Verandas at Uptown

The apartment complex itself is great, but renting 909 Reinli St. Apt 206 from Dong Tran, also known as Dean Peter, was frustrating, costly, and stressful. I'd strongly recommend avoiding him if he manages or owns the unit. We contacted him through Zillow in June and clearly said we would move in during August. He still insisted that the lease start July 15 and charged prorated July rent, then changed the date to July 20 after we pushed back. When we arrived in August, the cabinets were full of cockroaches, which hadn't been shown in the Zoom room tour, and the AC was completely broken. The indoor temperature reached 90°F. We had to stay in a hotel for two nights, clean the unit ourselves, and wait for the AC repair. He reimbursed only one hotel night and wouldn't cover cleaning. We had two cats and agreed on a $600 pet deposit, with $300 refundable if the unit was clean when we moved out. We left it clean, but he charged $100 for “deep cleaning” over minor spots and kept the whole pet deposit. He also charged $390 for wall repairs from the cats, which was fair, but the cleaning and wall repair charges totaled $990. During the tenancy he never mentioned pet odor, and friends who visited didn't notice any smell. After move-out, he claimed there was a strong odor and said he needed to buy an air purifier, though opening a window could easily have solved it. The Zillow listing said “pet friendly,” but the lease said “no animals,” and he didn't use Zillow's lease process. It felt intentionally misleading. The appliances were low quality and broke several times: the dryer failed twice, a light fixture broke, and the AC thermostat fell off. He eventually fixed or replaced them, but it often took weeks and repeated reminders. Sometimes he just sent us a YouTube link to repair things ourselves.

Do not move here. Many residents have gone almost two months without hot water, and management keeps saying they're working on it without fixing anything. One person who runs the property is reputedly rude to many people here. The hot water comes from a community boiler, not individual heaters in each unit, and the pipes are messed up. I'm paying over $1k/mo for cold showers every night. They should have a plumber working on it around the clock, or replace everything and install heaters in each unit if they can't find the problem. Instead, they seem to be cutting corners and trying to do it cheaply, wasting everyone's time. Management doesn't care. Do. Not. Move. Here.

I've just moved in and have been enjoying it so far. The condos are nicely upgraded and can be customized. I used to live in the area and know it's a great base for getting around Austin. I like that there's a dog park on the property, and I'm looking forward to the pool being finished.

The apartments are nice.