Cottages at The Realm — Local services in The Colony

I would choose zero stars, if possible, for Cottages at Castle Hills. Fortunately, I moved out last month, at the end of my one year lease. There is no security at this community. The construction gates were open night and date, allowing anyone to walk or drive to any of the homes. The landscaping crew runs the irrigation system 5 nights each week, resulting in my side and rear grassy areas being constantly muddy and riddled with puddles. To add insult to injury, each tenant pays for all the water used at each home, including this irrigation water. My irrigation volume was 5 times as high as my volume used inside my home; yet I paid for all of it. When I complained about these issues to Eric Stanley at Bright Realty, he yelled a racial slur at me, told me I could call my lawyer, and hung up the phone. Zach Bright, who works under Stanley and has a job at Bright Realty because his daddy owns the business, said the gate would remain open "24 hours every day, because sometimes we have contractors who need to enter at 3 or 4 AM to do work." Catherine Barrows, the obese Manager with a very strange emotional affect, rarely returned emails or phone calls. Although my Lease stated I was entitled to Pest Control for the exterior, she refused to help when I had a large ant infestation. One day she placed a notice on my door, accusing my of secretly housing a pet, and threatening to take action against me. I have not had any pets since age 10. Yet she and her staff harassed me repeatedly. On two occasions, they entered my home without any notice; fortunately I was home at the time. Brooke Ballard, the heavily tattooed Assistant Manager, is an irresponsible scatter brain. When I moved in, large amounts of construction dust were imbedded in my carpeting throughout the house. This heavy dust destroyed my vacuum cleaner. I had to arrange, and pay for, professional carpet cleaning shortly after move-in. I lived alone, without pets, and left the carpet in immaculate condition at move-out. Yet Ballard deducted $150 for carpet cleaning from my security deposit after move-out, even though she never inspected my home before or after move-out, and even though Chase Clark (the Maintenance Supervisor who performed my move-out inspection) told her that my home was in better condition than any other he had inspected, and that no work would be needed on it. My Lease ended on September 4, so I was entitled to be there that entire day. Yet Brook Ballard arranged with CoServ to have my electricity and gas turned off the morning of September 4, in violation of my Lease and Texas law. The homes are packed close together, enabling me to hear arguments or television emanating from neighbors. The neighbors to my left also had a huge ant problem. The neighbors to my right had mice in their home for many months. The Maintenance team members were pleasant, but they were not competent evaluating or fixing issues with appliances, etc within the Cottages. Chase Clark did not understand the functioning of the fresh air intake apparatus on my air conditioning system; I had to arrange for help from the contractors who installed the system, and I was responsible for payment. My next door neighbor used a large fire pit in his small backyard during the spring, fall and winter. His fumes entered the intake grill on the wall of my house, overlooking his yard. These fumes created an unhealthy air quality within my home, but Management refused to...

I have barely lived here for 90 days and have had issues since day one with email threads and documentation about every issue. The beginning started with a dirty home that smelled like cat litter everywhere. There were bugs everywhere and dirt inside the home. After I received keys, I asked them to clean and they said they would and never did even though I pushed my moving truck back 2 weeks after got the keys. I gave up and moved in. The fridge broke 3 times and all of my food went bad. The dishwasher flooded. The toilets wouldn’t flush. The sink leaked everywhere. When it rains the windows leak. And the hose outside doesn’t work properly and only water flows through the brick. Not to mention the microwave caught on fire unprovoked when warming a slice of pizza. Not to mention all of the bug bites my children have received in the home. I’ve asked to break my lease several times since day one and I’ve had enough. They won’t let me out of my lease even though the living conditions of this home is unacceptable and unlivable for four small children. I’ve had to take my children to the doctor several times for bug bite treatments fearing they were poisonous spiders. Brooke and Nancy are not helping although everyone else in the office that works for this management , agrees this is a rental from a horror story and uncared for , for over a year. I wasn’t going to leave a review or comment about this anywhere if it could have been resolved but they’re not willing to work with me. I’m waiting for my call from corporate and who knows if they will ever...

DO NOT MOVE HERE!!! I signed a 15 month lease but moved out after 12 months. I payed rent at two different places just to get away! The complex was bought by a new company half way through my lease (Avenue 5) and they made it even worse. They are great when they are trying to get you into their units but once you move in they treat residents badly. I put in several maintenance request that were ignored or told that their were more higher priority request that would be handled first. I lived in the homes they rent and they call it a gated community however the gates were always open and my appliances were always malfunctioning. (See pic)

(PLEASE READ) Lastly, when I moved out they kept my deposit and charged me an additional $1k for stuff they made up. They charged me to replace carpet for the whole house and I never wore shoes in the house or had pets. They will send you a move out statement demanding that you pay them and there’s nothing they will do. The leasing office wouldn’t even have a conversation with me regarding the fraudulent charges. I just don’t want them to do anyone else like they did me.

IF YOU WON’T READ ALL THIS, AT LEAST READ THIS….DO NOT MOVE HERE! All the 5 star reviews were a promotion to get a free month of rent. Liars...