Heights West 11th — Local services in Houston

Original rating was for previous management company - they were replaced after we had been there for about a year. No hard feelings, just felt the upkeep and overall value of the property unfortunately decreased over time.

If you are looking for an “affordable” apartment for the area, this fits that category. You get more square feet for less money compared to nearby apartment complexes.

There are obviously trade-offs to this:

1. Property smells like rotten eggs 60% of the time. Think it has to do with the Bayou, but I used to live at Stonewood Apartments right around the corner, & although they are actually CLOSER to the Bayou, it never smelled like this.

2. Upkeep of property is lackluster - pool is not cleaned consistently, washer / dryer units are old & malfunctioning (shake too much or won’t dry clothes), trash / debris will not be picked up in the main areas, community trash overflows almost every other day attracting lots of flies, roaches are present virtually everywhere, the water smells like sulfur, there are dirty / stained hallways & missing Light Fixtures, the community coffee machine is broken 50% of the time, etc., etc.

3. Not the best at answering the phone. More often than not, you will be forced to leave a voicemail … but if you walk to the office 2 minutes later, there will likely be someone there hanging out on their phone.

4. Whoever they use as their trash valet sucks … CONSTANTLY not picking up trash.

5. Gate breaks a LOT.

6. Car break-in’s & stolen tires - this never happened to me, but definitely saw it happen to others. Break-in’s (as in broken windows) are not too common, but the stolen tires are definitely a thing. Came back one day to 3 cars sitting on top of cinder blocks 🥴.

7. AIRBNB’s … there will be a LOT of these. I counted at least 6 units (if you want to check for yourself, just google Airbnb & add the property address at the end - units will come up). This wouldn’t be an issue if they weren’t so rowdy. The property itself is actually kinda small (I liked this about them), so you get familiar with your day to day neighbors. Airbnb’s stand out not only because you won’t recognize them, but also because they tend to be quite loud. Beware if you chose a unit close to the pool.

8. Office ladies tend to disappear prior to closing time.

9. I don’t think this is ill-intended, but they definitely are not the best at record keeping or properly communicating important details to their clients. Not saying they’re the worst, but 1000% they could use some improvement.

Now, here’s some of the pros for fun:

1. Good location - you can get pretty much everywhere you need in 15-20 mins.
2. Luis. He’s the complex dog walker / sitter and a god send. If you move here and have a dog, please ask about his business - L&L Pals.
3. Office ladies host community events.
4. Pretty fair in the move-out process. No ridiculous fees.
5. They may not pick up the phone all the time but Olga WILL get the ball rolling once she is brought into the loop.

Again … the 1 star isn’t personal. I think the complex will work for some, but not others, depending on what you’re looking for. Over time, property upkeep & management style is something that became very important to me. More important than some of the pros that had held weight before. Take that with a grain of salt for whatever...

I actually had this review up on Thursday, but after speaking with Regional Manager took it down until thought about how she basically bullied me and told me I have to take it down because I'm admitting that I'm living in the apartment. Yes, I am; it's true. Then she tried to make me feel like I'm just some trash on the streets and this place is not worthy of me living here. When I was raised in better conditions and have lived in better places, but I'm telling my story, and anyone interested in the texts, I will give them to you. I'm starting by saying I'm a retired disabled veteran, which is a guaranteed income and survivor benefits from my deceased husband. So I came into this complex and looked around, just riding. l actually just moved to Houston and was living in an Airbnb That i paid $2,000 a month. I came to the complex and explained that I did not have the best credit and owe a complex; however, I paid rent on time there. The leasing agent asked if I had anyone who could put the apartment in their name. I said maybe my sister. My sister did the application, and I was told it was denied. I said okay and paid my $2,000 for the month at Airbnb. Life is good. Two days later, I got a call asking if I was going to sign the lease. I was confused. So basically, after a few conversations, my sister was approved, and my daughter (10) was on the lease. I was told this was legal since they had an Airbnb in this complex. I was so excited because I wanted something more stable. Then I called to cancel Airbnb; they told me I could only get $150 back. That hurt, but I had put lights and internet on in the apartment. I showed up to sign my lease; the agent told me the system was down, gave me a welcome letter and keys. I enrolled my daughter in a new school and moved all doctors and gyms to the area. I asked for the lease several times, and it was a different story. So I went to the office to speak with the supervisor, only to find out I was never approved. If you live here with a lease, you can't pay on the portal. I offered to pay several times, but they don't let me. The actual issue at hand is Velma's unethical behavior; she compromised her coworker to save her own job, informed me that she would involve law enforcement, and had I not disclosed how I accessed the apartment, she was fully aware. I will vacate the premises as the situation has become untenable, but I have faith that justice will prevail. This is, after all, the Projects of the Heights. Then Velma went on to create an atmosphere where I was making her feel unsafe, so I can't go to the office, yet she walked alone to deliver a vacate notice to me on the 4th floor. I don't want to stay here, but the fact that they don't see that I have been wronged is selfish. I might not win the case, but I will put the spotlight on evil. How am I being evicted when I never had a lease they could have offer...

I’ve lived here for a year and a half, and suddenly it seems we’ve been trapped in some sort of scam. Our lease was up for renewal in December 2024, we selected a 12 month lease, and both my husband and I received emails with a link to sign the new lease. I was able to sign the lease, but when my husband clicked the link it didn’t allow him to sign. He went in person to talk to someone at the leasing office about the issue and an old staff member (Hope) stated that our lease was complete because I already signed it and there was nothing left for him to do. With no further communication, they then switched us to a month-to-month lease and began charging us a monthly fee of $200 for having a month-to month lease.

Now, 6 months later we finally receive an email alerting us that we are on a month-to-month lease (after we’ve already unknowingly paid $1000 in fees), and they are refusing to refund us the full $1000. Now they say that the 12 month lease was not complete since my husband never signed (even though I did, and they told him there was nothing left for him to do), and since he talked to them in person we have no paper trail to prove what we were told. Every time we try to follow-up on this issue, we are told to send email after email to corporate (who never responds), restating the exact same thing we have already spelled out for them multiple times. No one ever reaches out to us with a response. We have to keep going in person to see what’s going on, and they tell us SEND ANOTHER EMAIL!

Essentially, they lied to us, stating our 12 month lease was good to go. Then punished us for trusting them by charging an extra $200 per month for the past 5 months. This is extremely shady business practices and has left us eager to find a new place to live when our (now completed) 12 month lease is over.

I urge you to look elsewhere, we’ve had other issues since moving here (mold), and were addressed in such a condescending way. “Do you take hot showers?” “You shouldn’t have your AC set any higher than 70 degrees.” “Just leave the door open when you’re home to encourage airflow.” ?? We’ve spent even more of our money to invest in an expensive dehumidifier, which still can’t keep up with the humidity. In these hot months, the humidity inside our apartment never drops below 60 percent (even with the dehumidifier running 24/7). They tried to mansplain Houston humidity to me, as if I haven’t lived here my whole life. This is not normal.

Stay away! It’s not worth the sign-on discount!

Edit: this is what the pool looks like on the weekends!! No one wants to get in cause it looks...