Midtown Arbor Place Apartments in Houston, TX

You probably won’t find cheaper for central Houston apartment rentals with swimming pool, fitness center and for its first-​come first-​served business meeting room, but you do get what you pay for. The on-​site leasing office director is friendly and efficient but there is only himself and two young assistants who are stil learning how to be good customer-​service professionals, and often only one person is present at the office at any one time. They’re very hard to reach by phone, maintenance requests are delayed and you can’t always pick up packages when it is convenient. At night, should there be a problem, yo are pretty much left to your own devices. There is security but they walk around talking on their cells phones and do not look as if they would be very efficient in an emergency situation. Security personnel are constantly changing too. Also, this is a VERY pet-​friendly complex, so much so that dogs are not screened for behavioral issues, and you may well find yourself like me being kept up at night by a hysterical dog whose owner is absent. Complaints to the administration won’t come to anything as policy here is simply to keep as many tenants on the premises as possible, and if there aren’t enough complaints, nothing will be done. This complex, because of its location, tends to draw many young people who are still very much in the «Let’s make the most of our newly found legal drinking status», and weekends can feel like a university campus after a football game, especially by the pool which they take over. Basically you’re made to feel that this place is all about making money, and as long as it works, decent clients who know the difference in quality can suffer.

Pros: location is perfect. You can walk to restaurants, bars, grocery stores, light rail, and even the parks. Grounds are nice. You drive through large, beautiful oak trees on the way in. Parking is easy and covered.
Cons: Thin, cheap windows that let in all the heat and noise. Floors as thin as cardboard. When my upstairs neighbor walks around, the sound booms like thunder. When he or she walks in the kitchen, the impact is so loud that the metal on the ceiling-​mounted track light vibrates. So you hear the boom of the heel hitting the floor with a concert of metal clanking. What a horrible thing. Can they build these buildings any cheaper?
Verdict: cheap housing made to cut costs and it shows. Only reason they can charge what they charge is because of the location. If you have a unit on the top floor, this place might be great for you. If not, get used to living as if your upstairs neighbor is a roommate.

I’ve lived here for almost 2.5 years now. The best thing about this place is its location. If you want to live walking distance to tons of bars, restaurants, block parties, etc, without the loud noise associated with all those, live here. The apartment complex is tucked away in the heart of midtown and the roads are lined with trees so you actually forget you’re in the middle of the city. I don’t remember the last time I drove on the weekend…
I really like the layout of the apartment complex. It’s quiet and relaxing. If you have a maintenance request, they’re surprisingly fast at getting it fixed. At least that has been my experience.
There have been several different managements at the complex while I’ve been there. The one currently there is my favorite. Wallace and his team and are incredibly kind and courteous. I had trouble getting my renters insurance confirmation and they took a printout from online while I wait on my insurance to send me a confirmation.
Biggest pro for this place is that they’ve installed very bright flood lights on the sides of the buildings to prevent it from being so dark at night. Since it is in the middle of a city, there is a decent amount of crime that happens in that neighborhood. The other night I was walking home and about to enter the side gate closest to my apartment. A guy came around the corner at the same time and was walking towards me. I had a very bad feeling that I was about to get robbed. (There are tons of people walking home, walking their dogs, etc. in that area and I have never once had a bad feeling until this night.) the guy passed me but turned around and started walking back to me as I started to punch in the gate code. Because of these massive bright flood lights, I could see the guy very clearly and looked straight at him. He dodged into the street and walked away. I honestly think if those lights weren’t installed (it was really dark in that area before) I would have gotten robbed or worse.
Anyway, the apartment has done some things recently that have put the residents safety first, including these flood lights. Coming from someone living alone, I really value it.

If you have the option of working with another leasing agent besides Earl, do! I had a viewing scheduled and told him that I wanted to lease the apartment, then he called and told me someone was looking at it. I told him not to lease it and that I wanted to take it off the market. He could have given me the option of taking it off the market over the phone but instead I had to fill out a long form online and when I called back he leased it and his response was «well you should have leased it yesterday.» Rude, disrespectful, horrible customer service.

I live at the townhouses, location is ideal, the place is awesome but we got the house right after a renovation that was clearly not completed yet– they finished it that week we moved in. It’s infested with ants and roaches (their exterminators sprayed twice and the bugs are still there, called to complain but people in the office say nothing can be done bc they come every Friday but apparently they aren’t doing it correctly– going to call a professional instead), maintenance isn’t great, they take a while to get your requests done.

Yes, ALL looks well at first glance, but beware! Maintenance is terrible. I have open Maintenance Issues for Months! Took them Four Months to fix my Doorbell! My garage was opened up twice! They have «rigged» the garage doors so Anyone with a screwdriver can open your garage door! (I lived in a TH with it’s own garage) HOW VERY UNSAFE! Imagine Waking up in the Middle of the Night to the Sound of Someone Opening Up Your Garage! The Guards also told me there are Regular Incidents in the Garage with theft and damage.
As the other girl said, They’ll charge you for Anything, whether it’s your fault or not, whether you agree to the charge or not, or they just feel like charging you…
My roof leaked — damaged some items — cost me a lot of time, and Management says it is due to «trees hanging over the roof», though there were not any! Lots of mold in the ceiling and walls from leaks!
My A/C’s froze up constantly at BOTH Units I lived in, and I have to fight with them constantly to get anything done! The A/C’s still freeze up and dump water Everywhere, BUT they can’t/won’t fix them.
NOW my freezer/​fridge stopped, ruined ask my food, and left a Huge mess — which I had to clean up, and now they say it was My Fault that the Refrigerator Stopped Working! Even though it threw the Breaker! Very bad electrical!
For $ 3000/​month TH, everything should work, without having to have maintenance traipsing through your home every week, only to Not Fix Anything!
I’ve lived all over the world, and this place has been the worst experience!
MOVING as Soon as my Lease is Up!
WARNING: The only Positive Review is by the Manager! That should speak Volumes!

I lived here for a year, and I learned a lot. We were so excited to move in here. We thought the neighborhood was nice, had lots of beautiful trees, and was close to downtown. The staff seemed friendly on move in. But things changed dramatically when we moved in. We had a huge fiasco about our washer/​dryer. We eventually had to threaten legal action before they gave us a functional one. After that, they treated us very well (I think they were a bit scared of us). The maintenance people are this property’s only upside. They are very nice and really want to get things done for you. The staff in the leasing office has a very high turnover rate. I think in the past year I have seen at least 3 or 4 people come and go. And the way that they deal with packages really needs to be improved. They won’t notify you if you have a package. Sometimes delivery services leave them outside of your apartment door. I had 2 packages stolen because of that, despite my explicit instructions to the delivery services. The office doesn’t record the packages they get. If the delivery drivers happen to write it down in the book, then you can see you should have a package there. But if they don’t, you may or may not have a package. It may or may not have been delivered, and even if it is logged in the book, the leasing office may have lost it somehow. It was infuriating. Also, the giant oak trees are very beautiful. But they make for very dark apartments with almost no natural light, at least we didn’t have it. And, those trees house tree roaches. Giant cockroaches that come into your apartment. I had pest control out to my apartment almost every week last summer and the roaches were still everywhere in my house. It was so bad that I would never go barefoot. Ever. In my own home. The landscaping leaves a lot to be desired. The people who live there are nice, although I did have 2 packages stolen so I guess someone is not. Also, my car got broken into when it was parked on the street directly outside of my place. It is conveniently located to midtown and downtown, but this does not make up for the myriad of downsides. If you won’t be at home much, I can see moving here because the price is right. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Pros:
Very quiet neighborhood, never really heard anyone go crazy late at night. I was on the inside of the complex facing the arbors. Very pretty and relaxing view. Sometimes I could hear people in the pool or out grilling but it was never anything that bothered me. The building itself is well insulated. Parking garage is nice. Gated entrances. Security guard at night. Lots of shade from the trees around the complex. I never felt my safety was at risk.
Cons:
I loved living here my first year. The complex people were fairly laid back. Then the place was bought by a different company. They started changing a lot of things. Put a trash bin next to your door. You can only throw your trash out from 6 – 8 PM or they will charge you $ 25 (doesn’t matter if someone else threw junk in your bin). They don’t come on Friday — Sunday which is very frustrating.
I tried moving out early because of a potential job in California. It was 8 months before my lease ended and I realized that the contract has it to where you cannot break your lease. Every place I’ve lived at in the past requires 1 – 2 months of rent and maybe an admin fee. This place wanted me to pay all 8 months of rent! There is no clause in there for paying a fee or anything. They are willing to help show your apartment for a HUGE fee (something like $ 1,000+ depending on your rent) and they won’t guarantee that they can find someone else to take over the lease AND they told me I’m at the bottom of the list because they want to fill empty apartments before mine. Because of their inability to work with me I could not move to California. I couldn’t afford to pay two rents. The complex always brags about how living at an apartment is awesome because you can just get up and move, no commitment. Lies.
I had a laminate counter top at my apartment, and the surfacing peeled off. I asked them to fix it for a year and they just ignored my requests. I had laminate specs all over my plates, utensils, coffee pot, etc. Granted now they have marble, but just shows you how willing they are to repair things like that. I did not have an issue with them fixing small things, my dishwasher broke once and they fixed it in a week (I believe a few AC units had broken so i was not a priority).
My bike was stolen in their parking garage along with everyone else who had theirs on the bike rack. The apartment complex basically told me tough luck we aren’t going to pay your for your $ 300 bike. Thanks guys…
By law an apartment complex is supposed to return your deposit within 30 days. Mine took about a month and a half and I could not understand how they billed me.
Conclusion:
I gave this place two stars because I really LOVE the area, like the complex itself because it has beautiful trees and is quiet. BUT the experience I had with the current management was horrible, I have cried many nights with these people. I moved out as soon as I could. I would not recommend this place to anyone, find another apartment in the area and stay there instead.

I hate to say it but new management has ruined this place! They are rude, unfriendly, and act like it is their privelege to let you live her instead of catering to the tenants themselves and «selling» you on an apartment here! They work in a customer service-​based industry so i’m not sure if the problem is that none of the office workers actually get to live here or if they are just unhappy with their line of work and the company they work for. They basically have angered all of the current tenants some of which have been here for years by dramatically increasing the rents in what many feel is an attempt to get higher rents from new prospects by upgrading the current apartments with wood floors and stainless steel applicances, redoing the pool etc… Things that should have been done 10 years ago and that are in every other apartment complex in the area! It’s one thing to keep up with the times by getting rid of the old white appliances, cheap carpet, and white countertops/​tile floors everywhere but it’s another thing to make the current residents feel like you would rather get an extra $ 200/​month from some new underqualilfied applicant than keep a good tenant around. The quality of those who are let into the apartments now has drastically decreased as can be witnessed by us still forced to live here because our leases aren’t up yet. Anyone with decent credit is not going to pay more than $ 1500 for 700 sq ft only to be treated like you are a low life for wanting to live in an apartment. I work for a developer so i understand the rental market just fine and i know that good credit bundled with low interest rates means those who can will buy not rent especially if you are left to feel like your $ 1500 is chumps change.