Retreat at Magnolia Apartamentos

*Takes deep breath* when I first moved over here I loved it! The staff is super nice and helpful. It’s super quiet as well. Now as it’s time to renew my lease I decided not to renew my lease due to a couple of reasons! I am a very clean person yet I would still see roaches here and there, it could easily be the people that stay around me but either way it’s a no on the bugs for me. Also the dog poop is ridiculous, it’s all in the grass and on the SIDEWALKS, and I’m all for dogs but the poop is... to much! Then the grass on the property is not well managed it gets very high. And lastly the gate is always broke! I Lee mas

Where to start?


I got in contact with the local fire department to have them come out and take a look at our electrical issue on our stove. Gave them the run down of how it all began and what it was doing once turned on. They listened to a video I had recorded previously of the electrical sparking noise and told me that it wasn't normal. They deemed it unsafe and informed me that it needed to be either replaced entirely or looked at by an electrician. So that's what I did the very next... day. The master electrician I hired looked at both the range and the breaker box, carefully taking his time trying to figure out why it was over-currenting enough to cause the breaker to trip. He documented black arc flash marks on some of the electrical wiring inside the switch panel located inside the range itself. He informed be that it was very unsafe to be using and suggested that there could more than likely be a bigger electrical issue here. More than meets the eye basically. I submitted both post inspection reports to the property manager along with the invoice and a detailed email stating that we did not feel safe having this problem in our home. Two days later and she finally called me to discuss the issue. At the same time she was getting back with me, another representative of the property had called the electrician I had hired and questioned him on his credibility of being an electrician. He thought he was a "friend", doing this service as a favor. Who does that? Questioning a qualified master electrician on how he performs his job just because your property group has failed to look further into this electrical hazard? Not once has anyone from the property management group called me to ask me what is going on or to even apologize for the inconvenience. Unbelievable. The solution to it all was to have the stove replaced completely, which I was ok with before hiring an electrician. Now we have a new stove but still with the same issue, only worse. I've exhausted all my resources and dont know where to turn to next.

Do your research prior to moving into these apartments. Lee mas

This property is below average to so-so for its price point. Units are a fair size and open. Woodlands Pkwy is nearby, as well as a Wal-Mart, a Target, and gas. The construction is relatively new, & fixtures are aesthetically pleasing. Maintenance is excellent - truly this property's strong point. Plus pet rent is low, and utilities are inexpensive.

On the other hand, fixtures & carpeting are cheap. Washers & dryers are an additional charge, which is not the case elsewhere in town. When an... elevator goes out, it can be unusable for a week. Pest control is weak. Parking is often inadequate, and the dumpsters release trash into the parking lot during heavy rain. How mgmt treats you & your requests differs depending on timing/who you are/who you are dealing with. All my processes were smooth, but my neighbors say that is not typical.

Other drawbacks here are the same as you'd find anywhere else: emails go unanswered (but if you call, someone will usually pick up), fixtures and utilities will fail (faucets, water), the gate/clicker setup is less than stellar. But the frequency with which they occur is nothing out of the ordinary.

Lastly, there are issues that exist independently of what mgmt can control, but you should still take them into account if thinking about moving here:
1) FM 2978 is is not an safe road to take every day. The left turn lane at the intersection of the Pkwy / 2978 is no longer sufficient to accommodate increasingly heavy traffic. Plus you will need to turn left across 55-60 mph traffic to get to the property from the parkway. 2) This property sits on grassy, soggy land and is improperly elevated, so each time there is heavy rain, the property floods. I once had to park at the gate and cross the property in rainboots with rainwater at nearly knee level order to access my building w/out damaging my vehicle. 3) Living next to a construction site, an abandoned lot, and somebody's ranch-like yard can be weird and demoralizing. 4) I hesitate to talk about neighbors because people come and go, and mgmt can do little about property culture. But that said, there are loud parties & smoking in non-smoking buildings, people who don't pick up after pets, late-night shouting, people leaving broken-down cars for weeks in the parking lot, etc.

Overall, the property is livable & ordinary, geographic problems aside. Nothing you'd call nice or "luxurious" like the billboard says, but more of the apartment equivalent of a shrug. Lee mas

Let me start first by saying the apartment itself is nice. But the management team is not the people you want to do business with. I not writing this review just complain. I'm warning you because the experience I am having right now. I only live in the apartment for 2 months. Car was flooded in the apartments because in some areas its not level. The management is aware but they do not care. They won't give you the phone to corporate to give feedback. Only a website to email someone but no one to... call back. Please don't not sign up to this apartments. The only reason their giving away free stuff in for a reason. People are leaving after their first year because the experience. Lee mas

The Estates Woodland is the first apartment complex I've ever lived in and it's been smooth sailing for me. The staff are always helpful and office hours are convenient. They do a good job of maintaining the parking lot and facilities, keeping everything clean etc. The pool has been clean and crystal clear every time I go and it's never too crowded. If I needed maintenance to fix something, they were always there really quickly to fix the problem. I've met some of my neighbors and everyone has... been very welcoming. The park area is great if you love to run outside or if you have dogs or kids. The only problem I encountered was that the parking lot floods when it rains a lot. This year we had a lot of rain and some cars in the parking lot were completely covered in water and there was no way to leave the complex. (It was flooded in all of Houston though, this isn't an every day problem.) Leaving the complex on to 2978 can be tricky when there's traffic but it's not as bad as I had expected it to be. The gym is 24 hours and it's always clean and the equipment is awesome. Ultimately, I've really enjoyed my stay and I'd recommend it to a friend. Lee mas