Mission James Place

Overpriced apartments that haven’t been updated in decades. The outside is well-​maintained, but inside you’ll find ancient appliances that break frequently, shoddy fixtures and cabinets, and paper-​thin walls. The office staff seem like nice people, but are clueless and seem to have an excuse for everything that goes wrong. Parking is a disaster in the evening as the complex really tried to add in as many spots as possible creating VERY cramped spaces. Also, expect to be charged fees after moving out (I left the apartment spotless), and have the complex not provide any reason for the charges.
Easily the worst complex I’ve lived at. Do yourself a favor and pass on Mission James Place.

There was mold on the air vents, as well as a patch on a nearby wall, so I reported the problem to maintenance. The fix was apparently to just spray paint over the problem areas. The mold has been growing back– I checked inside the air ducts and the walls are covered in it.
The fixtures in the shower/​tub seem to be constantly at risk of falling out of the wall. I’ve reported this a few times, someone comes over and attempts to seal them up, but they’re loose again within a month.
The weather boards and the doors don’t seal up properly, so I’ve had bug problems– I was woken up by a giant wood roach in my bed several weeks ago.
I think it’s time to come to terms with the fact that any remotely «affordable» apartment in the 78 704 zip code is going to be a scam, learned it the hard way.

do not expect your deposit back at all. even if approved and you decide not to take it, you don’t get it back.
do not rent here, it’s ghetto falling apart at the seams waiting for a lawsuit. upgrades are non existent in most apartments. worst place ever. pictures in website are not what this place truly looks like close up. the stairs are scary! !

Disclaimer: I have lived at this complex for less than a month but will update the review if anything momentous changes.
I love this place so far. I scoured rental listings for a month before I chose this apartment. As soon as I walked into the unit, I knew I had to have it. Here’s why:
~It was the biggest apartment I could find for the price. This 1BR apartment has 620 square feet, a storage shed, and two spacious balconies (one in the front and one in the back) for my private use.
~The floor plan is so open that everyone who has visited has commented on the openness and spaciousness.
~The breeze – oh, the breeze! When I open the sliding glass door in the living room and window in the bedroom, which is almost a straight line through the apartment, a glorious breeze takes flight.
~I have a fireplace. Romantic winter evenings with wine, chocolate, and a sexy fireplace? Yes, please!
~My next-​door neighbor and everyone I’ve met so far has been super cool. I haven’t had any problems with noisy neighbors and don’t hear what’s happening in the apartments around me, although I’m on the third floor, so maybe I’m the noisy one :/​But, seriously, the only noise I’ve heard is from residents at the adjacent complex, Victory Place, and even that hasn’t been very loud.
~I have a walk-​in closet. I read some of the reviews on here in which people complain about storage space but, by golly, we’re living in small apartments, and ones that have storage sheds for goodness sake! Most apartments don’t offer that. With a little Pinteresting and time spent organizing, you’ll be able to fit everything in this apartment. (BTW, the area next to the washer/​dryer can be used as the broom closet since there isn’t one.)
~I have a dishwasher, which is a luxury, as my last two rentals didn’t have one.
~I love hardwood floors but unfortunately this place doesn’t have them. However, what is second best is getting an apartment that has just had new carpet installed. Schweet, no nasty handed down carpet on which you never know what has gone down. Plus, the color is versatile.
~Water pressure is great in the sinks.
~There are three pools so all residents from the complex won’t be at the same pool in the summer.
~Location is prime. It’s next to any kind of shopping you’ll need – so «next to» you can walk to anything: Wheatsville, hardware store, liquor store, dollar store, Target, restaurants, Broken Spoke, Radio, and on and on. Hop on Hwy 71 and you’re off to the races.
~I can pay my rent online.
~Lastly, but not least~ly, David and the other girl I met in the leasing office have been amazing. David has been friendly, accomodating, and responsive, three very important qualities in customer service. Oh, and the maitenance man I met, Del, was awesome too.
Nothing in life is perfect. Here are the not so good things:
~The dishwasher looks like it was installed by a 10-​year-​old. However, as stated above, I’m grateful to have it regardless.
~The water pressure in the shower is good not great but I’m sure most if not all apartments in Austin have low pressure valves on purpose.
~The A.C./heat compressors are on the roof of the buildings, and because I live on the third floor, I can hear them at night. At first I was upset but then I accepted it as white noise. It’s not terribly loud but it is a background churning hum.
~When the courtesy bags run out in the area where people take their dogs, some people don’t pick up their dog’s poo. Perhaps we could do dog poo DNA evaluations so we can fine the offenders.
~I had to ask for a maintenance issue to be fixed twice because it wasn’t fixed the first time, however, when I brought it up the second time, David made sure it was fixed the same day. Not too shabby.
~I’m not a fan of the valet trash service. I prefer not to pay money to have someone pick up trash from my door if I would rather walk 10 feet to throw it in the dumpster. Boo. Hopefully, they will fix this, and by fix it, I mean get rid of it.
~Getting a couch up the steps is a beeeiiitch. Get your strongest men on the job.
I had the luxury of spending two weeks – all day, e’ry day – setting up my apartment. I’m a little OCD but I truly care about my living quarters and making it feel clean and cozy. I’ve been getting compliments from friends that come by, on everything including the décor, layout, spaciousness, and mega-​balconies. Yes, this is an older apartment with its quirks and issues but I think you can make even an older apartment fancy. Although there is a list of not so good things, the good far outweighs the bad, and overall, I friggin’ love it and think my apartment is gorgeous.

I’ve lived here for about three years now, and I find myself pretty satisfied with the experience overall.
Management: Mostly nice people. When I first moved here, there was a woman who worked at the front desk who always seemed determined to be in a bad mood, but now she’s gone, and the new desk people are nice and will work with you if you’re a decent person (I’ve seen other renters throw fits at the office, and it’s just so childish… even if you’re in the right, you can get what you want without being a jerk).
Apartment Quality: My biggest complaint is the lack of storage. I don’t have a broom closet, or not really anyway. The cabinets in the kitchen are spacious enough, but the absolute largest cabinet there is only about four feet tall, which is generally too short for most brooms (and other cleaning appliances). When I first moved in, it looked as they had simply cleaned the carpets and left it at that. Surfaces were clean, but the sliding door blinds had panels missing, the central air vents were broken (just the panels to open or close them), the ceiling fan in the master bedroom was broken, and so was the dryer in the unit. Management is mostly good about sending out handymen, but you might have to make a few requests until something gets completely fixed, so it’s important to provide details as to what is wrong with something when you put in a request for a fix.
Perks of living here:
1. Dryer/​Washer Units in your apartment. I don’t know if I could ever go back to a laundry room… ugh, such a pain.
2. Exercise room is pretty decent! Yoga mats, those large work out balls, kettlebells, ellipticals, a bike, treadmills, and various weightlifting equipment. Everything is kept clean, and everything works as far as I can tell.
3. Access to several bus routes
4. Close to Sprouts, Savers, Wheatsville, and now an emergency walk-​in medical center.
5. Cheap rent (for me, at least): For my two bedroom two bath, I’ve paid under 900 a month for the last few years. Went up this year since I had to sign on for a six month lease, but I’m not complaining really.
Cons:
1. Neighbors can be noisy, or just crappy in general. But hey, what do you expect when you pay cheap rent? Not that people who make less money suck, but you’re also more likely to come across kids in their early twenties that don’t care if their subwoofer is on all night long. A few calls to 311 has solved the issue in the past for me.
2. It’s dark in here. The apartments themselves don’t really have a lot of windows. Buy some lamps for ambient light if you decide to rent here. Conversely, someone who works night shifts might find this to be a perk.

I’ve lived here for 8 months and haven’t had any major problems. But they NEVER answer the phone when you call the office, which sucks. They have a website that you can use for requests, but you have to request a log in and password.
Sometimes the complex isn’t very clean. It’s reasonably quiet and location is great.

I’ve lived here for 3 years. In the beginning it was pretty awesome, for at least a year. Then it all went to hell.
Positive — got a good rate renting the place site unseen. we were able to move in 2 dogs and a cat. management was pretty decent when we moved in and the maintenance was awesome. close to 5 different buses, a lot of places within walking distance (shopping, hardware, medical, groceries, banks, dining, etc).
Negative — where do i begin? we moved in using a pod. they had it parked way at the end of the lot when we lived in the back of the very first building, not fun in 104 degree heat. The property USED to have a working resident portal to put in service requests when the office is closed. The property itself doesn’t even have a web site anymore. After about a year there has been a lot of personnel changes, all of the maintenance was out, the property manager was out. there’s only one person left from when we moved in and she doesn’t deal with anyone anymore, the previous property manager was awesome and willing to do anything within reason. the current maintenance crew will barely speak to you when they come to do work orders. they’ve changed management companies two or three times since we’ve been here (not a good sign). the new personnel staff is awful. there’s a new gentleman who’s basically been harassing us about things on our porch the last couple of weeks, this last time was him practically yelling at my roommate telling him that there were investors coming to look at the property and everything that isn’t a porch chair or a plant had to go. it’s not our problem that you have investors looking at the property, how about cleaning all the dog crap that litters the entire complex?! I hope whoever buys this dump burns it to the ground.
There’s so much wrong with this place that I’m going to end this here because I could go on forever.

I have completely hated my time at Mission James Place. How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways:
1. The rude office staff. I don’t mean to say that every single person in the office is rude, but they are always short and too busy. Customer service is crap here. My fiancé and I moved to this apartment complex sight unseen from out of state and it’s been a bad deal the whole time. I had issues with peeping toms and feeling safe. I complained and they offered to change light bulbs on the patios (and were annoyed by my daily calls until it happened). On a phone call with them I asked, «What do I have to do to get something fixed — wait to get raped?» And the response I got was, «Well…even if you did and there was a police report it won’t release you from your lease.» I can’t begin to express how disgusted I am with this attitude. It’s bad enough to feel unsafe, but to feel like nobody gives a damn is downright revolting.
2. See above — we had issues with peeping toms and harassment. And we do have a police report! This could just be my luck, but in our particular apartment there were two main entrances to the place and two large sliding glass doors that anyone could strut right up to. It is not the most secure feeling lay-​out when you have people harassing you (remember, I moved from out of state to this place and knew nobody but coworkers — I’m sure it wasn’t started as a personal attack).
2A. Paying rent is the biggest PITA ever. They used to have a drop box at the office where you could slip your rent in after work from outside the leasing office. They took it away. Their website is down so you can’t pay online either — and when you used to be able to use it the fee to pay online was exorbitant. The office hours are incredibly limited (I think it’s 10 – 6 now on weekdays) so you better hope and pray you don’t get stuck in traffic after work to drop your payment in the «drop box» which is only accessible once you are inside the office… convenient.
3. ROACHES. OMG OMFG OMG. I hate roaches… I hate them in way that makes my skin crawl and like no shower can ever get me clean. I am a neat-​freak and I clean like crazy. I’m one of those girls who moves the fridge and stove weekly to sweep and mop underneath them. Sure, I have had some issues with a spill or a stain or whatever, but I’m a clean person. And still… these creepy crawly signs of filth and despair raid my home. The place was supposed to be sprayed prior to our move in and it has been sprayed again while we were there — no use. I think it’s just such a crappy complex that roaches are now part of its genetic makeup.
4. The water (or the way it was handled by the office staff). For about two months I started having issues with the water in our complex — no pressure, no heat… I put it off to sharing a boiler with the rest of the building for awhile, but was slowly going insane. When I put in my notice to leave the complex I mentioned the water situation (while a potential tenant was there) and the next day a notice was delivered to our building explaining that work was being done and that if we needed hot water to bathe we could borrow a key to an empty unit between the hours of 9 and 5 to shower… convenient. They wait until after I complain in front of a potential renter to let anyone know there was a problem and their offer to use the shower was so limited that anyone with a day-​job got no relief.
5. Terms and Conditions — apparently there was a nice little clause in our lease that said that any change provided in writing to the tenants is considered part of the lease from that point on. Shame on me for not thinking of what this could mean in the future. The complex was attempting to «clean up» its appearance by no longer allowing people to put anything on their patios other than live plants and lawn furniture. We had put up a bamboo fence that limited a passer-by’s ability to see into our home and we were told it had to come down. This made me angry because not only was this a later addition too our lease, it was something I did to try to protect myself from peeping toms. It was like the complex itself was into trying to creep on me… hmm. I think a real clean up would include more security measures and a more pleasant experience with the leasing office.
I’m sure I could go on and on with the tales of my horror living here, but suffice it to say that living somewhere with peeping toms staring at me and then running away when I come near the windows, cockroaches that make my skin crawl and feel a shower is absolutely necessary, realizing I have no hot water and have to boil pots of water to get clean, and the rude office staff rarely showing any empathy and never being proactive all result in the most horrendous rental experience of my life. Never again, Mission James. I would shout this review from the rooftops and the fact that every single neighbor save 2 have moved out of my building probably says something, to

CONS:
There is dog poo everywhere… fresh steaming piles. The floor might fall out from under me. The ceiling might cave in on me. The vents are full of lent/​dust but even when I tried to clean them myself I couldn’t get the screws out because of the paint build up.
PROS:
I’ve always had quick and helpful responses from maintenance when needed. The price is really good for the area. I’ve never had a problem getting my postal packages from the office
NOT THE BEST:
The parking spaces are really small. There are weird restrictions on how/​when you can pay your rent. You have to pay to have your trash collected even if you take your own trash to the dumpster that is 200 meters away.
I would give it three stars if there was less dog poo.

When I first moved here in 2010, the staff was great, maintenance was on time and they always left a note. All of a sudden I noticed a decline in customer service and maintenance. I found out months later that management had changed.
They go to great lengths to make the apartment complex look good on the outside but the service is lazy and apartments are older. I am fine with older apartments but there is a lot of mold in my unit and the ceiling is almost collapsing on itself — they «fixed» this when I first moved in. I have replaced many things and fixed things myself.
Residents frequently FREQUENTLY leave large amounts of pet feces all over the facility. This is especially annoying in the summer time when it is hot outside and the smell is bad.
My car was towed from the complex because it was double parked. Many cars are double parked because of narrow spaces. I arrived home late at night from work and there was no lighting for me to see, and I felt unsafe and just tried to get in my apartment as soon as possible. The next morning my car was gone and I had to pay $ 200 to get it back.
I really enjoyed this complex at first, GREAT price and location. Office staff has been increasingly rude and frankly ignore residents when they come to the office. I agree with an earlier review that office staff will talk amongst themselves (personal conversations), and leave residents waiting. They do not volunteer any extra information or even try to help beyond what is absolutely required, and it feels like pulling teeth to get that.

Disclaimer: I’ve never lived at this apartment complex, this review is based solely on my experience with the leasing office.
A couple weeks ago, I called Mission James Place and made an appointment to go for a tour of the apartment complex the following day. The lady I spoke with on the phone was very kind and informative, but that was the only positive part of my experience with this place.
When I arrived at the apartment complex the next day, the leasing office smelled very strongly of stale cigarette smoke. Gross. Strike One. I stood awkwardly in the lobby for a couple minutes while the people working in the leasing office talked among themselves, until someone finally called me over.
I sat down with the lady at her desk, and she gave me a pamphlet about the apartment complex and went over pet fees with me. And then looked at me expectantly, as if she was wondering why I wasn’t getting up to leave. I asked if I could go for a tour, and she informed me that they didn’t have a model apartments, and there were no available apartments she could show me. Well then why the heck did they set up a time for me to take a «tour» of the community? She also wouldn’t tell me what the rent would be for their apartments, since I wasn’t looking to rent for another two months.
My visit here was a complete waste of time. If this is the level of service they provide to prospective tenants (possible $!), I can’t even imaging how they treat their residents.

We have been here for 3 years now and since 2009 when it came under new management it has been great. Maintenance is fast and the place looks great. Location is awesome and most of the residents here are laid back and cool. For the price you will not find better in this zip code.
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