Casa Del Rio Apartments

The scariest thing a renter can hear is ‘your building is being sold’ but when that happened at Casa Del Rio any fears that statement brought were zeroed out after a month with the new owner/management team. While I had no real issue prior there is definitely a different vibe with these guys. They are fast, super friendly and in situation after situation I see the idea of win-win is in play. I’ve got plans to be here a couple more years or so and so and the changes so far are all for the better… and leave me very excited. If you’re looking for a cute almost downtown location with a retro look, modern feel and a management and maintenance staff that seem to see the extra mile as standard operating procedure then this place is for you! Huge units, the city’s best pool (cleaned all year long), an amazing location that’s about fifteen minutes from any location in Austin with covered car parks, access to public transport and UT shuttles as well as a ring of big shady trees surrounding you on most sides! A one building complex with a small friendly mix of mostly grad, music or law students and working partnered couples looking to live Central at a great price! Casa Del Rio was good prior to the management change but now the place is headed to great! Read More

The apartments here are fine and the location is pretty solid--it's right beside the law school and fairly close to main campus.
Nevertheless, you are making a big mistake if you choose to live here.

The management at Casa Del Rio is awful, and do not care for their tenants in the slightest. I had to put up with two rent increases, each of which was non-negotiable--I was told I would be lucky not to have to deal with the charges associated with moving out. When I tried to sublease my place… over the summer (as a student, this is a must, and I imagine many of the tenants were in the same position as I), I was told subleasing was strictly forbidden, but if I wanted to add the sublessee as a tenant, I could do so--I would just have to convince them to take on the same liabilities as I had for the duration of the lease (so not just until the end of their sublease contract), and would have to fork over $500 in fees so they could electronically file a couple papers. When I added my brother on the lease, I was asked to once again pay hundreds of dollars in fees, as well as pay an extra $100 per month, even though I explained that at no point would we both be living in the apartment at the same time.

To top this all off, my moveout experience was a nightmare. When it came time to move-out and I asked for a two-week extension, I was told that they would not even be willing to extend for a week or a day. And finally, when I moved out, after retaining professional movers and hiring professional cleaners..I was slapped with $200 in moveout charges, including $15 for a missing light bulb, $30 for drip pans which had naturally experienced normal wear and tear after 3 years of usage, and an assortment of other unexplained, exorbitant charges.

I'm quite glad to have moved on from this complex, but my experience has left a very sour taste in my mouth, and I am positive that I am not alone in that feeling. To my knowledge, I am the only one at the complex who elected to stay for three years, and from speaking to other tenants, they told me that they were fed up with management from just one year of interacting with them.

You may be attracted here by the price (which is no longer that great with the continued hikes) or location. The size of the apartments is pretty nice as well for the area. But in my opinion, those positives do not outweigh the nightmare of being continuously disrespected and taken advantage of by the 512 Realty management team. Read More