cons" section above. You are obviously a Lakeside Place employee, or the manager, and should be doing your low-wage WORK instead of leaving idiot responses to honest resident comments. This place is a DUMP, smells like a DUMP, and has uneducated lackys in the office making lame excuses for all the problems around this DUMP. You gave yourself away when you claimed that it's safe here, because like "Paul" said, it's all in the police records--assaults, thefts, and burglaries included. Oh yeah, and lots of promises are made here about apartment prep/fixes AT THE LAST MINUTE, WHEN YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY OPTIONS ABOUT WAITING TO SIGN THE LEASE OR BACKING OUT. It happened to me, just like it happened to "Paul". I paid my deposit four weeks early to hold the empty apartment, and was assured that I'd have new carpet AND paint throughtout, and a cracked window fixed. Well, I showed up on lease-sign/move-in day and nothing was ready------THEY HAD WEEKS!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I had not counted on such unprofessionalism, and my old apartment was already leased to someone else--so I had to go ahead and sign at Lakeside Place. The work took 3 more weeks, and you can imagine the inconvenience of moving around all my furniture. The leasing agents LIE TO EVERYONE, WITH MANAGEMENT ENDORSEMENT!
From: Marie505	Date: 03/31/2008
I think you did a great review of the property I have only lived there a few months but the parking is horrible. I have to park in the street outside of the apartment complex half the time. I went and bought mace and a whistle since I have to walk so far to my place. It feels very dangerous to be walking that distance at night alone. The windows are very thin. There is dog poop everywhere. The water is orange and abosolutley disgusting. When I moved in two days later I got a huge leak in my ceiling that took them a month to repair and I had to call them twice a week about it. They even ripped a huge hole in the ceiling and left it that way for weeks and didn't even clean up the mess they left all over my bedroom floor. The I also had some other problems I just gave up on having them fixed because it was too much of a pain dealing with the leasing agents.
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/24/2008
to any one wanting to respond i would like to know the direct website of the police reports to pull up i am thinking of moving there and want to see what they have to say i pulled up houston crime reports but you haver to pay what is the exact site to pull up on the computer.
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/18/2009
I personally think Lakeside place is great. Its quite, huge floor plans with great prices, and great people. At least most of them that i have met have been great. These negative people are those people that are never satisfied with anything in life. You live in an apt not a house. If yall are old enough try to go to a retirement home. I agree that the parking isnt great but nothing is perfect. Sorry to say, if you have bugs or rats you live a dirty lifestyle. I've never had one bug or rodent since I've lived here.
From: jagsawyer	Date: 05/27/2009
I am not an employee of this property or any apartment property. I am actually a teacher who has lived here for 4 years and is signing my 5th lease. We live in a townhome and we are very happy. We did have a pipe burst in our ceiling and they came to our home within 15 minutes of calling. They got the leak to stop and came back the next morning as scheduled to sheetrock and fix everything up. We actually had two bats in our apartment this past March. They hured pest control to check out our attic and fireplace. There were no signs of bat infestation. They fixed any areas where bats could possibly get in. Now we are signing our 5th lease this week. They are agreeing to replace our carpet after 4 years and paint the entire apartment. I am willing to provide the paint because I want to choose my own colors. The new manager Gina has been friendly in her emails and phone calls with me and the husband. I have the emails as proof. And to Sueann29, we went through the same issue with the carpet when we moved in. I made them change it out the day before we moved in and they took care of it. Never accept less then what you would give a customer (or in my case a parent).
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/09/2009
I can go down the list of cons and prove this review WRONG. 1. Bats--- Anywhere there is a chimney, there will be bats. I lived in River Oaks with my parents, there were bats at night. Get over it. 2. Emergency Maintenance-- call the office after hours. Press 3 (I think)-- its emergency maintenance. Any they do respond (they responded to me when my front door wouldn't close) 3. Water-- Inner Houston tap water isn't the finest in the state. As for the "orangy brown" color- The only time I ever saw that was after Ike for 1 day because they had to repair the pipes. 4. Contract--- like any complex, carpet isn't changed after every tenant unless the tenant before them has pets. If you renew after a year, you get a deep cleaning upon request. Plus, a Kroger DirtDevil costs what, $24.95 for a whole day. 5. Billing-- get a reciept. Then its not your problem if there is a mistake. Human's aren't computers! Pay online to prevent problems! It's easy! 6. Parking--- know where to look for spots. Don't expect to come home at 8pm on a Monday and find the spot closest to your apartment available. It's difficult to find spots during prime hours of buisness days and Sundays. It is do-able finding spots. I have never had to walk from the street or anything. 7. Laundry-- I washed 2 loads at the same time (different washers) and dried them at the same time (in the same drier). Everything dried in 1 cycle except for a few socks that were balled up. Oops? 8. Drafty-- As an older community, I have noticed things that new construction has fixed today from past properties. Measures to prevent draftiness is key. Check seals on your doors and windows. Make sure everything is closed tightly. See light shining from the bottom of the door? Call maintinance and have it sealed- very simple! 9. Stolen Cars-- It may seem stolen, but it might have been towed had you parked in a firezone or occupied carport. I don't know anyone who has had their car stolen. If it has been, next time try not to leave your purse or valubles sitting out. That's a red flag. 10. Saftey-- Saftey is a measure that has to be taken personally (as stated above) and by the community. The area has been lit with new bulbs and lights everywhere (that I have noticed). 11. Grounds- I love the trees, and all the greenery. I do agree that there should be a few more "poop stations" scattered around the property. Other than needing mulch, I don't see a problem with the maintaining of the laws/trees/shrubbery. (PS- grass doesn't grow between buildings because there is probably a tree and no sun!) 12 &13. Smells and Floors-- You live in an apartment, not a home. It's not going to be as quiet as you want. People have their own schedules. Smells- It's unforunate when you get stuck by a neighbor with habits you don't like :(. 14. Fires- Most fires happen because of lack of prevention and human error. That does mean checking electrical wires and not leaving the oven/stove on. Just like you would at any other place you live. 15. Windows---The windows aren't storm proof thick and the walls aren't made from ultrathick sheetrock, so there will be some noise heard. I know my neighbor above me vaccuums during the day around noon- because I asked her not to do it in the morning (I sleep late). I have heard people at the pool- talking loud. I did hear a dog bark- outside my window. It's not quite in an apartment. Though the windows are thin, don't worry about your electricity bills. The energy saving appliances make a WORLD of difference. I keep my AC on Always (unless I'm out of town or not home) and my electricity bill hasn't been over $100 (last August). There are lots of ways to conserve electricity :D 16.Rehab--- Sorry about your Car. They should have let you know they were painting! Read the newsletter :) 17. Staff-- I hate seeing good managers and employees come and go, but like any place, you're not going to like everybody. If you have a problem, let them know. They will fix it if you tell them. They will work with you and show you respect if you respect them. That's the only way you can get what you want. Go by your contract and by your customer service ethics. I do reccomend this place to anyone who isn't uptight and wants good value for your money. I couldn't live without the energy saving appliances. The maintenance is prompt and if they can't fix it, they will find a way to fix it. The staff will work with you if you work with them (politly). The space is awesome. The people are pleasant and not nosey. Not too far out of town or in town. 15 minutes from Galleria Area (via Briar Forest), 25 min from Downtown (taking I-10). 5 min to nearest grocery stores including Randalls, HEB, Kroger, Foodtown. Less than 1 Min away from the nearest Gas Station (Texaco and Valero). Great quiet location, good people, great value
From: PaulSor....	Date: 10/15/2009
By the way, almost forgot to mention that 78% of other reviewers of this property would not recommend it either.

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