Residences at the Domain

If I could give this place 0 stars, I would.
Management here sucks — manager Brandee only emails back to certain mail and ignores the things she doesn’t want to deal with. Reading the reviews of previous owners, I can see why they tore Brandee apart in their review. I regret choosing this place** The only good thing about living here is the convenience and the price — (although they may slowly increase your rent without telling you what it is you’re paying for).
Don’t waste your time or money living here. Gallery and IMT are much better choices than Residences. No wonder a lot of my coworkers chose to live in Gallery and IMT over Residences. should’ve listened to them!

Currently living here now. So far TWO false fire alarms have gone off lasting over two hours of time. Already annoyed and not happy living here.

23 years in Austin, I’ve lived in 2 apartments, 1 duplex and a house. This is my second apartment and I’d have to say, when people ask me how I like living here, I LOVE it! To start with, the front office staff has been very cordial, friendly, attentive, & helpful. The maintenance staff have all been the same. You’re not waiting. They address any request very prompt.
The ease of paying your rent online. Fantastic.
The Domain amenities are a great perk, 10−25% off at many stores & restaurants. The grounds and buildings are kept up daily, making this a very clean place to be.
I could go on, but one of the biggest perks and wins for me has been meeting new friends I consider life long and now family. There is an events/​social husband and wife team who host free breakfast once a month and a free happy hour at one of the domain restaurants. You have the opportunity to meet the people who call the Residence home.
When I travel anywhere outside of the Domain, whether it’s to the office, South Austin, or out of Austin, & I pull in to the Domain, I literally feel at home. At peace.
My apartment is beautiful & up to date. I will recommend living here ar the Residence to anyone. I’ve looked at other apartments here in the Domain, and while the price was higher, I chose the Residence. Great open floor plans, beautiful pool with cabanas, tables, lounges, a bbq station. People are cordial & fun.
All types, elderly, young, middle, and families.
Like every place you may live, there is going to be a downside, but the staff at the Residence are very prompt to address and make sure this is a great place to call home! And the downside are usually related to people who live here, not being considerate of others, but there are too few of those here and few and far in between to even consider a problem. You’ll love it here.
Rarely do I need to leave because just about everything you may need is here at the Domain and definitely within walking distance. Considering Austin traffic, that is enough to start checking this place out!
I put 4 out of 5 stars because of my location. I live it, but the noise from drunks leaving at 2am is horrible at times. (not always) And while this has nothing to do with the Residence, its a down side. The Simon Mall security should monitor these bars at closing time. Yes parking can be a hassle due to mall shoppers, but what apartment complex has door to door parking unless you have an attached garage?
I’ve read some of the negative reviews. If things like that happened in the past, perhaps the Residence has taken note to make things better, because so far, I’ve not experienced any problems and it does seem like the staff takes pride in having a nice community and generally caring about the residents.

If I could leave zero (0) stars I would. The Residences at the Domain was terrible choice and I wish I would have paid attention to the reviews before I moved in. But I was blinded by the location and the low prices compared to the rest of the apartment homes in the Domain. This place was a headache from day one and even after I had moved. I have never had this many problems with a place that I have rent from before. I have lived in 2 different states before that and rent from several places, never ever the headache I endured living at the Residences at the Domain. I used an apartment locator and she kept taking me to all the expensive places. I’m not from Austin and like most people from out of the state, since we don’t know we get taken advantage of. I recommended you do your research before you move here. There are way nicer places that may be a few minutes’ drive to everything but it is worth it.
When I first moved in my apartment unit it was not cleaned at all even though they assured me that they did clean it and replace the carpets according to the weekend leasing manager (I believe her name was Brandy). The place was completely dirty there was still red paint on the walls from the previous ternate. There was clothes in the kitchen cabinets and my refrigerator and stove was filthy.
A few months in I had a package delivered to my apartment and had it stolen off my door step, the other Brandee the leasing manager was nice enough to send out an e-​mail to everybody asking them not to take people packages and if it was delivered to another unit to return it. However, I never received that package and had to re-​order. My water, trash and sewerage (that is billed by the Residences at the Domain) was so expensive and I could never figure out why. I washed clothes once a week and also my dishes. My bill sometimes would be anywhere from $ 55 to $ 100 dollars for that. I think there may be a markup due but who knows.
Upon moving out, Brandee told me that I had to pay $ 175 to get the carpet cleaned. I barely had company over, at most my carpet needed to be cleaned at the entry way. I’m a clean freak (drives people crazy), I clean my apartment at least 2 times a week. They sent me a notice after I moved out and told me that I needed to pay $ 250 to have the carpet replaced. When I called and spoke to Joe and asked why and asked them about the $ 175 to have it cleaned he told me that I had pee stains on the floor according to Brandee and they had pictures. I don’t have a dog and never let people with pets over. I have no idea what they are suggesting. I asked them did they get me mixed up with the unit next to mines because they had 3 dogs living there and they moved out around the same time I did. They said they didn’t. I was finally able to review the pictures and it was normal traffic from dirt from move in and move out.
This place was a big headache I could go on and on about all the things that upset me about the management and this place. I would hate for my worst enemy to live here and go through the hell I went through. I will be reporting them to Better Home and Business Bureau. There management is extremely shady! Terrible property management after they saw that I wasn’t going to be living there anymore they became extremely shady with their work practices. Location may be nice and the prices but it is not worth it. TRUT ME! There are nicer apartment homes down the road that is more affordable than them. You will not have to put up with the parking headaches, traffic, and the noise issues. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE RENTING FROM THESE PEOPLE! I wish I would have took the reviews in to consideration before I moved there.

These are not as great as you think or imagine them to be. There are so many other apartment buildings that are opening up and they are all MUCH nicer (and more updated) and seem to have better amenities. The shops and restaurants are nice to have but keep in mind the garage is always crowded and watch out for Christmas season. It is very loud. The halls echo and you can hear every word people say or every time a door opens/​closes. I can also hear every step my neighbor above me takes. I can hear the music of my neighbor that lives 4 or 5 doors down echo in the hall. They don’t tell you this, but they make you pay to have your own carpets cleaned when you move out. I’ve never heard of a complex doing this. Pet charges are crazy expensive. I wIsh they had an area for dogs.
These apartments seem nice at first but I don’t think they are worth the price at all.

My friends who used to live there told me not to, but I thought the location was too nice to pass up… man was I wrong.
positives
1) nice restaurants/​shops/​bars within walking distance
cons
1) charged for new carpet, even though there were no stains, and there was no visible damage to the carpet. I’ve lived in many apartments over the years and that has never happened to me before.
2) changed me $ 65 for cleaning because of «water spots» on 1 faucet, and dust on top of the refrigerator. I got a picture of it with my bill when I moved out.
3) Lease says give 90 day notice before you move out, and they will make you pay for every last day.
4) paper thin walls, always heard dogs barking, kids crying, people walking in the halls, and neighbor coughing.
5) Several of my neighbors had bad allergies develop in these apartments and two very healthy long distance runner types developed bizarre chronic fatigue issues. My family hated to sleep there because their allergies would always get really bad whenever they stayed over.
6) Those bright lights you see in the courtyard are on all night, so my bedroom always felt like I had a spotlight shining into it at night, made it very hard to sleep
I would certainly never want to live there ever again!!!

If there were an option for no stars this review would be more accurate. DO NOT live here. The list of cons in a long one and the fact that I am wasting more of my time on this place is maddening. Our lease just ended and they are charging us to replace the carpet that was already dirty when we moved in. We are, also, being charged to replace the glass cooktop on the stove that was already scratched when we arrived. The noise level from the shops and restaurants is annoying, to say the least, but to be expected while living at A MALL. However, the strange vibrating, sonic sound that occurs at least 4 nights a week, made it impossible to get a decent night’s sleep ever! Also, add to all that the fire alarms going off for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night, almost on a monthly basis, and you have a great recipe for bags under your eyes. I did not get a decent night’s sleep in the entire year I lived at this sh*t shack. We had a package in the office for 3 months that no one bothered to inform us was there. We only found out because one of the girls who worked in the office happened to be moving out and caught me in the elevator. Like I said, there is more but I’ll leave you with a WARNING. DO NOT BE LURED by what this place looks like on the surface. You will quickly realize it is a f’ng illusion and they are taking your money and will try to take more of it even after you have left.

I have spoken to several former neighbors at the Residences at the Domain. All of my original issues are still relevant so nothing has improved.
Renter beware. Once you sign the lease you are in for future aggravation and inconvenience.

I have lived here since January and I absolutely hate it. I used to hang out here at the Park and at Glorias, etc. Now I cant wait to get out of here. The apartment is small, overpriced, and cheaply made. I tell all my friends how awful it is. Someone warned me about moving in here, I should have listened.
Imagine living in a crappy apartment within a shopping mall, that is completely overpriced. That is the Residences at the Domain.

I lived for 13 months at The UDR operated Residences at the Domain these are my feelings:
I read the reviews and though people might have had high expectations thinking these apartments were more like the stores surrounding them, so I went into the lease thinking it was just a regular apartment.
With low expectations UDR failed to deliver on the following a gym (it was closed so they could build a new office for over six months) and accepting packages (the package policy is bs).
Accept that you are going to have to put up with mall folk looking for parking and will have a hard time with things like grocery runs and the walk score is not that great. They Ripped me off at move out and charged me for new carpet which had nothing more than standard wear and tear. I moved out on a Sunday and was billed for new carpet by Monday.
I would not live at a UDR run apartment again.

SH*T HOLE WiTH THE WORST MOST LYING STAFF
I’m gonna be completely honest about what actually went down at «The Residence At the Domain”!!
First of all I was working alot and needed a place to live in the area which was close to my work ‚
So i sent my GF to look for a nice one bed one bath for around 1000 $
Ive always loved The Domain and wanted to live here
She had supposedly found a spot on the main street with view of the apple store and big balcony top floor etc
but THEY couldnt show her because they were re painting and told her that this was the only place available for around the price range
So i said get it ! ill sign the papers after work !
After signing and getting the keys i was taken to the side of a buliding with a view of the wall and garage one window view 1b 1b
they had lied to us and i asked immediatly if this was a mistake they said no i asked if i could upgrade they said yes but for the one bed one office its 1600 $ a month i decided that was the best bet because i didnt wanna live in the crawl space by the garage .
after moving in i relised that there was no place to park besides the garages top level pretty much 100yards away from the buliding so it was pretty much impossible for me to get groceries up
because when id park on the side of my building the rent acops would put stickers on my cars and come harass
when i moved to the domain i was told i would have a ²⁴⁄₇ gym which is one of the reasons i moved ther ein the first place
upon moving in they started redoing it for months i never actually got to use the gym once
The domain has construction start every morning at 7am
the elevators ALWAYS have DOG PEE ! ALWAYS
WHEN YOU PAY THE BILL THEY BOUNCE IT BACK INTO YOUR ACCOUNT 3 DAYS AFTER RENT IS PAID JUST TO MAKE MORE MONEY BY charging you a late fee
The water bill is always high as hell and also dont forget the 60 $ a month just for the water chiller??? what ever that is
Once you move in the staff down stairs acts like you dont exist
i was locked out once no one came i had to have my gf leave her moms funeral to come unlock the door since the doorlock broke the cheaply made key
everymonth without cable including i was spending around 2000 $ for this one bed and office i woulda just moved downtown if i knew this was gonna happen
After christmas and paying my rent for the month of janurary i got a knock on my door around 6 oclock on a friday nigth saying i had been released of my contract and had 24 hours to vacate or be evicted because i had gotten a misademonr which i was never convicted for
so pretty much i had to move my whole entire house on a saterday into a place that would take me on such short notice
after them taking my 1600 $ they said it was gonna be pro rated back to me
but im just finding out they actually kept it due to the RELETTING FEE bullshit and also are charging me as if i was evicted having a debt collecting agency calling me saying i now owed 3200 after the 1600 they already stole !!

They get one star because there is not an option for none! This place is AWFUL!
We moved into a 1bed 1bathroom. First do NOT accept that you can not see where you are living before hand. Insist BEFORE you sign a lease that you see where you will be. The office staff is GREAT right up until you sign that lease. The second you do they turn into people far to busy to deal with you.
We signed our lease and got our keys and Jena (who was a peach up until this point) told us she was too busy to show us where our actual apartment was. She gave us a map and sent us to figure out parking and all that jazz. We were lied to about quite a few things.
We lived there for a year and the noise level was a little much to handle. We were on the 3^rd so we couldn’t hear the morning leaf blowers that everyone else is freaking out about but the other tenants coming in drunk at 2am became part of normal life. Construction (very loud construction) at all hours of the night and early morning were also normal sine they can not do construction during business hours.
I never had any issues with maintenance until we moved out. We had given them our blinds and towel rack when we moved in because we upgraded what they had and when we moved out they charged us for them even tho we did a walk threw with Ken the maintenance supervisor who KNEW we gave it to him. They also charged us to replace the carpet when we moved. Ken never said a word about the carpet during our walk threw so this really surprised me. There were no huge stains, we didn’t have pets and we are not smokers. Besides light normal wear and tear there was nothing wrong with those rugs.
The rent increase they wanted after the first year was absolutely insane! We are now paying 400 less per month for a much larger much nicer apartment and it doesn’t take 40 minutes to drive our of our new complex due to high traffic just because they are lighting some dumb tree or a new apple product came out.
Everything about this place is frustrating. Even getting my contacts delivered was nightmareish. I would go to the office 10 times and no one would be there and then when someone finally was there they were with a potential new lessee and couldn’t help me… total frustration!
The pish posh feeling you get from living in a high end mall will fade very quickly. Take my word for it. All this place does is nickel and dime you to death and give the crappiest service around!
Run the other way!

I was a resident at the Residences at The Domain for over 2 and half years, residing in their largest ‘Havencrest’ (townhouse) floor plan. The location and proximity to all of the conveniences of The Domain is STELLAR! Being located in the ‘Phase 1′ portion, offers all of the high-​end retail and restaurants in walking distance (much better than ‘Phase 2′). The maintenance and office staff are FANTASTIC! All issues were addressed quickly, and communicated clearly. The community also offers great social events, and the ‘resort-​style’ pool that is REALLY cool (coming from someone who spends several weeks a year in Cabo San Lucas, MX.). HIGHLY RECOMMEND to any young professionals or folks who are looking for a great, comfortable, stress-​free living. Additionally, my location on Rogers Rd was very quiet with light foot traffic. However, I have heard other units might have more ambient, outdoor noise (from foot traffic, proximity to parking lot & busier streets, etc) depending on location, something you should consider when selecting a unit in any commercial/​residential development.

So, I waited to write this review until I’d lived here awhile and could be objective. I wanted to give a balanced assessment of this place so that others considering it would be able to make an informed choice.
I’ve been here 10 months, and this is what I’ve learned:
Pros
— Lots of good shopping (if high-​end is your thing)
— Great restaurants — Not the chain ones, but places like The Steeping Room and North are excellent, in my opinion.
— If you work at Dell or some other big company up here, it’s close to work.
— I’ve never had any issue with maintenance. They always show up promptly for me, although I haven’t had that much of a need to call them.
— I’ve always felt safe here and haven’t had any of the other safety issues or car break-​ins mentioned by the other reviewers.
Cons
— NOISE — The noise level here is out of control. They are building beaucoup new buildings, and they work constantly, starting very early in the morning and ending late late at night — like 2am sometimes. Also, they leaf blow every morning at 7am, which pisses me off.
— SHODDY CONSTRUCTION — I live in a 1 br/​1 ba in Building 4, so I can only speak for these, but they are not newly constructed and the materials and fixtures are the lowest end that you’ll find. Certainly not anything close to what you would expect for the $ 1240/​mo I am paying now (it’s actually embarrassing to admit that because of how crappy these apartments are… people think I’m nuts for paying that).
In general, make sure you see the actual apartment you’ll be renting, not the model, because my experience is that these vary wildly in newness from building to building, and they try and prevent you from seeing the actual unit.
— CORPORATE OWNED/​OPERATED — As a caveat, I have to say I’ve always had a great experience with the women in the office, especially Jena. But they can only do so much — the brutal rent increases and ridiculous fees are mandated by corporate, and there isn’t much the office women can do about it. You feel like nothing but a number, and corporate refuses to work with you on anything.
— EXPENSIVE WITH PETS — Most places charge a pet fee, but here’s the breakdown for The Domain: They charge a nonrefundable $ 300 pet fee, a $ 250 pet deposit (that’s in addition to the regular deposit that you pay), and an additional $ 20 a month in pet rent. Keep in mind, that’s PER PET. Having 2 pets will bankrupt you.
— NOT NEAR ANYTHING — For those of you moving in from other cities/​states, the Domain is not near anything but big box stores and strip malls. If you’re moving to Austin to experience Austin, this is about the furthest thing from it. It will take you, on average, at least 30 minutes to get downtown, and more as traffic on MoPac continues to get more congested. There are no neighborhoods surrounding it, and it feels very isolated.
I know that was a book, but I wanted to cover all of my bases. In my opinion, check out The Arboretum or some other place up here if you want to live up north.

***** WARNING you will be so sorry if you ever sign a lease here! My long, agonizing saga starts in July when I made of the worst decisions of my life to lease a condo at Residences at the Domain. I was coordinating a build out here at the Domain and ultimately setting up a new business there. I figured I would live 500 yards away to oversea the build out (mistake #1). I eagerly signed a lease with RAD thinking this choice would make my life less stressful as I would have more time to devote to setting up a new business location. What I learned later was that I should have had an attorney look at the 1 inch contract (mistake #2) because guess what? Even if you DIE before the lease is due, you STILL have to pay off the lease (Really, this is what it states!) After moving in to the condo, which I had to rent sight unseen because they «don’t allow showings» when there are people currently living there, I realized the 3 bedroom I rented was really a two bedroom with a small study instead of the 3^rd bedroom. Also, figured out that there is basically NO insulation between the condos. It was almost funny that I could hear the sneezing every time my neighbors had a cold. They said they provided pest control and they did come one time to spray while I lived there, but I had sugar and fire ants the whole time and last but not least mice taking up Residence at the Domain. The first time I saw a mouse was when the little critter had gotten stuck in my bathtub and was jumping around trying to get out at 1 in the morning. We had to stay the night at the Westin, around the corner until the RAD office opened at 9 the next day to remove the mouse. The only advantage to this dire situation was that I lost a good 5 pounds during this time because one crafty mouse was unable to be deceived by the mouse bait that the maintenance guys put out, and was always running around in the kitchen every time I went to get something to eat!
Due to the lack of insulation (think of a structure entirely made of cardboard) I never got sleep at night. If it wasn’t a car alarm, restaurant alarm, rowdy drunk people or cars blaring loud music, then if would be listening to your neighbors children crying, the condo vibrating when the neighbors were doing laundry or a dog incessantly barking.
It became clear to me that I had to leave this hell on earth a bit sooner than expected when 1. Someone anonymously ran into the back of my car in the parking garage of RAD and 2. I developed this weird skin condition from living there where I was basically allergic to my own skin, could not stop itching and developed rough patchy spots all over my whole body. The allergy doctor I saw said it was either carpet allergies from previous pets that had lived there or I was possibly allergic to the sheet rock.
Mistake #3: Giving RAD the heads up that I would be vacating early so they would have the opportunity to rent my condo. According to my attorney, if I simply would have not told them I was leaving and just left, I would have only been responsible for the fees they incurred putting an ad in the paper, etc in trying to rent it and the amount due during the time it was empty. Instead, even though they rented my place right away and did not lose ANY RENT, I was charged $ 6,194.93. My attorney said they would probably settle for less (he thought $ 2000.00 or so, but nope they wanted every penny and placed what they claimed I owed to National Credit Systems, INC. NCS is just as impossible to deal with as RAD and when I was transferred to the manager, he actually hung up on me when I was calmly trying to figure out how the $ 6, 194.93 I owed was broken down. Wow that hasn’t happened since junior high! So far NCS has violated the fair debt collection practices act at every turn and will not assist in verifying this debt, yet continue to harass me, but still I must say, I’ll take the uneducated goons at NCS any day over living at Residences at the Domain!