Pecan Grove Apartments

It’s an ok apartment complex. It’s old and in serious need of renovation (which they say they are in the midst of but I don’t see much). There’s two girls who work the office and one is great. The other is a blond girl and is pretty incompetent with basic things such as packages and lease questions. She comes in late most days and has a bad attitude/​resting bitch face (I guess that’s not her fault?) — which is frustrating when I want to pick up my packages before I go to work and she can’t be bothered to get off her personal phone calls to help me right away. Maintenance staff is great and come in a timely manner and that’s why I’m giving three stars. I’ve gotten my bras stolen from the laundry center (just my bras… Which means someone dug through my clothes to find them! Creepy). Staff at least changed the laundry code after but others kept getting their stuff stolen. Water frequently got shut off during the summer and we didn’t always get notified right away. Pool is nice but the grill is completely rotted– which sucks because you can’t have your own. I’m moving out next month because its been a below average experience.

They need to replace Cynthia the manager. It is clear that she is just a saleswoman. She will promise the world the prospective tenants, and after you sign you just become a number. She is unfriendly to the tenants and I am unimpressed with her customer service skills. She has let me down numerous times on issues I’ve had. She does not seem to realize that in addition to bringing in new tenants, she serves the existing ones.
Your rent will increase substantially every time your lease is up. It will be a shock. Some previous reviews say that no matter how careful you’ve been with your apartment, there’s a good chance you’ll get a bill when you move out.
Therefore it rings hollow when we get emails from management which say «Dear Valued Residents» and «we love our residents». There is a sign here that says «You deserve an upgrade!» If I wanted an upgrade I’d pay more to live elsewhere.
The current assistant manager is friendly and would make a better manager than Cynthia.
The credit card operated laundry machines are difficult for the vision-​impaired tenants to use, because they can’t read the prompts and there can be a delay while the card is authorized.
Except for the manager it is a good place to live. The maintenance guys are excellent. I doubt I’ll be able to afford the next rent increase, though.

The CM Cynthia is amazing she always helps me so much. The community is always kept clean and its a beautiful apartment for the right place. I have lived in many apartments but this place I feel like Im home.

Overall this place was good for my first Austin apartment.
Here are some concerns I had.
1) Noise. The apartments are old and the ceilings will creek if someone is walking about you. So, I recommend a top floor apartment as I had to start sleeping with ear plugs.
2) Mail. Not sure what is happening but I have had my mail «lost» and have received lots of mail from other units.
3) Price. The rent increased a lot after first year, from 800 to 1100.
I would still recommend this place overall if your looking for north-​central Austin.

Pros:
–There’s a CapMetro station right outside the complex and a UT shuttle route a short walk away at the Intramural field.
–The complex is fenced and gated. The gate isn’t always closed when it’s supposed to be, but it’s better than nothing
–The rent was pretty reasonable given the neighborhood and central location.
–There’s lots of parking for residents and guests.
–The laundry room got new machines and credit-​card payment, along with an online system to track which machines are in use.
–The office staff was really friendly and helpful.
–I have didn’t really have problems with noise from other apartments or the street.
–Walgreens, 7 – 11, Central Market, and a fair number of restaurants are within walking distance.
–The maintenance staff was crazy fast at fixing issues. If I put in a work order late at night then they’re around to fix it at 9 or 10 am the next morning.
Cons:
–Mail delivery is a problem. I got mail for other units pretty frequently and I’ve had packages go mysteriously missing.
–The apartment layouts are weird. For example, my unit didn’t have enough cabinet space and it also didn’t have a pantry.
— The whole apartment is carpeted (even the dining area) except for the kitchen aisle and the bathroom. I am not a messy person, but I haf to vacuum pretty frequently to keep things clean.
–The apartment got dusty really quickly for some reason, even though the air filters are changed regularly and I dust/​vacuum frequently.
–The complex is older and not fancy, so the counters, cabinets, and bathroom fixtures are somewhat flimsy. I knew this when I rented though, so I wasn’t surprised.
— Austin Water can’t seem to get its act together with the pipes leading to the complex. Every month or so there was a water outage for 3+ hours due to the pipe out front on Lamar Blvd being messed with.
–Depending on which unit you end up in, your electricity bills might be really high. Some units get quite hot in the summer, probably because of poor insulation. Getting blackout curtains can help with this somewhat.
–Residents tended to have poor laundry room etiquette (leaving finished loads in machines for several hours) and would sometimes leave their beater cars sitting around with flat tires and missing parts for weeks on end. A fair number of residents seemed to smoke as well, so that was always a nice smell to deal with in the courtyard.
Overall, I would recommend this complex. It’s not fancy by any means but the rent was decent and it’s a good location.

I’ve been living here for about 3 months, so I suppose it’s possible that my opinion could change.
I needed a reasonably priced 1 bedroom on the Express CapMetro line. I had sublet in the area for a summer and really liked it. Obviously I couldn’t splurge for living actually IN the Triangle, but this was a great compromise.
Pros: Really convenient location with easy access to 35, 2222, Mopac, Burnet and Lamar. Gated (though open random hours). Nice pool area with a grill. New laundry machines (as of last week) that take credit cards and text you when your laundry is done. Very responsive maintenance. Relatively updated, not the nicest fixtures, but I have a dishwasher so I won’t complain. Small and pretty quiet community. Pretty dog friendly.
Cons: Honestly, I don’t have many. It’s not the Ritz. It’s an older complex. My unit is pretty decent though. A few people aren’t great about cleaning up after their dogs. I REALLY wish they had a fitness center. Sometimes the communication about what is due for rent is less than desirable.
TL;DR: Great smaller older apartment complex with reasonable rates.

My son has lived at Pecan Grove for 4 years. When he first moved in the management was very friendly and accommodating. There must have been a change in ownership as they go out of their way to be difficult now. I have rent paid through autopay and have for all 4 years. I got notice of a $ 50 charge for late fee saying they didn’t receive payment. After further review it was at one of their sister properties and hadn’t been delivered. Regardless of their mishandling they refused to remove the charge. The location is good, but the property isn’t being kept up like it was in the past. I would not recommend to friend or family.

I lived at Pecan Grove for 2 years from August 2011 to July 2013. I enjoyed living here initially but the service and the condition deteriorated over the years. This is a final review based on my overall experience + move-​out. Please read my previous review my initial impressions.
I would have loved to stay due to the location but here are some of the reasons why I chose to leave.
(1) The apt is very old, even if it looks newer than the ones nearby. Old apts comes with old school problems. For example, due to the old electrical wirings, all the lights in the apt flickers when my LaserJet printer warms up, b/​c it draws «too much» current. This is also the dustiest apt I’ve ever lived in and it’s not even the A/​C filter problem. I clean the entire place at least once a week and still, a layer of dust on the table in just one afternoon.
(2) Too many places for «unwanted friends» to enter. I can hear rodents in the ceiling, in the wall, and under the floor board, every single day. I can even slam on the wall and hear them run away. It’s also impossible to keep bugs like crickets or grasshoppers out. The kitchen light was one of their main entrances but there’s nothing I could do about it. The apt didn’t do anything about it either. When I moved out, there were 7 dead crickets in the kitchen light.
Oh, and fruit flies. One night, I opened my trash can (that had a single slice of banana peel & some chicken bones) and killed 90+ fruit flies using my handy-​dandy bug zapper. Yes, I counted. I was shocked and couldn’t really sleep that night.
(3) I honestly don’t know how safe this place actually is. First, I got my LOCKED bike stolen from my 2^nd floor balcony in the middle of the day. One of my neighbors saw some «construction workers» working on my balcony (I didn’t have any work order). Of course the apt denied the claim and did nothing.
Then, there was the homicide of a homeless person right outside the apt (across some puny fence). It was so close-​by that I can see the spot where it supposedly happened from my front door. I can see (and hear) homeless people there every night actually.
(4) I was stalked by a cat. For a period of 4 months, this cat decided to park right outside my door. I’m not a cat person at all and I’m mildly allergic to cats. I don’t like cats and I don’t touch them ever. Still, it would follow me when I get out of my car. There were many instances where I was stuck inside my apt b/​c the cat was literally waiting against my door to come in. It got in once and it took my 30 min to get it out. I told the office many many times but as usual, they did nothing.
(5) Price just kept increasing. From $ 786 to $ 833 to $ 950, for a mere 645 sqft 1B/​1B with all the problems above. It just didn’t make sense, esp when considering how old this place is.
Overall, the management just wasn’t very responsible. They «tried» to help with the cat problem but never followed through. They promised to send out a caution email to the apt after the bike incident but never did. Small things like this adds up =/​
Lastly, the move-​out experience was just horrible. I kept the apt very clean but they still managed to charge me $ 70 for carpet cleaning for basic wear and tear. I took time off work for the move-​out check and they were more than an hour late. The only reason they didn’t charge me more was b/​c of my OCD-​ness during move-​in.
I definitely cannot recommend this place as strongly as I did before. The location is it’s only pro. I guess it’s still OK compared to the nearby options, as long as you can tolerate the inherent cleanliness and the safety flaws.

Me and my roommate lived here for a year. We just recently moved out to a different apt complex due to significant price increase in rent here. Over all my experience here was meh /​okay. The general cleanliness was good and the management was quite quick in response to any maintenance request. Nothing exceptionally nice but nothing to complain about the office staff either.
Location: Like other reviews mention, this is a great location, right next to several bus stops, the 7-​eleven right across the street, comic book stores and such. It helps explain the high price here.
Price: Even though the location is good, I personally think the place is definitely over priced. We were paying 800/​month for a 1 bed — 1 bath — around 600 squared feet. The rent now go up to like 900−1000/month. We moved to a new apartment about 7 minutes away and pay 750/​month for 2 bed — 1.5 bath — around 900 squared feet. If you don’t have a mean of transportation and want to stay right next to the bus stop then it may worth it, otherwise, I think you would get a much better deal getting an apartment somewhere else.
Pets: They collect 200 dollars pet fee here. Usually I think most of the apartment complex use part of the pet fee to deep clean the apart after you move out. Needless to say, here, they collect the 200 dollars pet fee just for the fact that you have a pet.
******Apartment deposit/​move out cleaning: This is the worst part of my experience. Without this, I would easily rate this apartment 4 stars (not 5 since it’s a little too expensive). However, they are quite unreasonable in my moving out cleaning. I have lived in 3 different apartment complexes before and the most that any of them charged me for cleaning up was 40 dollars, and that was because my roommate accidentally damaged the door. Other than that, we always cleaned up pretty well after ourselves.
In this case, I had 150 dollars deposit down for the apartment. My roommate, his mom and me spent a whole day to clean up after we moved our stuff out. I personally cleaned up the bathtub to the point that the paint almost come out. I also tried to clean up the dripping plate under the stove as much as I could. Some of them are black out from uses and should have been considered normal wear and tear. However, when we moved out, the office charged us 70 dollars for vacuum (despite that we already vacuumed twice before we left) for the 200 squared feet of carpet. On top of that, they charged another 70 dollars for general cleaning (again, after we already cleaned most of the apartment). And also, they charged us to replace the dripping plate, etc. I thought that it was outrageous. We are not professional cleaner, even when we tried to do our best, chances are we will miss a few spots and all the previous apartment complex took care of those minor cleaning without much complaining. At this place, apparently if you are not professional cleaner or don’t hire one, you better make sure that the apartment is literally new (that means no wear and tear) or you probably won’t get any of your deposit back if not getting charged more.
In conclusion, this place is nice, nothing exceptional but no bad surprise. So if you don’t mind paying overprice and a high chance of losing all your deposit then this place is great.

Pros:
Location:
Nice centrally located and yet out of the way. You’re literally feet away from the 1M/​1L and 101 stops which go pretty much everywhere you need to go downtown. Or you can walk to the IF shuttle. Plus you’re across from a ⁷⁄₁₁ should you need a midnight snack. I love the location. I’m basically 15 minutes from everything. Whole Foods? 15 minutes. Target at Great Hills Trail? Sure, 15 minutes.
Apartment Cleanliness:
There’s something to be said about a clean apartment complex and Pecan Grove does a good job keeping the grounds beautiful. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a small place (not like you can have picnics on the courtyard) but they do a lovely job with it. I really like the pool — wish they had more shade though — and I think last year they added new pool furniture which is great for relaxing.
Friendly Staff:
I’ve never had a problem with the staff and they’ve always answered every email promptly. Once I went away for a week and a friend had to feed my cat. I forgot to leave her a key and after giving my emailed permission, they let her in everyday. Very courteous! And in the first unit I had the oven went bad so they replaced it with a brand new one in less than 24 hours.
Safety:
I’ve always felt safe, even after the murders about two years ago (lot next door, not in the complex). The management does a good job keeping the gate closed at dark and I haven’t noticed any shady characters. Someone did steal a package from me once but it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Cons:
Price:
I moved into Pecan Grove about two years ago in their smallest apartment for $ 550 a month, last year I changed into the 650 sq feet unit and now pay $ 856 a month. I’ll be out priced for my next renewal and have to leave. I’ve found cheaper rents in the neighborhood behind Pecan Grove so I might go there or do a house.
Layout:
Quite simply, there’s not a lot of storage space. I’d love a pantry or a linen closet.
Structures:
So they painted everything in the apartments to make them look «upgraded». I know because I had a non-​upgraded apartment when I lived in the smallest unit and spoke at length with the contractor. He told me that you can’t really put anything abrasive on the surfaces or the paint will come off. So no comet in the tub, no bar keepers friend on the counters. I live in fear that I will accidentally strip the coating off the tub and be charged for it on the way out. The whole thing feels gross and unsanitary. Why would you have a tub that you can’t scrub? Or counters? Do you know how much bacteria is on the counter? Eeek. Anyway that’s probably my biggest issue. Right now I just spray kabloom everywhere and hope it works.
I’ve had two friends move out in the last three months and one was charged over $ 600 for a new tub/​carpet. That kind of makes me nervous but then again, I moved units and didn’t have to pay any fees. So maybe buyer beware?
Overall I give this place a B. Good solid place, just getting out of my price range.

I’ve really enjoyed living at Pecan Grove.
First, my two criticisms:
1. I really wish the unit I’m in (¹⁄₁) would have some more built-​in storage space. There is no pantry, no coat closet, no linen closet. I have nowhere to store my vacuum cleaner, and it makes my space feel a little cluttered. I’m in the biggest 1 bedroom floorplan they have, but with two people in my unit, the closet is overflowing. That being said, the layout of the unit is well done and makes the living room feel much bigger.
2. One of the reasons I’m leaving is because my rent shot up by 15%, which is the legal max rent can be raised over one year. I may or may not have to move to Dallas, but even if I stay, I can’t afford the $ 100+ increase :(
Now, all of my compliments:
1. The staff is really, really wonderful. Particularly Misty. She’s been a joy to work with. I had a really awful Landlord at my last place (who I ended up having to sue), and he lied about my rental history and gave me a bad reference. I talked to Misty about it and she contacted apartments I leased at before him, and since they all gave good references, she took a chance on me. She was totally understanding about my situation with the bad landlord. I couldn’t appreciate her any more than I do. :)
2. Misty, again, went out of her way to work with me on installing faux wood floors. It was something they had never done in units, and she was totally willing to negotiate with me.
3. The pool is kept nice and clean, and all maintenance has been prompt. AND there is no curfew on the pool, as long as you are quiet and respectful! Completely awesome.
4. The unit itself is nicely updated.
5. Location is conveniently near both Cap Metro and UT bus stops.
6. Other tenants are typically quiet.
7. I feel safe in my apartment.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Pecan Grove to others.

I lived here for about two years and really liked it. I probably would have stayed, except I wanted a washer/​dryer in my apartment. The rent is reasonable compared to other apartments in the area. I lived in one of the renovated units and all my friends liked how it looked. The complex is well-​maintained and in a convenient location.
The entire time I lived there, I think I only had to put in two maintenance requests and the maintenance guys were quick to get it fixed. The staff is very helpful and friendly.
I would say the people living here are a mix of college students and professionals. The one thing I really liked is that I felt safe here. There are always people up and the area itself is relatively safe. It’s never been too noisy.
My only complaints are the lack of storage and washer/​dryer hookups, but that’s common once you start getting closer to campus. The walls are also thin, but that’s also common in most apartment complexes.
It’s honestly one of the best deals you’ll find close to UT.

I have been living here since April 2008 and I have had no problems or issues with anything, except maybe the college kids getting noisy at times but I have gotten use to it.
The staff is really friendly and I always get things fixed very quickly, but I have not had to contact them much on that.