Harbor At Lake Howell

Lived here for a year during college. The leasing process was not too bad, Lisa worked with me and did a great job.
I had a non-​renovated apartment but still loved it and had a great view of the woods. Anytime we had any maintenance request they usually came the same day.
The beach, pool, and volleyball court were by far my favorite. If you want to play a game they are always people down at the beach playing.
The only negative thing I would have to say is that sometimes my key to get in did not work so I would have to wait for someone else. Also, the gates were broken a lot so they were always open.

This complex is not managed well. Clearly Maintenance can’t keep up with all the issues in the units. No insulation… every time the tenant above me takes a step., my walls vibrate.
The worst part is there clearly are people that don’t live here enjoying the amenities that tenants pay for.
The beach/​pool area is lovely except for the fact that most of the time it’s like a college fraternity party. …beer cans, cigarettes all over the place. Its a nuisance for most of the mature tenants that live here. Management does nothing to prevent this. If I knew now what I didn’t know when I signed lease.
I would have saved money and gone somewhere else.
way over priced

Firstly, I would like to say that I love the lake and the nature element of The Harbor.
Now for everything else. So the beginning of my story starts about a week before I moved in when they called me to ask for a delay on my arrival. At this point, I already had my plane tickets to fly in. They gave me a $ 200 credit on my account to not move in for a few days. I flew in to Florida with no place to go. The day I was finally allowed to move in, they told me to go away for a few more hours because they were still finishing up my apartment. So I drove around, went to a park, got some food etc.
Finally, I arrive at my apartment and get the keys. I walk in and was admittedly stunned with how pretty the renovations were, then shocked when I took a closer look. The new wood floors were scratched, doors were broken, screened patio was duct taped together as was the screens on my bedroom windows, paint of the floors, scratched cabinets, etc etc.
I went back to the office and filed a maintenance report and to my surprise had to file many more over the next three months and threaten to move out before anything was fixed.
Also, beware of the dog poop everywhere, the trash never getting picked up, the pool never being cleaned, no parking late at night, and extremely lazy maintenance men.
Other than all that, the apartment itself is beautiful and so is the area. Good luck!

My fiancé and I lived here for a year and we would have renewed our lease, but we relocated for work. The grounds were well kept and serene and the apartments themselves were up to date and spacious. The facilities as a whole are very nice and we felt safe. The complex has two pools, a hot tub, tennis courts, and a gym. They are also close to two major grocery stores, Starbucks, and some food chains. Maintenance always responded quickly and we never had major issues in our unit. After reading other reviews, I do agree that office staff is slow. They are friendly enough, but just seem a little incompetent. However, we never had an issue that couldn’t be resolved with a little patience. The gate was an ongoing issue too, but it was a pretty safe street. As for the negative reviews about noise, our unit was quiet even though we had college kids next to us and a family above us. If you live in an apartment there will be some noise, that’s part of the deal. After living in the area for a while and having friends in other complexes, I feel that Harbor at Lake Howell gives you the best bang for your buck.

We have lived here for a year and a half now and have never been late with rent and ask very little of the staff here. We went to drop of our offer paper for our rent renewal on a Saturday and were told that it would be taken care of Monday and someone would be in touch. After a week passed, my husband stopped by the office to inquire and was simply told «oh you guys are fine» and then some excuse about the girl thats supposed to do them is 9 months pregnant and that’s probably why it isn’t done yet…
My father has been in the property management field for nearly 20 years, when I told him what was going on he was just as astounded as we were at the lack of professionalism and customer service… Especially considering this property was just purchased by a new leasing company. Now that a week and a half passed and still no sign of our new lease agreement I tried calling today and of course got a voicemail. I left message asking for anyone to call back just to touch base as our lease is up in 10 days…
No call back but when I got home from work my lease was in an envelope at my door. No note attached. And our personal information sitting out for anyone to pick up.
I was again shocked that they didn’t leave any personal note or try to call back. This is my home and I shouldn’t feel this uncomfortable with the people running it!
It doesn’t matter when you call or the nature of the call you get an answering machine and no one ever calls back. When our water heater flooded our carpeted bedroom closet I left more than a dozen messages to try to follow up on the wet floors even after the heater was replaced and not one call was returned. We had to go in person to the office 3 times to finally have the carpet replaced. And the office staff always wants to blame the maintenance staff and the maintenance guys act like they have no idea.
In my 12 years renting apartments all over central Florida this is by far the worst experience I have ever had.
The lights around our building specifically have been out for several months, the gates are unpredictable and most often are just left open (glad we pay extra for that security feature), and the valet trash pick waste bin is to be brought in every night… I don’t know about you but I find that disgusting, I don’t want to store that thing in my home. We take our own trash (another waste of money on a useless feature).
Yes the property is beautiful and yes some of the upgrades are lovely but those facts do not outweigh everything else gone wrong. To be honest we are literally counting the days until our lease is up and wish we had never renewed!

I wasted my time driving up to tour this place. I saw online they had apartments in my price range. Online its indicated there is a wait list to join. Well I didn’t want to sign up for a wait list if it was longer than my search period.
I got to the office and of course there is no wait list and and there are no apartments in my price range. I got the canned response that «our prices change daily like a hotel» and that «who knows? the price could drop by $ 300 tomorrow.»
How do they find people to do this job. Such a waste of time. If you are looking at this place, know that you are looking at about $ 1,000 a month in rent and fees and a $ 1,000 to move in.
I would never do business with a company of chain yankers.

Last summer I took up a job as a leasing agent at The Harbor at Lake Howell and I must say that as much as I disliked apartments before I dislike even more after having worked there for only 3 months. It’s just such a waste of money in my opinion and every single apartment complex claims to be better than their competition but the truth is all those bells and whistles they brag about slowly disappear after you move in. It’s those hard to resist specials they get ya with… but truth be told, they’re really not as good as they sound.
What sets this apartment complex apart from the others in the Casselberry/​Winter Park/​Longwood area is that it’s the only one with its own private lake on property. I have to admit it is indeed gorgeous, but that’s about it. You can’t swim in it because like all lakes in Florida, it has gators. However, you can use your boat if you have one… that is if you have a proper license and reserved spot to park it in.
The property as a whole is decent. There are two pools, one in the front behind the main office and the other in the back right next to the lake… hope no gators creep up for a swim. In addition, there is a sand volleyball area, small playground, laundry facility (takes quarters), and clubhouse that can be rented for special occasions. It’s half surrounded by woods, which makes it feel somewhat secluded and peaceful at times. It is a gated community, but the gate is almost always malfunctioning or broken, which means it’s kept open most of the time… making it pointless to have a gate in the first place.
As far as the apartments go, they’re not bad. The maintenance crew do their job well, making the apartments look as nice as they can look after having been lived in by a previous tenant. Pricewise, they are on the expensive side and, in my opinion, not worth it if you are living on your own. But if you have a roommate or two then the cost wouldn’t be bad at all. However, I think trying to invest in a home or property of some kind is a much better decision if you can swing it.
A majority of the people who live in The Harbor at Lake Howell are students at Full Sail, UCF or Valencia with a few families and young, working professionals sprinkled in there. While I was working there, noise complaints, respect issues and even damage to property were all issues… but what can you expect when most of your tenants are college kids just having fun?
The staff who work there honestly are nice people who, for the most part, will be in this line of business for awhile in not for the rest of their professional lives. They really do try their best to cater to the needs of the residents and keep the property up to par with corporate standards. The property director actually won the award for best property director last year… so I guess that means something.
Overall, if an apartment is all you can handle right now and you live in the vicinity of this place… then it’s definitely one of the better choices among apartment complexes.