Apartment Review for Salem Walk Apartments - Austin, TX

I do not agree with other reviewers that the walls here are thin; the only time noise is a concern from tenants in neighboring units is when they turn up their sound systems with heavy bass. And that is due to the tenants, not the building. Also, there should be no reason for an electric bill to run over $200 for an apartment unit. My bills have been about $50 a month on average. But then again, that was not during the hot summer months. I guess I will find out when I get my bill this month! All the same, there is a high turnover within leasing office personnel here. In the four months I have lived here, two agents have already left. Although well-intentioned and nice to your face, the current agents are incompetent. They drag their feet to get things taken care of and never get back to you. The two maintenance guys who work here are amazing. They are so friendly and helpful, and always come through. They respond to your requests immediately, such that I do not even go through the leasing office anymore to get repairs done because I know it will inevitably take longer. I was unemployed when I moved to Austin 4 months ago, and I based my decision for housing primarily on location and price. Salem Walk is situated halfway between Mopac and I-35, 5 mins to Brodie Ln. shopping, 15 mins to downtown, and 20 mins to Austin-Bergstrom Airport. The location is truly kickass. I pay less than $600 for my 1-bedroom apartment, which is one of the best deals in all of Austin. There is a price to pay for this discount, though. Quiet this community is not. There are car alarms going off multiple times every night, hordes of Hispanic teens loitering in the parking lot on weekend nights (the racial makeup in this complex is 90% Hispanic), the constant roar of traffic on Stassney Lane, and an unfortunate placement at one of the most dangerous intersections in Austin (Stassney Lane and Emerald Forest Drive). I have witnessed one accident, and I hear the deafening sound of screeching brakes of near misses at least once a week. During warm weather, the pool area is bombarded with people throughout the entire day. During the day, it is mostly families at the pool with their ill-bred children running loose and screaming. There are so many frickin’ kids here. More worrisome, though, is that there is no one to lock the pool when it is supposed to close at 10pm, so there are all sorts of dubious characters coming and going at all hours. The police have had to come on numerous occasions to break up loud parties, and to stop the illicit drug use and underage drinking that takes place in the pool area. I have brought up the matter to management on multiple occasions, even volunteering to lock the pool when it closes, but my phone calls are not returned. The security code to get through the entrance gate is widely known by non-residents, so there are numerous times when non-residents trespass onto the property and vandalize it. On weekends, there are large groups of non-residents who enter the property, enjoy the pool and barbeque, subject residents in nearby units to their music, loud laughter, and screaming, and leave behind all their trash for the poor maintenance team here to pick up on Monday morning. In conclusion, this is one of the best values in Austin price-wise, but if you can pay $100 more toward rent to prevent these headaches, I would avoid Salem Walk.