The Meadows at Anderson Mill Apartments Austin Review: 100-Unit Northwest Austin Community With In-Unit W/D and Trail Access for Rent

The Meadows at Anderson Mill keeps landing in searches for one reason: it’s a 100-unit property in Northwest Austin’s 78750 zip code where rent starts under $1,000. As a licensed apartment locator (TX #679806) who tracks pricing across Northwest Austin daily, I can tell you that combination is hard to find near the 183 tech corridor. You get a washer and dryer in the apartment, a wood burning fireplace, and a reserved parking space, all included in the rent. That’s not standard for a 1984 build.

But here’s what the listing sites won’t tell you: this property has changed management companies multiple times, and the review history is a rollercoaster. A 100-unit community is small enough that when management is good, it’s great. When it’s bad, everybody feels it. I’m going to break down every cost, screening detail, and resident complaint that Apartments.com leaves out.

Quick Facts

The Birdeye average of 3.7 tells a more complete story than Google’s limited sample. ApartmentRatings goes back the furthest with 38 reviews across multiple management companies. I’ll get into what those reviews actually say, but the short version? It depends on who was running the place when the reviewer lived there.

Best For / Skip If

Best For

You want laundry inside your apartment without paying extra for it. Every unit has a full-size washer and dryer. That’s rare at this price. Most properties under $1,200 in Northwest Austin give you a shared laundry room or charge for hookups. Here, it’s just included.

You work along the 183 tech corridor. The property sits right off Lake Creek Parkway with direct access to Highway 183. If you’re commuting to Apple’s Parmer campus, Dell’s Round Rock offices, or any of the tech employers along 183, you’re looking at 10 to 20 minutes depending on direction. The 620/45 tollway intersection is close too, so getting to Cedar Park and Leander doesn’t mean fighting through city streets.

You want a small community feel. 100 units. That’s tiny by Austin standards. Most complexes around here run 250 to 400. People who love The Meadows keep bringing up the same things: it’s quiet, it’s private, and they know their neighbors. If you’ve lived in a 300-unit complex and hated the noise and foot traffic, this is a completely different situation.

You have a small to mid-size dog and want trail access. The property backs up to a 1-mile looped hike and bike trail with direct access from the back of the community. There are pet waste stations around the property, and the Anderson Mill Recreation Center with its dog park is right down the road. Several reviewers talk about walking their dogs on the trail daily. Fair warning: the weight limit is 50 pounds and breed restrictions apply. If you have a larger dog, this won’t work.

Skip If

You need a brand new building. This is 1984 construction. The units have been updated with vinyl plank flooring, new light fixtures, and modern faucets, but the bones are 40+ years old. You’ll hear your neighbors. Creaks, bumps, thin walls. Squirrels on the roof are apparently loud enough that people mention it in reviews.

You’re uncomfortable with management turnover. The Meadows has been through multiple management companies over the years, including Lynd Corporation and at least two others. Each transition brings new staff, new policies, and a period where things don’t run smoothly. You can see it play out in the reviews.

You need transparent pricing upfront. Getting current rent numbers here means calling the office. Every listing site I checked shows a different range, and the property doesn’t always post pricing online. If you’re the type who wants to compare five places on a spreadsheet before picking up the phone, this one’s going to frustrate you.

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Location Deep Dive

What’s Actually Nearby

The Meadows is on Mellow Meadow Drive, just off Lake Creek Parkway. Highway 183 is a few blocks east. Westwood High School is directly across the street. That puts you in Round Rock ISD, one of the better school districts in the Austin metro.

Grocery runs are short. H-E-B at Lake Creek is about 1.5 miles, a 5-minute drive. Randalls and Sprouts are about the same distance toward the Lakeline shopping centers. Lakeline Mall sits roughly 2 miles north with Target, Ross, and most of the big box stores you’d need. The Arboretum is about 4 miles south down 183. The Domain? Roughly 6 miles southeast.

For coffee and food, the stretch along Lake Creek Parkway has a good mix of chains and local places. Residents bring up Reale’s Italian Cafe as their go-to spot nearby. More restaurants have opened along 183 and 620 in the last few years, so the options keep getting better.

The 1-mile looped hike and bike trail behind the property ties into the rest of the Anderson Mill trails. Bus service runs on the corner, and the Capital MetroRail station at Lakeline is about 2 miles away. That’ll get you downtown without driving.

Commute Math

Heading south on 183 toward downtown is where things get painful. Morning rush hour can double your commute time, and the stretch between Braker Lane and the 183/MoPac interchange is ugly from 7:30 to 9:00 AM. If you work north or northwest, though, this location makes a lot of sense.

Neighborhood Vibe

Anderson Mill is suburban. No pretending otherwise. You’ll need a car for almost everything, and there’s no nightlife within walking distance. But for people who work along 183 or 620, it’s one of the more affordable pockets in Northwest Austin with good schools and easy toll road access.

Quiet. Residential. Settled. It’s not changing fast like East Austin or South Congress. What you see is what you get. And what you get is a neighborhood that works for daily life without a lot of excitement.

Pricing and True Cost

Floor Plans

Pricing on this property is hard to pin down. They don’t post their rents online, and every listing site shows a different number.

Net Effective Rent Calculation (2BR with Current Special)

The current special is 1 month free on a 2BR with a 12-month lease. Let me use $1,445 as an example since that’s roughly the middle of the 2BR range:

• Base rent: $1,445/month
• Lease term: 12 months (365 days)
• Free rent: 1 month (30 days)
• Daily multiplier: (365 – 30) ÷ 365 = 0.9178
• Net effective rent: $1,445 × 0.9178 = $1,326/month
• Monthly savings: $1,445 – $1,326 = $119/month

That’s real savings, about $1,430 over the life of the lease. But here’s the catch: the “look and lease within 24 hours” condition. That means you need to sign the same day you tour, or close to it, to lock this special in. I’d push back on that. Take your time.

Fee Breakdown

Required Fees (everyone pays):

Optional Fees:

Here’s what jumps out: that $150/month amenity fee is mandatory, and it’s a big number. The property calls it a $225 value because it bundles internet, cable, W/D access, parking, trash, recycling, and pest control. Sounds reasonable until you realize you can’t opt out of any of it. Don’t watch cable? Still paying. Already have internet? Still paying. An older review on ApartmentRatings cited this fee at $65, so it’s gone up a lot. Add $150 to whatever base rent they quote you. That’s your real number.

True Monthly Cost Scenario

Say you’re renting a 2BR at around $1,445 with one dog under 50 lbs:

• Base rent: $1,445/month
• Monthly amenity fee: $150
• Pet fee: $0/month (one time fees of $300 at move in)
• Estimated true monthly cost: $1,595

That’s $150 above the advertised base rent before you add electric or renter’s insurance. At move in, you’re also looking at $500 security deposit + $125 admin fee + $50 app fee + $300 in pet fees (if one pet) = $975 upfront on top of first month’s rent.

Want to Compare This Property’s True Cost to Nearby Options?

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Screening Criteria

The Meadows doesn’t post screening criteria online, and it wasn’t in the property info file either. That’s not unusual for smaller properties, but it means you’re going in blind unless you call first (or let me call for you). Here’s what I can tell you based on where this property sits in the market.

Income Requirement

The income requirement is 3x the rent. So what does that actually look like?

Credit Expectations

No published credit minimum. For a property like this (1984 build, rents under $1,700), most places in this price range work with credit scores of 550 to 600. Sometimes lower if your income is solid and your rental history is clean. Properties run by smaller LLCs like this one tend to be more flexible on credit than the big corporate management companies, but that flexibility can also mean less consistency.

What Likely Gets You Denied

Based on what I see at similar properties in this price range:

• Money you still owe a previous landlord
• Eviction filings within 2–3 years (though smaller properties sometimes look at older evictions individually)
• Violent felonies within 5–7 years
• Lying on your application
• Income below 3x the rent without a cosigner or a third-party guarantee like Jetty or TheGuarantors

Application Process

Call the leasing office at (512) 250-8577 to schedule a tour. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Saturday 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Closed Sundays.

Here’s what separates working with a locator from applying blind: I can call the property directly and ask what they’ll approve before you spend $50 finding out. If The Meadows looks tight for your situation, I know which nearby communities have more flexibility. That’s the kind of information you don’t get from a listing site.

Resident Reviews Decoded

The Meadows has 38 reviews on ApartmentRatings, 27 on Google/Birdeye (3.7 average), and 11 on Yelp. That’s a lot of data for a 100-unit property. The catch is that the reviews span more than a decade and multiple management companies, so you have to read them in context. A five-star review from 2019 and a one-star review from 2020 might be about two completely different operations at the same address.

Review Pattern Analysis

What Residents Like

The good reviews keep coming back to the same things. Small community. Knowing your neighbors. The trail out back. One family who lived at the back of the property for years loved the 1-mile looped greenbelt trail for walking their 50 lb dog.

The maintenance team gets praise no matter who’s running the office. Danny gets mentioned for always having a smile. When the right management team is in place, residents say work orders get handled fast and done right. One resident who’d been there four years said requests were answered quickly, the staff was professional, and they went out of their way.

Three managers stand out in the positive reviews: Robin (“approachable and truly concerned, helped me carry my groceries”), Brandi (“top notch, very responsive”), and Grace (“the best manager, very professional”). When the right person is running this place, it shows.

What Residents Complain About

Management is the biggest complaint by far, and it’s not just one bad era. It’s the same story every time ownership or management changes hands.

Under Lynd Corporation, a manager named Kitzie sent eviction notices to residents who had already paid rent on her first day. She didn’t check payment records first. Multiple reviews describe her as rude and difficult to work with.

Ingrid Coe is the most polarizing manager in the reviews. A resident who lived there six years praised her as “wonderful” and “always willing to help.” But another resident alleged Ingrid posted on Facebook about throwing a tenant’s belongings out and mocked them publicly. A separate review called her a “lying instigator.”

On Google, one reviewer said the staff took a security deposit and first month’s rent from their elderly mother without finishing the lease. The office wouldn’t return their calls. About $2,000 was on the line.

On Google, a recent reviewer says the manager Brittany didn’t honor a sublease that was supposed to run six months.

The pest complaints are bad. Roaches in drawers on move-in day, roaches on walls and floors, plus flies, spiders, silverfish, hornets, bees, and ants. Pest control is part of the mandatory $150/month amenity fee, but reviews say the spraying doesn’t keep up. In a 1984 wood frame building with 100 units, bugs travel through the walls and pipes. Spraying one apartment doesn’t fix the building.

Billing problems show up repeatedly. One resident reported $150/month water bills for a two bedroom unit. Others say the online payment system is unreliable and the numbers don’t always match what they actually owe. When residents asked for clarification, one review says the manager yelled at them. A separate review mentions someone’s money orders getting stolen after the drop box was broken into. A witness called the police, but the reviewer never said whether the property made it right.

Management Response Pattern

I didn’t find management responding to reviews in any consistent way. On ApartmentRatings, at least one response looks like it was written by a manager defending herself in the comments. That’s unusual, and it tells you things have gotten heated between staff and residents here.

The Uncomfortable Truth

No listing site will write this section.

Management Turnover Is the Defining Issue

The Meadows has been through at least three management companies: Lynd Corporation, Anderson Mill Meadows Apartments LLC, and the current operator, Scarlet Key Properties. Every time management changes, the staff turns over, policies shift, and there’s a window where nothing works right. The reviews at this property read like different chapters of the same book. Your experience depends entirely on who’s running it when you move in.

That’s a real risk. What happens if you sign under great management and they’re gone by renewal time?

The “Look and Lease” Pressure Is a Yellow Flag

The current special requires you to sign within 24 hours of touring. That’s a pressure play. At a property where pricing isn’t posted online and screening details aren’t public, rushing you to sign before you can compare is a red flag. Don’t let a month’s free rent push you into something you haven’t thought through.

You’re Renting a Building From 1984

1984 construction means certain things come with the territory. Thin walls. Older plumbing. Gaps where bugs can travel between units. Roof noise. The property has done cosmetic updates (vinyl plank flooring, new fixtures, updated appliances), but cosmetic updates don’t change how much noise comes through the walls or how old the plumbing is. If you’ve only ever lived in newer construction, the difference will hit you.

Pest Problems Are Structural, Not Seasonal

This goes beyond the occasional ant. Reviews describe roaches in drawers on move-in day, roaches on walls, and infestations of flies, spiders, silverfish, hornets, bees, and ants. Residents pay mandatory pest control fees, but in a wood frame building from 1984 with 100 connected units, bugs move between apartments through gaps around pipes and shared walls. You can spray your unit every month and still get them from next door. Ask current residents how things look before you sign.

The $150/Month Amenity Fee Adds Up Fast

The property charges a mandatory $150/month amenity fee on top of base rent. They bundle internet, cable, W/D, parking, trash, recycling, and pest control into it and call it a $225 value. But you can’t opt out of any piece. If you already have your own internet plan or don’t watch cable, you’re still paying. A 2BR listed at $1,445/month actually costs $1,595 before electric or renter’s insurance. That’s a big gap, and it matters when you’re comparing to other places in the area that bundle less or charge less for what they do include.

Ready to Move Forward, or Want to See Alternatives?

I can check The Meadows’ current screening criteria and fee structure with one phone call. If the numbers work, I’ll help you apply. If they don’t, I have 5+ other properties in the Anderson Mill area that might be a better fit.

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FAQ

Does The Meadows at Anderson Mill have washer and dryer in the apartment?

Yes. Every unit comes with a full-size washer and dryer included in the rent. That’s hard to find at this price in Northwest Austin.

What school district is The Meadows at Anderson Mill in?

Round Rock ISD. Westwood High School is directly across the street on Lake Creek Parkway.

Does The Meadows at Anderson Mill allow pets?

Yes, pets are allowed. You can have up to 2 dogs under 50 pounds. There’s a $150 pet fee and $150 pet deposit per pet at move in, but no monthly pet rent. Cats are welcome too. Breed restrictions apply and all pets need to be approved first. Call (512) 250-8577 to ask about the breed list.

How far is The Meadows at Anderson Mill from downtown Austin?

About 17 miles. Off-peak, that’s roughly a 20-minute drive. During rush hour, expect 35 to 50 minutes depending on your route. The Capital MetroRail Lakeline station is about 2 miles away if you prefer not to drive.

Is cable TV included at The Meadows at Anderson Mill?

Yes. Cable TV and 500 Mbps internet are both included in the $150/month amenity fee that every resident pays on top of base rent.

Does The Meadows at Anderson Mill have a pool?

Yes. The community has a pool and sundeck with WiFi, plus a BBQ area right next to the pool.

What is the current special at The Meadows at Anderson Mill?

As of this writing, the property is offering 1 month free on a two bedroom unit with a 12-month lease, but you have to sign within 24 hours of touring (look and lease).

Who manages The Meadows at Anderson Mill?

The property has been through multiple management companies. Right now it’s run by Scarlet Key Properties, LLC. The manager listed on Google Business is Ingrid C.

Is The Meadows at Anderson Mill near public transit?

Yes. A bus stop is on the corner near the property. The Capital MetroRail Lakeline station is about 2 miles away and runs to downtown Austin.

The Bottom Line

Here’s what The Meadows gets right. Washer and dryer inside the apartment. A wood burning fireplace. Reserved parking. Direct trail access. All of it at a 100-unit property where you actually know your neighbors. And at rents starting under $1,000 for a one bedroom, the math works for a lot of people.

But the math only works if you go in with your eyes open. Management turnover is the biggest concern here. The building is 40 years old, and that shows in the walls, the plumbing, and the noise level between units. The $150/month amenity fee pushes true costs well above the listed rent. And the review history swings hard depending on which management team was running things at the time.

This property makes sense if:

• You work along 183 and want a short commute
• You want laundry in the apartment at a price under $1,200/month
• You prefer a small, quiet community over a 300-unit complex
• You have a small to mid-size dog (under 50 lbs) and want trail access from your back door

This property doesn’t make sense if:

• You need newer construction where the walls actually block noise
• Stable management matters to you
• You want to compare pricing online before visiting
• You’re not comfortable with a 24-hour signing deadline to lock in the special

Here’s my honest take: The Meadows has the bones of a solid property. The location, the unit features, and the community size are all genuine advantages. What holds it back is that you never know which version of management you’re going to get. If the current team is doing well, it could be one of the better values in 78750. But you won’t know that without talking to current residents and seeing the property in person first.

Need Help?

Work With Me

My service is free. The property pays a referral fee from their marketing budget, so your rent is the same whether you find The Meadows on your own or come through me. Here’s what I’ll do: check the current screening criteria, confirm the actual fees, and tell you straight up whether you’re likely to get approved. No guessing, no wasted application fees. And if The Meadows isn’t the right fit, I know every property in the Anderson Mill, Lake Creek, and Lakeline area.

Go Solo

If you’d rather apply directly, call the leasing office at (512) 250-8577. Office hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Saturday 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Just tell them “Ross Quade from Austin Apartment Team” referred you on your tour and application. Text me at 512-360-0852 when you apply so I can make sure everything’s on track.