Walden Square Homes Apartments Austin Review: Single-Family Rental Homes With Fenced Yards and No Pet Weight Limit

Most apartment searches in Pflugerville turn up the same thing: a second or third floor unit in a three-story walk-up with a balcony the size of a welcome mat. Walden Square Homes breaks that pattern. These are 82 single-story rental homes with fenced backyards, attached two-car garages, and no upstairs neighbors. As a licensed Texas REALTOR (TX #679806), I track Pflugerville rental pricing across 30+ communities. And rental homes with private yards and garages are still uncommon enough in this market to turn heads.

But here’s what listing sites won’t tell you: you’re paying $2,145 to $2,245 a month for a three-bedroom home with zero shared amenities. No pool. No gym. No clubhouse. And they tack on $155 in monthly fees on top of rent before you even factor in pets. That gap between what you see advertised and what you actually pay is exactly why this review exists.

Quick Facts

The 4.4 Google rating is strong, but the story behind it matters. Nearly every positive review mentions one person by name: Faith, the property manager. I’ll break down what that means for you in the reviews section below.

Best For

You want a fenced yard and a garage without buying a house. This is the core sell. You get a private fenced backyard, an attached garage, and a one-level layout where nobody lives above or below you. That’s a different product than a traditional apartment. If you’re tired of hearing your upstairs neighbor’s footsteps at midnight, this format solves that problem.

You have a large dog. No weight limit on pets is genuinely rare across the Austin metro. Most communities cap at 50 to 75 pounds. If you have a German Shepherd, a Lab, a Rottweiler, or any breed that other properties reject, Walden Square keeps the door open. There are breed restrictions, so check with the office, but the no weight limit is the real draw for large dog owners. If you’re looking for other options, check out our guide to Austin apartments that allow large dogs.

Three bedrooms in Pflugerville, newer construction. Built in 2018, every home here is a 3BR/2BA or 3BR/2.5BA ranging from 1,432 to 1,466 square feet. If you need three bedrooms but you don’t want a property from the 1990s, Walden Square is one of a handful of options in the 78660 ZIP code that checks both boxes.

Skip If

You need shared amenities. There’s no pool, no fitness center, no clubhouse, no business center. This is a single-family home community, not a traditional apartment complex. If you want a gym and a pool included in your rent, this isn’t your property.

You need a one or two bedroom. Every unit here is a three-bedroom. There are no studio, one-bedroom, or two-bedroom options.

You want to walk to anything. The Walk Score here is 26 out of 100. You need a car for everything: groceries, restaurants, errands. If walkability matters to you, Walden Square will frustrate you daily.

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Location Deep Dive

What’s Actually Nearby

Walden Square sits on Walden Pond Drive off Heatherwilde Boulevard in Pflugerville. Your daily life revolves around a car.

Groceries: The closest H-E-B is about 1.5 miles south on Heatherwilde. There’s also an ALDI on FM 685 within a few minutes’ drive. Stone Hill Town Center is roughly 2 miles northeast with restaurants, a Target, and a Costco.

Parks: Pfluger Park is about 2 miles away and Gilleland Creek Park is about 3. Lake Pflugerville is about 4 miles north and has swimming, kayaking, and a 3-mile trail loop. If you like being outdoors, Lake Pflugerville is a plus you won’t find at most Pflugerville apartments.

Schools: Walden Square falls in the Pflugerville Independent School District. The schools zoned here are Timmerman Elementary and Park Crest Middle School.

Transit: Howard Station (Capital Metro) is about 6.7 miles away. Public transit isn’t practical out here. Plan on driving.

Commute Math

SH-130 is how you get everywhere from here. If you work along the 130 corridor or in northeast Austin, drive times stay reasonable. Downtown or south Austin during rush hour? Expect 40-50 minutes on bad days. Check out our apartments near Dell Parmer and apartments near Samsung Austin guides if you want to compare by employer.

Neighborhood Vibe

Pflugerville’s Heatherwilde area is suburban and quiet. It’s residential streets, newer construction, and small shopping plazas along the main roads. You’re not going to find nightlife or walkable entertainment here. What you do get is space, low traffic noise, and neighbors who stay long-term. Multiple Google reviewers called out how quiet the area is and how the neighborhood actually feels like a neighborhood.

The area around Walden Square is mostly other neighborhoods and a few shopping centers along Heatherwilde Boulevard. Pflugerville Parkway and Grand Avenue Parkway are how you get to I-35 and SH-130 from here. Traffic on Heatherwilde itself stays manageable, but I-35 backups during rush hour can bleed into the surface streets if you’re headed south toward Austin.

One thing working in this area’s favor: Pflugerville has been growing fast, and the restaurants and shopping around Stone Hill Town Center have caught up. You’re not driving 20 minutes for a decent meal anymore. Three Legged Goat, Morelia Mexican Grill, and a handful of other local spots are within a 5-minute drive. It’s not walkable, but it’s not isolated either.

The trade-off: it feels removed from Austin proper. You want to feel like you live “in Austin”? This isn’t it. Your mailing address says Pflugerville, and your utilities go through different providers. Keep that in mind. But if you want a quiet place to come home to after work, it delivers.

Pricing and True Cost

Floor Plans

The D1 is the biggest layout at 1,621 square feet with a half bath. The property’s own website says “Call for details” and nothing is open right now. If you need the extra space, call the office to ask when one might come up.

Net Effective Rent Calculation

Let me show you the math on the C1 plan with 4 weeks free on a 12-month lease:

• Base rent: $2,145/month
• 4 weeks free = 28 days
• Lease term: 365 days
• Daily multiplier: (365 – 28) / 365 = 0.9233
• Net effective rent: $2,145 x 0.9233 = $1,980/month
• Monthly savings: $165/month

That’s real savings. But 4 weeks free is less aggressive than what many Pflugerville apartment communities are running right now. Several newer complexes in Pflugerville are offering 2 to 3 months free. The difference: those are apartment units, not homes with yards and garages. You’re paying a premium for the format.

Required Monthly Fees (Everyone Pays)

One-Time Move-In Fees

Optional Monthly Fees

True Monthly Cost Scenario

Here’s what a renter in the C1 plan with one dog actually pays each month:

• Base rent: $2,145
• Trash: $75
• Pest control: $45
• Sewer: $10
• Resident services: $25
• Pet rent: $25
• True monthly cost: $2,325

That’s $180 more than the advertised rent of $2,145. Over 12 months, that’s $2,160 in fees you didn’t see on the listing. Listing sites won’t show you that number. I will.

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

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Screening Criteria

Avenue 5 Residential manages Walden Square. They look at your credit, income, and rental history together to decide whether you’re approved and how much your deposit will be. Here’s what I know about how their screening works.

Income Requirement

Avenue 5 wants you to make 3x the monthly rent. Here’s what that looks like for Walden Square:

One thing to know: they base the income check on your full base rent, not the lower number you’d pay after the free weeks kick in.

Credit Expectations

Avenue 5 doesn’t publish a hard credit minimum for Walden Square. Based on how Avenue 5 runs things at their other properties:

• 650+ credit: Smooth approval, lowest deposit
• 600-649: Likely approved with higher deposit
• Below 600: Higher deposit or possible denial depending on full credit profile

They weigh everything together. A strong income can sometimes offset a lower credit score (and the other way around). The security deposit is also on a sliding scale, so a lower score means a higher deposit even if you’re approved.

What Gets You Denied

Based on Avenue 5’s screening policy:

• Active debt owed to a previous landlord (must be paid in full before applying)
• Any eviction or broken lease on your record
• More than 2 late rent payments in 12 months, or more than 1 bounced check in 2 years
• Open bankruptcy, or a bankruptcy that closed less than 12 months ago
• Falsified application documents
• Not enough income to meet the 3x requirement
• Criminal background results (Avenue 5 doesn’t publish specific lookback periods for Texas properties, so call the leasing office or work with a locator to check before you apply)

Application Process

1. Apply online (each person 18+ must apply separately)
2. Pay the application fee ($50 per applicant)
3. They check your credit, background, income, and rental history
4. Decision typically comes within 2-3 business days

Here’s what separates working with a locator from applying blind: I can tell you whether your income, credit, and rental history are likely to pass Avenue 5’s screening before you spend $50 per person finding out. If Walden Square looks tight for your situation, I know which nearby Pflugerville communities have more flexibility. Call me.

Resident Reviews Decoded

Review Pattern Analysis

Walden Square has 72 Google reviews (4.4 stars) and 5 RentCafe reviews (3.5 stars). ApartmentRatings has 1 review. The Google reviews matter most because there are so many of them, but the RentCafe reviews tell a different and harsher story that you need to hear.

What’s Working

Faith, the current property manager, is the story on Google. She’s mentioned by name in over 20 of the 72 reviews. Residents say she’s patient, she knows the area, and she goes out of her way to help. One resident who lived here for five years said the events and communication stayed solid the whole time. Another said Faith made the entire move-in process easy and puts together monthly community events.

That kind of specific, repeated praise for one person across dozens of reviews is unusual. Most properties get generic star ratings. When 20+ people take the time to name one person, that tells you something real about the daily experience.

What’s Not Working

The RentCafe reviews are harder to read. One resident from 2022 described faulty electrical breakers for over half the lease and a broken A/C for almost the entire lease. Four property managers in a single year. They said the manager deleted maintenance requests instead of fixing them. Another RentCafe reviewer from the same period said that if you need maintenance, you’re better off paying for it yourself.

On Google, the negative reviews match the same pattern. One resident who paid $3,000/month for three years described constant issues where maintenance took months to resolve. Another reviewer mentioned two management changes in one year, each worse than the last. A third said you can never reach the leasing staff by phone.

Here’s the important timeline context: the worst reviews cluster in 2022-2023, before Faith became property manager. The Google reviews from the past 5-7 months under Faith are almost all positive. That’s a real improvement, but it’s also a short track record.

RentCafe Sub-Ratings (5 Reviews)

The 3.0 on maintenance lines up with what the written reviews say. Location and parking score high, which isn’t surprising for a place where every home has its own garage.

Management Response Pattern

Avenue 5 responds to every single Google review, but the responses are clearly templated. Almost every reply starts with “We’re delighted to hear…” regardless of the content. They respond to negative reviews too, but with the same corporate template tone. They’re checking the box on responding, but there’s not much substance behind it.

The Uncomfortable Truth

No listing site will write this section. I’m not trying to kill the deal. I want you to know what you’re signing up for so you don’t find out after you’ve moved in.

You’re Paying $2,300+ for Zero Shared Amenities

Most apartment communities in the $2,100 to $2,300 range include a pool, a fitness center, a clubhouse, and sometimes a business center or package lockers. Walden Square has none of that. You’re paying for the home format: yard, garage, one level, no shared walls above or below. If that trade-off works for you, great. But if you’re comparing Walden Square’s price to traditional apartments in Pflugerville and wondering why there’s no pool or gym, that’s why.

The Fee Stack Adds $155/Month Before Pets

Trash ($75), pest control ($45), sewer ($10), and resident services ($25) add $155 to your monthly cost before you factor in pet rent. On a $2,145 base rent, that pushes your real monthly bill to $2,300. Add one pet and you’re at $2,325. That’s a bigger gap between advertised rent and actual cost than I see at most properties in this price range.

Faith Is the Experience. What Happens If She Leaves?

The 4.4 Google rating is built largely on one person. Multiple reviewers specifically warned management not to transfer Faith to another property. This community has already been through management turnover, and the experience suffered each time. The RentCafe reviews from 2022 describe a property that went through four managers in one year, where maintenance requests got deleted and A/C units stayed broken for months. That was before Faith. Things have gotten a lot better since she took over, but it’s also recent. If Faith moves on, the track record resets.

The BBB listing for Walden Square also shows the business is “not accredited” and was “in the process of responding to previously closed complaints” when I checked. Not a dealbreaker on its own. But it fits the pattern: how this place runs depends on who’s in the office.

Ready to Move Forward, or Want to See Alternatives?

If Walden Square checks your boxes, I can walk you through the application process and flag any screening concerns before you apply. If you want to compare similar Pflugerville options, I track 30+ communities in this ZIP code.

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FAQ

Is Walden Square Homes really houses, not apartments?

Yes. These are 82 one-level detached or attached rental homes with private fenced yards and garages. No one lives above or below you.

Does Walden Square accept large dogs?

No weight limit on pets. Breed restrictions do apply, so call the leasing office to confirm your dog’s breed is accepted. Pet costs: $250 non-refundable fee, $250 refundable deposit, and $25/month pet rent per animal.

How much does it actually cost to live at Walden Square?

Base rent starts at $2,145, but mandatory monthly fees (trash, pest control, sewer, resident services) add $155. Your real minimum monthly cost is $2,300 before pet rent.

What’s the income requirement?

Avenue 5 wants you to make 3x the monthly rent. For the cheapest floor plan at $2,145, that means $6,435/month or about $77,220/year.

Is Walden Square a good option for someone with bad credit?

It depends on the specifics. Avenue 5 doesn’t have a single number that gets you in or keeps you out. Below 600, approval gets harder. If your credit is below 600, I’d recommend talking to me first so we can figure out whether this property makes sense or if there’s a better match. Check out our second chance apartments in Austin page for more options.

What’s the commute to downtown Austin?

About 20-25 minutes off-peak and 35-50 minutes during rush hour. SH-130 is your main route, connecting to I-35 South. The commute north toward Dell or Samsung is much shorter at 10-18 minutes.

Are there any move-in specials at Walden Square right now?

As of August 2026, Walden Square is offering 4 weeks free on select homes. That drops the net effective rent on the C1 floor plan from $2,145 to about $1,980/month.

Does Walden Square include a garage?

Yes. Every home comes with an attached two-car garage at no extra cost.

What school district is Walden Square in?

Pflugerville Independent School District. The schools zoned here are Timmerman Elementary and Park Crest Middle School.

Is lawn maintenance included?

Yes. Walden Square handles lawn care and landscaping as part of the rent. You don’t need to mow or maintain the yard.

Does Walden Square have washer and dryer hookups?

Yes. Every home has washer and dryer connections. You’ll need to bring your own machines or rent them. There’s no shared laundry facility on site.

How many units are at Walden Square?

82 total homes. It’s a smaller community compared to most Pflugerville apartment complexes, which typically run 200 to 400 units. The smaller size means less turnover, fewer strangers, and a tighter neighborhood feel.

The Bottom Line

Walden Square Homes is genuinely different from the typical Pflugerville apartment: a single-story rental home with a fenced yard, a two-car garage, and no upstairs neighbors. At $2,145 to $2,245 base rent (plus $155 in mandatory monthly fees), you’re paying for the format, not for shared amenities like pools or gyms.

The 4.4 Google rating is real, but the 3.5 on RentCafe tells the other half of the story. The 2022 RentCafe reviews describe a property with four managers in one year, deleted maintenance requests, and broken systems left unfixed for months. Faith changed that. The recent Google reviews under her management are almost all positive. But the improvement is recent, and the experience is tied to one person, not a system. If she transfers, the track record resets.

This property makes sense if: you want a yard and garage without buying, you have a large dog that other properties reject, you work along the SH-130 corridor or in northeast Austin, or you prioritize quiet and privacy over amenity access.

This property doesn’t make sense if: you want a pool, gym, or clubhouse, you need a one or two bedroom layout, you commute to south Austin or downtown daily, or you’re trying to stay under $2,000/month after fees.

My honest take: Walden Square fills a specific niche well. If you want the house experience without the mortgage, and you can handle the fee stack, it’s one of the better single-family rental options in Pflugerville. Just go in knowing what you’re actually paying each month.

Need Help?

Want me to check your approval odds before you apply? My service is free. I’m paid a referral fee from the property’s marketing budget. Your rent stays the same whether you use me or apply on your own.

I can pre-screen your income, credit, and background against Avenue 5’s criteria so you don’t waste $50 per person on an application that won’t go through. If Walden Square isn’t the right fit, I know which Pflugerville communities will work better for your situation.

If you’d rather apply on your own, go directly to Walden Square’s website or call them at (833) 310-2409. 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.