Evaluating big apartment complexes in the Far West (Austin, Spring: extended stay, sublets)

[Sweet Polly]

Hi,

My son is heading off to graduate school in Austin in the fall and is trying to find an apartment without having to visit. His budget is limited - about $800 a month tops - so he's been looking in the Far West (although he'd prefer Hyde Park, but thinks he's priced out).

He's been working with an apartment locator, but is having a hard time evaluating the choices. We're used to using Yelp and Google for reviews, but there are only a handful there. There are tons on apartmentratings.com, but many of them seem suspect. Anyway, using the aparatmentratings site, he found that one of the apartments recommended by the apartment locator had a poor rating, so now he's not sure how well he can just trust that they're screening very well.

Anyway, cut to the chase, he went to apartmentratings and found 5 apartment complexes in the Far West that had decent ratings. He is not fussy, maybe a little run down, would prefer it to be quiet but understands that none of the big places are going to be great on noise, he'd like the pool to be usable.

Here are the 5 choices:

Acacia Cliffs
Northwest Hills
The Ridge
Juniper Springs
Bent Oaks

Does anyone have any idea how these places are? Are they all roughly comparable? We did find one awful sounding place in this area (people were talking about lots of drug deals going down and scary people kicking in the doors) so we know it *can* be bad just going in sight unseen. Any guidance greatly appreciated!

[mesmer]

I don't know anything about those particular complexes, but I have feedback on two in the same area:
I've known two people who've lived in Westdale Pointe and liked it, although it looks the ratings online don't reflect that opinion.
I knew someone who lived in Le Montreaux and their car got stolen. It wasn't even a nice car, either. Taken, joy ridden, and trashed. Yikes. All things being equal, probably best to be further away from the highway if you can be.

[Trainwreck20]

Honestly, those places have changed names/owners so many times since I lived out there, I couldn't tell you which was which. I did live in Savannah Ridge waaay back in the day, and it was probably old then but no issue with it. In the winter, there were quite a few retired snow-birds that stayed there, super nice people. FW has never had reputation as bad as, say, riverside, but it is a lot of students.

As for reviews, take em all with a grain of salt.

Edit: Ah, Savannah Ridge is not Acacia Cliffs. Go figure . In the 80s I lived there and liked it just fine.

[paul6835]

I live walking distance to these apartments, it's about as safe an area in Austin as youll find not in the burbs. It's certainly safer than Hyde park, though not as interesting.

[hoffdano]

That area has never been called "the" Far West in the almost 30 years I have lived in the Austin area. I lived near Far West Blvd. when I first moved to Austin and work not too far from there today.

There is not one thing wrong with the area. I can't comment on specific apartment complexes. But it is a safe, clean area and quite a few students live in the area but it is not like living in an area near campus.

[centralaustinite]

He should trust the locator over on-line ratings, only people with axes to grind ever rate apartment complexes! Apartment reviews always skew to the worst possible outcome. A decent locator is much better.

Has he contacted his department at UT? There will be graduate student coordinator who may have advice and leads on places to stay as well as roommate possibilities. Far West is quiet and peaceful and has a direct shuttle to campus but is it still quite a haul. Depending on his field, if he working in a lab with materials that need close monitoring or other demands that would make being close to campus at odd hours desirable, then he may want to look at Hyde Park again and think about getting a roommate.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Sweet Polly

Hi,

My son is heading off to graduate school in Austin in the fall and is trying to find an apartment without having to visit. His budget is limited - about $800 a month tops - so he's been looking in the Far West (although he'd prefer Hyde Park, but thinks he's priced out).

He's been working with an apartment locator, but is having a hard time evaluating the choices. We're used to using Yelp and Google for reviews, but there are only a handful there. There are tons on apartmentratings.com, but many of them seem suspect. Anyway, using the aparatmentratings site, he found that one of the apartments recommended by the apartment locator had a poor rating, so now he's not sure how well he can just trust that they're screening very well.

Anyway, cut to the chase, he went to apartmentratings and found 5 apartment complexes in the Far West that had decent ratings. He is not fussy, maybe a little run down, would prefer it to be quiet but understands that none of the big places are going to be great on noise, he'd like the pool to be usable.

Here are the 5 choices:

Acacia Cliffs
Northwest Hills
The Ridge
Juniper Springs
Bent Oaks

Does anyone have any idea how these places are? Are they all roughly comparable? We did find one awful sounding place in this area (people were talking about lots of drug deals going down and scary people kicking in the doors) so we know it *can* be bad just going in sight unseen. Any guidance greatly appreciated!

If he is coming in the summer he might want to just sublet for the summer and look for a place for the year. You can get really cheap sublets from all the students that leave town. Alternately he could find a room on craigslist for a month. Finally, he could just stay at an extended stay for 2 weeks

[Danbo1957]

The Ridge, of those five, by far. Lived there for six months while my house was remodeled.