Jewel Apartment Homes — Local services in Austin

UPDATE- 04/15/2025: Over the last few months, I have had the pleasure to work with the new Properly Manager, Alejandra V. She is a breath of fresh air to a property which was once falling apart. She approached with job will full intent to make The Jewel apartments a place where residents want to live. As my lease ends next month, It is a bittersweet goodbye because I have seen the fruits of her labor slowly expanding to the community. She actively listens to resident concerns and takes them seriously with an action plan and intended resolution. I want to commend her by updating my rating solely based on her character and leadership.

UPDATE - 08/24/24: I just got home from work and my bike is gone! Let’s see what management says 😊

08/10/24 - My partner and I moved into this place back in mid-May after seeing a decent unit that looked clean. Turns out, the one we actually got was a mess—dirty, rundown, you name it. I was so bummed I even teared up that first day. When we told management, their go-to line was, "You get what you pay for," which honestly didn't help at all. We even asked to switch units, but they shot us down.

Here's the rundown of what we dealt with:

The apartment was a disaster zone from day one—rusty appliances, cracks in the walls, dead bugs, busted vinyl floors, and grimy cabinets. Getting them to replace anything felt like pulling teeth.

The neighbors are purposely noisy., especially when I'm trying to work from home. We nicely informed them I work from home and they purposely started playing musing during my work hours as loud as possible. They treat the hallways like a trash can, leaving cigarette butts and beer cans everywhere and management does nothing about it, even after complaining upon move in.

Security? Non-existent. I've had to call the cops five times already—for gunshots, couple's arguing threatening to shoot each other and beating each other , homeless people causing trouble at the pool, and yup, my car got stolen. No cameras, no security, nothing.

When our bathroom and kitchen ceilings started leaking, it took them over two weeks to do anything about it. Meanwhile, our kitchen was unusable and a mess from brown water splashing everywhere, and they didn't even bother to check for mold. Now the place still smells damp.

The laundry room? A total joke. Puddles, broken machines, and even dirty thongs just casually lying around. Classy.

Our bike got messed with, too. We had to upgrade to a better lock after someone busted our old one.

Forget about service requests. Our second bedroom fan has been broken since move-in, and they've ignored every request to fix it.

Trash and amenities are another story. Bins overflowing, diapers by the grill, everything covered in dirty/mud, you name it. The whole place smells like animal urine and feces.

Basically, they keep reminding us that "You get what you pay for," but honestly, this place was a letdown from the get-go. We're just waiting for our lease to be over to...

I co-signed a lease with my sister in May of 2019. I initially requested to be listed as a guarantor as I am not a resident of Austin. They listed me as a co-signer without explaining the details.

The lease was for 12 months. We had to end the lease early because my sister was experiencing some mental health issues and had to move back to Houston as she could not manage being on her own and I was not able to financially support her. After we ended the lease, it was my understanding that we had paid the balance in full.

Lo and behold, I received a notice in the mail stating a balance was owed for $713 or so. The letter stated I had 10 business days to contact them and take care of the balance. The post date was several days after the date of the letter and I received the letter less than 5 business days before the 10 business days were up. This letter did not have a breakdown of the items associated to this balance owed. I immediately reached out to the apartment complex via phone voicemail and email letting them know that there was a delay with the post office and I had received the letter late and to please notate our account so we could take care of the balance with them. I also asked for an itemized statement for the balance owed so I could verify the total amount with the lease. I did not receive it.

A few days after the 10 business days were up based on the date of their letter, I reached out once again to ensure they had received my email and copied a support email address to make sure it was reviewed. I received a reply within an hour stating that my balance had already been transferred to National Credit Systems and that I should take it up with them. The email was not signed by a name or I would mention them here. I replied asking for a breakdown of the statement and asked who I was corresponding with. I have not received a reply and this was over a month ago.

I have been in contact with National Credit Systems and they have provided me with the itemized bill as I requested. It does not clarify validity of these charges according to the lease. I have since sent in an account validation request via certified mail to NCS.

At this point, I am beyond disappointed. Yes, the amenities are nice and the complex is nice and the fellow tenants are great. However, if this is how a previous tenant is treated after moving out because of mental health issues, look elsewhere. They have no care for you. All they care about is getting...

Jewel is up there with the worst apartment complexes I have ever lived at. Very thin walls, german cockroaches everywhere, multiple water shutoffs (with little notice), and unexplained excessive rent. The apartment complex hosts many raffles for a free month's rent if you leave positive feedback, so please do not be confused by their current rating (I am appalled that it is even in the 3 out of 5 range).

The good: Decent location - albeit a little sketchy at times. Ample parking Maintenance requests were usually answered quickly.

The bad: Our previous resident manager (Riley) was incredible. He left the company in fall of 2021 and his replacement leaves much to be desired. Pretty rude, lacking customer service, difficult to catch at the office. PESTS. Roaches everywhere. I am so worried about bringing cockroaches to our next rental. This was a problem from day one. They advertise pest control but... Pest Control Fees - they charge a monthly pest control fee and rarely hold up their end of the bargain. These fees are a fairly standard practice, but the service technicians never show up. We work from home, so we would know if someone comes in to spray. Only when we ask for pest control to swing by do they ever arrive. I think we are going on 2 or 3 months without pest control doing work on our apartment (paying for pest control monthly in the meantime)... Paper thin walls/ceilings/seeping smoke smells: We live near the street on the first floor. Our upstairs neighbors for the first half of our rental hosted numerous parties. We rarely slept for our first month there. Any late-night gunshots, speeding cars, honking, etc. we heard. I reckon we got used to it eventually. Our neighbors are also frequent smokers. All of our stuff smells like tobacco smoke (we do not smoke). Rent: After submitting our notice to vacate we found that our rent would have increased by 20%. I know this is a trend for Austin, but this place is...