Austin Garden Apartments

First off let me preface this by saying that anyone’s overall experience with this place seems to hinge on pure luck. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about roaches, even from my next door neighbor but have yet to see any roaches in my place. Then again I haven’t been living in my apartment for a few months now due to my neighbor and the apartment managment, here’s why.
I have a friend that had lived in this apartment complex for awhile (I believe around two years). We played in a band together and I had visited him and even jammed with him in his studio apartment a few times. He really liked the place and had no problems living there as a musician that regularly practiced his bass and guitar through an amp. I’m just an acoustic performer that would just be playing acoustic guitar as I’ve done in all the apartments I’ve lived in for the last 12 years so I assumed I’d have no issues here either.
I was very wrong.
Shortly after moving in I was playing acoustic guitar in my bedroom about 9:30am on a Saturday morning. About 10 minutes into playing my upstairs neighbor knocked on my door. She stated that she could hear every note and couldn’t even turn her TV up loud enough to block out the sound. I told her I was just playing an acoustic guitar and I didn’t mean to disturb her but I am a professional musician that plays out and needs to practice so I asked if we could agree on an acceptable time to do so. She responded by telling me she worked at nights and slept during the day and that music before 10am on any day seemed unacceptable for anyone. I told her I wasn’t aware she had an alternative schedule and told her again I’d be willing to work out a time. She tells me she’s not home at night… Clearly not an option as everyone else is sleeping then. I tell her I’m not trying to be difficult but I have to practice and she should help me find a time to do so. She said she’d have to think about it and get back to me. My girlfriend was also in my apartment at the time and was as suprised as I was that I’d get a noise complaint for playing acoustic during reasonable hours on a Saturday.
I received a call from the office manager that following weekday informing me there was a noise complaint. I asked for details to confirm it was about the same issue and she only told me that it was «music» and it was during the day but if they can hear anything coming from my apartment at any time then it’s considered a disturbance.
Following that I started playing guitar in the living room after 5pm (thinking that the location may have been part of the issue since I assume her bedroom would be directly above mine). I played music and games at a volume below the normal level at any of my previous apartments and walked outside to ensure it couldn’t be heard. I essentially adjusted my lifestyle and didn’t hear anything for close to an entire month.
Then the same friend that had lived in the same complex came over on a Saturday afternoon because he wanted some help with tracking a song he was working on. I had him playing bass through an amp emulator on my computer and the sound was coming out through the computer speakers. While tracking we hear a loud hit like a stomp or knock from the upstairs apartment. I turn down the volume on the speakers. Shortly after my upstairs neighbor is at my door and says she can’t hear her TV. I have my friend put on headphones and continue recording without any sound coming out into the room. I also talk to him about noise issues since he lived in the complex prior and he was also suprised that I was having any issues with the volume level we were playing with.
That following week I come home to a letter taped to my door with a Lease Violation for noise in it. I immediately take the letter down to the office to speak with the manager who made it more than apparent that she had already formed a strong opinion on me. Apparently, she’d been continuing to receive complaints the entire month (she wouldn’t give me any details on the specifics of when they occurred) and just decided not to tell me until she issued a formal Lease Violation. I attempted to explain to her that I was confused over the issue because I’ve been playing music most of my life and never had any issues practicing during reasonable hours at any other apartments. Her response was «So your neighbors just tolerated you?». I told her «torerate» isn’t appropriate as it wasn’t even an issue. I tried to reason by stating that I don’t understand how other musicians have no issues with practicing acoustic during the day in their apartment. She tells me she knows because there are other musicians in the complex that she never hears anything about and if the noise doesn’t stop she will evict me. It became clear that she wasn’t willing to have an objective conversation.
Now I stay at my girlfriend’s apartment where I play guitar with no issue.
Yeah, this place is cheap but you get what you pay for.

ROACHES! I’ve lived here for two years now. I would have left already, except that for the most part, I love it here! Most of the neighbors are great, the pool is perfect for summers, and you can’t beat the price. But I have complained MANY times about the roach problem, and they won’t do anything about it.
They’ve «sprayed» and put down powder, and I’ve deployed many traps and poisons of my own, but it’s a building-​wide problem (I’ve talked to other tenants) that needs to be treated more seriously and permanently. It’s so bad that I had to throw away my coffee maker, which they infested, and when I move out, my other kitchen appliances will likely get the same treatment. I’m a neat-​freak and all of my efforts have made little to no difference.
I’m not blaming the maintenance staff for the pests. It’s an old building, so naturally I’ve had other problems, but those have always been solved swiftly, and with an impressive level of care.
I had some unexpected emergency expenses come up, but as soon as my savings gets replenished, you can bet I’m out of here. A lot of my neighbors have lived here for years, and I wish I could stay. It’s a shame that one treatable problem can ruin an entire complex.
*Amendment — I took it down a star further because I’m now even having trouble with maintenance. The leak in the bathroom ceiling is back and it took them MONTHS to «fix» it the first time. When they did they did a shit patch job, got paint on my hand towel and left a mess. And, of course, the roaches are still here. Can’t wait till my lease is up!

I’ve been living here for 5 months now in a 1 bedroom apartment and have enjoyed it thus far. It is an inexpensive apartment with all of the utilities included except electric, so it was ideal for my budget.
The apartment community is quiet and safe, it is a gated community and has a weekday noise curfew at 10pm and 11pm on the weekends. There is occasional traffic noise from Lamar Blvd and the parking lot, but I’m sure it’s not any more than most other apartments. I moved from the country so I assume I’m just not use to the city noise!
Maintenance responds to work orders quickly, and everything I have turned in has been addressed and fixed. All of the staff is very personable and friendly.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive place to live in central Austin that isn’t a complete dump, this is the place. There’s nothing fancy about the place but it is kept clean and maintained. The pool is actually really nice. Apartments are spacious, especially the two bedroom. The prices are incredibly low for such a nice place. The staff is friendly to a fault and very responsive to problems. I would highly recommend Austin Garden to anyone on a tight budget. You better have at least a decent credit rating, though.