Monterey Ranch

Joseph responded to my maintenance request quickly. When their copy of the apartment key did not work, he called me immediately and scheduled a time to meet me. Joseph was right on time, and was able to resolve the issues within 15 minutes! Not only is Joseph excellent at performing his duties, he is very good at explaining what the problem was and what needs to be done in order to fix it. Joseph rocks.

Recently moved here about a month ago. I read the Unilocal reviews before even coming here to sign a lease and most of them were complaints about the staff and apartment issues. The staff was great, especially Tory, who helped us through the process and worked around my schedule when I was in a rush to move in. The amenities are better for the price than anywhere you will find in the area. My apartment smells brand new and was very clean upon move in. The only reason I leave out a star is due to the bizarre lack of courtesy from some residents, especially when it comes to parking. I actually made this review because I’m so bothered by the fact that grown adults are incapable of parking in a normal parking spot, and even when asked to fix their parking job, they ignore you. There should be fines for poor parking. Especially near building 4.

My girlfriend and I have lived here with our 2 dogs since December of 2015, we worked with Jessica in the leasing office and she was awesome, very helpful and attentive during the leasing and move-​in process. Our apartment is located in the «Foothills» area next to the greenbelt. Although basic, our apartment is very nice, we live in the one bedroom with the island in the kitchen. We were a bit surprised when we moved in and there was no microwave but that was really the only thing we had an issue with in the apartment itself. The trails behind our apartment are great, we take the dogs out there regularly and they love it. Location was really the selling point of this place it’s a super convenient drive downtown and close to a lot of stuff, it is also the cheapest in the area.

My wife and I lived here when it was named IMT. Luckily we had a short lease because the time from June 2014-​January 2015 was awful.
There were issues with this apartment complex from our first visit. We were taken to a «model apartment» that wasn’t the same size or layout of the one we ended up leasing. When asked if we could see the one we had leased (it was vacant, we were trying to decide how much furniture to bring), they said no. That was all she wrote.
Well okay, move-​in day arrives and the place is TINY! A burner on the stove was broken and the exhaust fan didn’t work (this matters quite a bit as I love to cook). Additionally, there were bugs. We found beetles in the bathroom as well as several (luckily dead) scorpions just inside the front door as the weather-​stripping was lacking. The A/​C was awful as well. Took several hours to cool our tiny apartment.
Also, the trash compactor was regularly broken, as was the gate. We also had the pleasure of having my wife’s car broken into during our short stay.
As has been mentioned in previous reviews, there was a clear disconnect between the «salespeople» and the «customer service» folks. Sneakily done.
The bright-​side? It was reasonably priced to buy out of our lease and flee as fast as we could to our new domicile.

I lived here for my first year of graduate school at UT. Great that it’s on the public bus route to campus. That’s about the only plus, as everything that the other reviewers have posted critically is true. Terrible customer service. Too many units/​tenants (I was told there are 1004 apartments in this complex alone, but the management company owns several others in the area, too) for the front office and management to properly deal with. Inability to keep up with basic services such as trash, recycling, maintenance, and groundskeeping. Nice-​looking pools if you happen to visit when no one is around and they have just been cleaned (which is rare), but beware of loads of unsupervised children and tons of people hanging out with glass bottles in the water. Yes, they have a fantastic volleyball court, but I’m fairly certain the only reason they keep it up is because it faces the road and makes a good impression. Similarly, the leasing office makes a great first impression, but rest assured, once you sign your lease you’ll never see those people nor that lobby again. Oh, and that great public hike-​and-​bike trail they tout? Someone was stabbed there at 6:45 am one morning about two weeks after we moved in. Not the management’s fault, of course, but something to consider when moving into a «gated» community. The gates rarely work and the fences don’t actually connect to anything.
I’ve since moved across the street to a somewhat smaller and much nicer complex, run by a different management company. My quality of life (as well as that for my kids and dog) has increased considerably. And I can still walk to the bus stop and get to campus if I want to.

After I wrote a review someone named Rachel G responded with a telephone number and their goal is to provide superior service, which is a bunch of bull. I called her and again no one called back. Again do not lease here, poor service, the building looks worn and no one cleans the stair well. Run from this place. Plus they tried to raise my rent every year.

So, basically I asked for carpet cleaning after lease renewal. One of the office staff confirmed the cleaning schedule free of charge for Friday. I took a day off and then another staff told «I can guarantee it has not been scheduled». They are basically sorry because I have been misinformed! I was told I have to call carpet cleaning services myself and check the reservation. I did that of course nothing was there! After few hours, I receive a call that some other carpet cleaning service has arrived and they are ready to do it for 30 $ and it will be charged to residents!
This is not the first time I have bad experience with the resident services. If there is renewal of lease, they should give one free cleaning just what is given for new residents! If you don’t believe in that, it simply means you don’t value your current resident! No wonder, reviews are full of zero stars!
* Also, you need to have a look at the trash site. garbages are strewn all over and I really feel bad for people having patio view on this side.
I am very disappointed and WON’T recommend this apartment to ANYONE!

I have lived in this apartment community for the last 3 years. Everything was fine until the new management company took over. Since Northland Group took over, the community has gone down quickly.
There is literally garbage all over the community. ALL OVER. It’s disgusting. For some time the ONE garbage compactor was broken. The trash area was rancid. I avoided making trash just so I didn’t have to walk over there.
When you call the office, you might as well just know that you are going to have to make you request at least three times. I don’t know if they don’t care or what. I asked for a copy of my lease, four times. I finally had to just stand there until they made a copy and handed it to me.
I filed a complaint with the office about a dog being left on a patio for 72 hours. The response I received? «I’ll see if I can reach someone.» Really?! You’re right, just leave the dog outside in the over 100 degree heat.
It took two requests to get the lights in the stairwell turned back on. Yep, it was pitch black for two days.
Apparently people are allowed to use sound systems while hosting parties and now that Northland is here, there is no more on site security nor is there a «quiet hour» enforced. I have to listen to microphones and sound systems most weekends.
Had I known all of this when I was resigning my lease, I would have NEVER signed for another lease term. Do yourself a favor, look somewhere else. This place has turned into a complete hole.

This is one of those apartment complexes that looks and sounds great, until you actually live there.
It’s not a gated community. The gate stays open all the time.
They do not have a «business center.» They have computers with incompatible software so you cannot really edit or create documents. You can get online to some websites. The printer works sometimes. There is not a fax machine.
The fitness room contains broken equipment. The temporarily out of order signs stay for months.
They took out all of their grills. So don’t let them tell you they have cooking areas. They don’t.
Their 5 «sparkling» pools are dirty and full of leaves. They rarely clean them.
They have one trash compactor and one recycling container for the 24 buildings of the main part of the complex. It is constantly overfilling and spilling out into the parking lot. It smells and is full of bugs.
The apartments themselves, are basic with few upgrades. They are too expensive for what they are.
They charge for pet rent, renter’s insurance and a «pest fee».
They will not accept your packages at the office for you. They will have to be delivered to your door or you will have to pick them up from the post office.
You cannot drop off your rent in a drop box, only during business hours. Holidays are not considered even though the office is closed. Too bad, you have to pay your rent early.
Management is mostly incompetent. I realize this is said a lot about apartment complexes. But in this case they have entirely too many tenants to handle and simply do not care. It’s all for profit. They don’t care how long you’ve lived there, or if you’ve paid timely every single time, or have had no complaints.
In my personal experience, I lived at Monterey Ranch for 3 years. I really liked my neighbors and felt safe. And what a great location. But my trouble started from the very first day. I walked in to get my keys and the front office did not know I was moving in. Despite having all the written documentation from Monterey Ranch which clearly stated the move-​in date, the apartment was not ready. In fact, it had not been cleaned and had no carpet. I had paid for a moving company, so I had to scramble to reschedule with them. Then, they tried to charge me for that first day. I wouldn’t sign the lease however and demanded all funds be returned to me for failure to comply with their own contract. Of course, the manager didn’t want this to happen. So they promised, in writing, that I would not have to pay for that first day and I would also not have to pay pet rent as an apology.
The next day, I moved in. The apartment was still not cleaned and I had to clean it myself. What an awful start. I noted all of this on my move-​in sheet.
A few months later, I had the unfortunate experience of losing my dog. I called the office frantically to see if anyone had reported finding her. The person who answered, Nikki, was the apartment manager at the time. She said she would let me know. About an hour later, a neighbor found her. Thank goodness! I called Nikki back to let her know I found her, and to thank her for keeping an ear out. She proceeds to tell me that my dog is not on the lease and she is going to fine me. I was shocked! I had just lost my dog, and this bitch tells me she’s going to fine me?! I protested! I had proof, not only of my initial pet deposit, but also of emails sent to the staff with my dog’s picture and medical history attached. I began telling her my move-​in story and the promise that was made to me, in writing. She said she was the manager now, and she would not uphold any prior agreements made. The next month, I had pet rent on my bill.
The time came to move out. I received my move out notice 2 days before the 60 day timeframe. It was dated for 2 weeks prior. I called to let them know I needed some time to decide, as the rent had gone up substantially. They didn’t care. The lease says they need notification of move out at least 60 days before. I attempted to negotiate on the price since I had never paid late or had any complaints filed against me. They didn’t care. I would have to pay full price. So, my answer was no. Just no.
Oh and you know this is coming. In my final walk through, they stated I would have to pay to get the counters refinished. I disagreed. I shouldn’t have to pay to remodel the apartment! The counters were not damaged. They charged me anyway, and despite thoroughly cleaning the apartment (more than they did for me!) I hardly got any security deposit back at all.
I urge you not to live here. It will not be worth it. The location or safety or whatever plus you might think it has, will be completely destroyed by the issues you will have to deal with on a constant basis.

The main problem is that the leasing office, resident office, and the maintenance team are completely disconnected. A good moving experience you got from leasing office wouldn’t mean you would be treated well by the resident office after moving in.
The new owner, North Land, didn’t make any good movement. I just see them cutting existing services.

This is the worst apartment I have ever lived it, they never answer the phone work orders take forever to be completed they run the sprinklers during the rain the staff is clueless and unfriendly there is a high crime issue that they simple refuse to deal with. And forget about asking for a manager to call you, they just don’t care. We can not move out fast enough!

Update 8÷2÷15:
Adding to Monterey Ranch’s ever growing list of poor business practices:
–They recently incentivized all residents to write positive reviews online. For everyone that wrote a 4 or 5 star review, they would be entered in a raffle for $ 500 off 1 months rent.
–A shady attempt at hiding the brutally honest negative reviews that exist online due to their lack of care for the residents.
#corporategreed

Northland Monterey Ranch, previously IMT, is not the place for you. I moved to Austin from California (I know, I know) and Monterey Ranch was the place I chose to live in based on price, location, and the pressure to get off my cousin’s couch.
The previous reviews on here are dead on. There is a complete disconnect between the leasing and resident offices. They no longer accept resident packages which is a total hassle. There are ALWAYS unsupervised kids in the street and parking lot areas. You are bound to have issues if you pick to live here. Keep looking and find a place that will respect you and make your house a home!

This was the biggest issue that I saw with IMT:
These articulate, quite attractive and business savvy IMT employees ‘hooked’ me into liking the apartment they showed me, all while my trusted apartment locator asked them questions. My initial impression was that this place seemed almost too good to be true. Free yoga classes for residents. Computers with Internet for residents to use. Tennis courts with free tennis lessons. When I signed all the paper work, I signed with the group of people affiliated with IMT that I met that day. Those specific people fielded all of my questions and concerns.
But…once you move into your new apartment, all future concerns go to different people in a separate building who know nothing of the questions answered the way that suited me enough to sign a nearly year long lease.
The discrepancy between these two sets of people working for the same building company was enormous. And there is no way to bridge any gap with these extreme inconsistencies between the two groups to resolve any issue. There is zero communication between the two parties once you sign the lease. IMT sets it up that way intentionally. You have the leasing building, which you only need to go to once, when you are interested in renting an apartment. After you sign the lease, you never need to go to that building again.
After you move in you are referred to what I called, «The complaints building,» for the current residents. This is also the building where you pick up packages that they sometimes lose for two weeks.
With the apartment locator, with a full month to look for a new home, and with the first group (buildings) ‘Yes’ people, I was very happy to sign that lease. But shortly after moving in I was referred to the residents (complaints) building. In fairness to the residents building staff, they have hundreds of units of often rude and petty tenets issues to deal with, and they are outnumbered. These women have to reply to every complaint. Every maintenance issue. They often seemed overwhelmed to me.
My main issue was huge to me. I chose IMT with the help of my apartment locator to have a place for my cat to roam around in safety. He was a predominantly outdoor cat before we moved to IMT. When a full grown adult, a woman with two little dogs of her own, began cursing loudly at my cat and throwing things at him, I dealt directly with her… at first. After all, the first set of IMT employees said that I, as a pet owner, had rights.
But when this issue worsened (Note to self: Don’t apologize and they won’t know that you have a compassionate side to exploit) I kept getting ‘apartment lease violations’ taped to my front door. When I explained to the resident’s building employees that the apartment locator chose this place because the initial building staff agreed that my cat could roam freely, they answered with, «Sorry but that was untrue.» Sorry? Sorry that I signed a seven month lease and paid nearly a thousand dollars to move to a small apartment with rules and violations that were not violations until after I signed the lease? Opps. Sorry?
But the staff, to their limited credit, are mere mortals dealing with too many tenets to properly address every issue. I learned from IMT that the loudest person is favored over the other person, regardless of who is right.
The two buildings designed to hook you and deffer you may seem like a fixable issue once its identified. But its not. This intentional business strategy works to fill up apartments. So other Unilocal reviews that say things like, «One day you’ll wake up and realize that you are living in hell» follow fairly quickly. For a long time I did not feel the need to write a Unilocal review because that review applied to my daily IMT experience.
After leaving IMT, I have been so happy in my new place. Smaller apartment complexes can deal with individual complaints properly, instead of in a ‘fastest solution’ type fashion. In the year since I have been gone, I have never had a problem that was not dealt with fairly.
Every other issue that I had as a tenant at IMT was addressed in other Unilocal reviews here.
*One pro was that there were no noise issues for me. I lived on the bottom floor, yet never had a single noise complaint, nor heard anything that would cause me to complain.
*I feel guilty for the two star review, but my cat is my little traveling comrade and roommate. We’ve been through a whole lot of life together. He is vulnerable and as his owner its my job to protect him. For a tenet to physically throw things at my cat, curse at a pet (she was so bright!) is unacceptable. They also gave me multiple lease violations for my cat being outside and gave her… one for her behavior.
*Actually, today I called IMT to inform them that a neighbor I had who still lives there is impersonating a police officer, a narcotics detective, etc. Nearly 2 years later he still tries to contact me. I thought that was news they would feel a need to know.

Be forewarned… Stay far away! Similar to other posts, I’m giving one star as that’s the minimum required by Unilocal though I’d give a zero if I could!
TOO many problem to list between the poor management and cheaply made units. There are many options in Austin and even in this area, so shop around.

Unfortunately I must rate this place with at least one star in order to publish the review. They definitely do not worth even one star. Customer service is not existing there. Customer is ALWAYS wrong no matter what. Highly not recommended!

I would not recommend living here. I’ve lived here going on three years. They no longer hold packaged for residents. You have to pay an invoice fee to get your trash and water bill. The maintenence of the landscaping is non existent. Dog bags are not kept replenished and dog dirt is all over the place as a result. I’ve also reviewed the other posts. Seems we all have the same issue. Interesting that Michelle the property manager strives to improve things but nothing changes and she never calls you back. Left a message today. Never got a call back. When you call you never get someone on the phone. Looks like I’ll be moving at the end of my lease as I could go on and on with other issues. Worst managed property I’ve ever lived at.

While our actual unit was not comparable to the demo unit, we were pretty happy when we first moved in. Once Northland took over in December, though, everything went downhill. As noted in other reviews, was them not accepting packages at the office. I lost packages on several occasions. They also turned off water for an entire day and gave us one day advance notice. They were updating a meter or something, so I’m sure it was planned well in advance. My bathroom door never fit in its frame, and one day just fell off the hinges, and maintenance was unable to fix it. They were there for several hours and finally got it back on hinges, but it didn’t latch and they left wood shavings and screws all over the floor. On another occasion, we asked them to look at our AC and they said we should request a filter the next time we pay rent. Can we not do that at any time? And if we need a new filter, just put one in. We’ve already made the maintenance request.
The real kicker was when we moved out. We went over to clean on the last day of our lease and found that they had taken our vacuum, a good portion of our cleaning supplies, a box of my roommate’s parent’s wedding china, and used our linens as paint cloths. They also got paint on the kitchen cabinets. We talked to the office and they ‘found’ the vacuum, but we also let them know we wouldn’t be held responsible for any damages or dirtiness in the apartment as they were there doing things (and taking cleaning supplies) while we were still in our lease. They agreed and then sent us a bill for $ 300.
Outside of these issues, it’s just rundown. The gym is really tiny, there is never any parking there are ALWAYS a million kids running through the parking lot without parents, which is super dangerous.
There are way better places. Don’t waste your time here.

I stayed here for eight months. Overall a decent place to live and certainly one of the better apartments I’ve rented, unfortunately there are some significant problems that I cannot overlook.
Good things:
— Covered parking is exceptionally cheap. Costs less than fixing hail damage to your car.
— Awesome gym, great pools, lots of ways to stay active.
— The lease termination policy is what sold me on this complex. I took advantage of the flexibility it allowed me while looking for a house.
— Whenever maintenance was requested it was done within a reasonable time, and always fixed the problem. I never had to ask for anything twice.
— Proximity to local businesses is awesome. You’re a five minute or less drive to wherever you’d like to go.
— There’s a handy trash can next to the mailboxes for the metric ton of junk mail you’ll receive every day.
— Almost all of the tenant facing employees are genuinely nice.
Annoying trivial things that don’t matter much:
— My unit was located at the edge of the property. While parking was never an issue near my building (I had a reserved spot anyway), the distance to the trash compactor and even further to the mailboxes was a slight bit of a walk.
— Your unit and the appliances will not look as nice as the demo.
— The gates are broken more often than they are working.
Bad things:
— Ground floor tenants will grow to despise their upstairs neighbors. Loose and creaky floorboards do not combine well with the college students living above you. I know, apartment living can’t exactly involve an expectation of complete silence, but when your upstairs neighbor gets out of bed to get a glass of water in the middle of the night, one would hope the ceiling is insulated enough so that it doesn’t sound like he’s moving furniture around with every step.
— I did not personally encounter any crime while I was here, however I did hear of a mugging in the park, and a few vehicle break-​ins.
— You pay an extra amount monthly for ceiling fans and lights, standard fixtures in any apartment I’ve ever rented. Ridiculous.
Unforgivable things:
— The administration gave me the run-​around after referring a friend and did not honor their referral program.
— I «lost» packages delivered to the client services building several times, only to have them «found» by coming back and asking someone else for my mail during a different shift. I receive medical supplies in the mail, this was a serious issue. They have since changed their policies regarding mail, but that change was implemented well after I moved out and has arguably made things worse off for the tenants.

The biggest issue here is the management. Even though they are now owned by Northland, the situation is no better. It may even be worse.
If you don’t want to read any further just know this, I do not recommend this complex. I can’t wait to move out.
If you try to reach the office there is about a 2% chance of reaching them. If you call and leave a message or email, you will not hear back. I’ve dealt with a couple nice leasing agents in my time at Monterrey Ranch, but they are few and far between. The lack of customer service is a huge concern.
I have had a couple bad experiences with maintenance and filled out their survey and asked to be contacted after the issue. No response, of course. There is not really a point in the office staff being there, as they don’t do much as it is. They are severely understaffed which causes a lot of the problems, but when you manage so many tenants, this is unacceptable.
The location is great, the only redeeming quality of the apartments. The rooms themselves aren’t bad. Not fancy, but pretty decent. I lucked out and got a room that was recently re-​done. Nothing to brag about, but I am happy with the floor plan and carpet.
The grounds are ok. Details are looked over– like the light fixtures… filthy. After it rains, there is a bit of flooding on the sidewalks. These aren’t a big deal, but if you are detail oriented, you will notice it.
There are gates to the facility, but it’s a toss up as to when they work. If you have a local number, your guests can call you and be let in. If you do not have a local number, they can attempt to reach the office to be let in. If the office is closed or they don’t answer (good chance of that), you have to walk to the front and let them in with your pass.
There was an assault in the running paths behind the apartments. I was warned that there were a couple car robberies before I moved in, but I haven’t had an issue thus far.
I have lived in several apartments and this is definitely my worst experience. The rooms itself are fine, the location is great, the management is terrible. Since you have to rely on staff for rent issues & maintenance issues, etc., it would be nice to have reliable staff. I would advise you to keep looking.