I lived at Zocalo for almost 3 years, and this is my honest review of both pros and cons…read more
Pros:
- It's a diamond in the rough. (And it is pretty rough.) The neighborhood itself is awful. But for Spring Branch, it's probably one of the better complexes you're going to get. Best bet: Just don't move to SB lol. It's kind of a s*** hole.
- Maintenance is okay and selectively responsive. Many problems that came up with maintenance, I believe, stem from lazy office management and their refusal to communicate. The property is maintained well.
- Pet friendly, and other pet owners are courteous and cool. The people compensate for the nasty management.
- No major issues with pests, as long as you stay on top of having pest control every couple of months. (Note: They only spot treat)
- A pro and a con: They leave you alone for the most part and are not intrusive. But when you actually need something, they still ignore you.
Cons:
- Management: The biggest reason I can't give this place 4 stars. It started off much better here when I moved in. Only one manager has stayed (Ericka), but she doesn't respond and does not care about getting to know you. Neighbors have expressed the same sentiment. Just overall nasty staff to deal with who seem oblivious to how awful they are. They recycle staff almost daily, which is a sign of a complex going downhill. The best managers have not lasted more than a few weeks, and it's such frequent changes that they have no clue what's going on, and make it clear they don't care to. Calling the front office, you will be greeted rudely and talked down to like you're stupid, and don't expect an email response despite the importance of putting things in writing. You'll be ignored.
- Safety: While it's safe-ish, management seems to work hard to make it as unsafe as possible. My car was stolen out of the lot. Cars and trucks always have windows smashed, trucks up on cinder blocks, gunshots aren't uncommon, and there is always a non-working gate that they ignore for months. 9/10 chance your car will get jacked, smashed, or something similar, and management will begrudgingly (if at all) send out a text that it's YOU who should be more diligent. God forbid they do anything about it.
- Plumbing: There is a serious plumbing issue with this place. My apartment flooded with what smelled and looked like sewer water at least a dozen times. They ignored it the vast majority of the time and told me to have my insurance deal with it. That is their answer to everything, so they don't have to do anything. I've spent hundreds of my own money on repairs and lost so many belongings as a result of the flooding that happened weekly for a while; it's unreal. When I moved out, it was evident that I had been living with black mold hiding in places all over the place. The building is literally sinking into itself, and the floors are all warped by plumbing issues. My upstairs neighbor had a literal cardboard box placed on his ceiling to stop a leak that had been coming into my apartment as well. Unsurprisingly, the leasing office ignored his emails, calls, etc., and as I heard, he still had that cardboard box covering a hole in the ceiling.
-Move out: Since nobody knows what's going on there, the leasing office came pounding on my door days before my move-out, and when I called the office after waking up, one of the fly-by-night leasing agent ladies was as rude as ever, acting like it's my fault she didn't know when my move-out was. And then they charged me extra for the days that they miscalculated. Sorry, but how's that my fault? Not my problem that they f*ed up. - especially after a year of neglecting a mold-infested apartment, refusing to replace a fob after my car got stolen off their un-gated, unsecured lot, and not replacing it for 4.5 months, but still charging me monthly for it and -surprise- ignoring all emails and phone calls about it.
Unfortunately, this place had a lot of potential a few years ago. But they stopped caring, and so the place just went downhill. Wish I could recommend but honestly glad to be gone.