Westdale Creek Apartments Austin Review: $783 in 78731, But Read This First

A one bedroom for $783 in Austin’s 78731 zip code looks like a misprint. It’s not. Westdale Creek sits on Wood Hollow Drive in the Northwest Hills corridor, and at 96% occupancy, it’s one of the cheapest places in a zip code where most properties start above $825. I track pricing across this area daily as a licensed apartment locator (TX #679806), and Westdale Creek keeps showing up in my client searches for the same reason: the rent is hard to beat around here.

That math is real. So is the 3.1 Google rating from 150 reviews. The 2.5 on ApartmentRatings from 121 more. And the 1.0 on Yelp from 43 reviews, 39 of them one-star.

When I see a property this affordable in a zip code this expensive, I ask the same question every time: what’s the catch? The catch starts with a number. 1978. That’s the year this building went up. What that means for your water, the bugs, the walls you’ll hear your neighbor through? That’s what separates this review from every listing site that just shows you photos and a price.

Quick Facts: Westdale Creek at a Glance

The 96% occupancy tells you something. Despite those review scores, people keep signing leases here. Price does that. And notice the gap between platforms: Google sits at 3.1, ApartmentRatings at 2.5, Yelp at 1.0 with zero five-star ratings out of 43. That gap tells you something, and I’ll get into why below.

Best For

You need a 78731 address on a tight budget. Westdale Creek starts at $783 for a one bedroom. The next cheapest property within a quarter mile, Westdale Parke, starts at $844. If you need to be zoned for Anderson High School, need quick access to MoPac and 360, and your budget is under $1,000/month, your options in this zip code are limited. This is one of them.

You’re commuting along the 360 or MoPac corridors. You’re 10 to 15 minutes from the Arboretum, the offices along Research Boulevard, and the 360/2222 office parks during off-peak hours. If your job is along that stretch, the commute math works better here than from most of Austin.

You need short lease flexibility. A 3-month minimum lease is unusual. Most Austin properties require 6 to 12 months. If you need temporary housing while you figure out a next move, Westdale Creek offers that. Fair warning: the locator commission on a 3-month lease is 0%, so my services are limited on short terms. But I’ll still help you figure out if it’s the right move.

Your pet is under 70 lbs and not on the restricted breed list. The $10/month pet rent is among the lowest in Northwest Hills. Most properties in this corridor charge $25 to $50/month. The $400 pet fee (you don’t get it back) is standard for the area. If your dog is over 70 lbs, check out our verified list of Austin apartments that accept large dogs.

Skip If

You can’t handle water shutoffs. This is the single most consistent complaint across 314+ reviews on three platforms. Residents report water being shut off multiple times per week for maintenance. That’s not an exaggeration. I counted at least 8 separate reviewers mentioning this specific issue across the past two years. If you work from home, this alone could be a dealbreaker.

Pest issues are a hard no for you. Google’s own review tags show “pest control” appearing in 19 of 150 reviews. Residents report roaches, fruit flies, rats, and scorpions. Several describe infestations that keep coming back no matter how many times the property sprays. When a 1978 wood-frame building has gaps between units where bugs travel, spraying once a month isn’t going to fix it.

You need in-unit washer and dryer. Most floor plans have no washer/dryer connections. And the on-site laundry room? It’s a headache of its own: broken machines, no refunds when machines eat your money, and at least one reviewer reporting dryers that left burn marks on clothing.

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Location: What 7630 Wood Hollow Dr Actually Means

What’s Actually Nearby

Westdale Creek sits in the Northwest Hills area. Locals just call it Far West. The Walk Score is 41. Let’s be honest: you need a car here.

Grocery runs are short drives. H-E-B on West Anderson Lane and Whole Foods on Gateway Boulevard are both about 1.5 miles. CVS and the Chimney Corners post office are under 2 miles. You won’t walk to any of them, but you’ll drive there in under 5 minutes.

Not much to eat within walking distance. Saffron and Chinatown are the closest sit-down spots, both under a mile. Beyond that, you’re driving to Anderson Lane or the Arboretum.

Out back, there’s a wooded greenbelt along a creek. Residents mention deer, big old live oaks, and a quiet feel overall. Bull Creek Greenbelt and Beverly S. Sheffield Northwest District Park are both within 5 miles. The terrain is hilly though, and several reviewers say the parking lots feel steep and cramped.

Commute Math

Route notes: You’ll use MoPac for almost everything. MoPac’s variable toll lanes run $2 to $8 depending on traffic and can cut 10 to 15 minutes off a rush hour commute. Highway 360 connects you to western Austin. Getting downtown means MoPac south, which backs up during evening rush from Steck to Enfield. CapMetro bus service runs along the Far West corridor, but service is limited. Don’t plan on it as a primary commute option.

Neighborhood Vibe

Northwest Hills is quiet, residential, and aging. Almost every apartment here is from the 1970s, and some have been fixed up better than others. No bars, no live music, no nightlife. You’re paying for being close to the highways, good public schools (Doss Elementary, Murchison Middle, Anderson High), and a suburban feel still inside Austin’s core. Everything interesting requires a car, and MoPac congestion can stretch a 7-mile downtown trip to 45 minutes at rush hour.

Pricing and True Cost

Floor Plans

Two things to notice. The 422 sq ft one bedroom costs $944 to $1,069, while the 550 sq ft one bedroom starts at $783. Size and price don’t track together here. It depends on the specific unit, the floor, and which building you’re in. Ask which exact unit you’re being offered before you commit to anything.

Also: only three of the seven floor plans include washer/dryer connections, and two of those three are currently unavailable. If laundry in your apartment matters, your realistic option right now is the available 2/2 at 1,088 sq ft starting at $1,187.

Net Effective Rent

Here’s the thing about Westdale Creek’s current special: it’s not a rent concession. It’s a waived $100 admin fee and half off the deposit. That saves you money up front, but your monthly rent stays the same.

So your net effective rent equals your base rent. No discount to spread across the lease term.

Nearby properties like Bridge at Northwest Hills and Juniper Springs are offering weeks free on longer leases. That actually drops their monthly cost below what they advertise. Westdale Creek’s math is simpler. What you see is what you pay monthly.

All the Fees

No valet trash fee. That’s worth noting. Many Austin properties tack on $30 to $40/month for mandatory valet trash, so you’re saving that here. No package locker fee either, though residents have complained about broken package boxes in the mail area.

True Monthly Cost: A Real Scenario

Take a 1/1 at 550 sq ft, base rent $783, one dog under 70 lbs.

• Base rent: $783
• Pet rent: $10
• Estimated water/sewer (RUBS): $40–$50+/month (one ApartmentRatings reviewer reported never having a water bill below $40)
• Estimated total monthly: $833–$843+

Move-in costs with the current special:

• Application fee: $75
• Admin fee: $0 (waived)
• Security deposit: half off (base amount not listed online; ask at tour)
• Pet fee (not returned): $400
• First month’s rent: $783
• Estimated move-in total: ~$1,650

For what you’re paying, Westdale Creek is cheaper than most of what’s around it. The question isn’t whether the rent is cheap. It’s whether the building’s problems are worth the savings.

Specials change. What’s listed above was accurate as of July 2026, but I talk to leasing teams weekly and offers shift.

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Screening: Will You Get Approved?

Income Requirement

Westdale Creek’s FAQ confirms 3x income. If you don’t hit that on your own, they’ll take a guarantor, but the guarantor needs to make 5x.

At $783 with 3x income, you need about $13.55/hour full-time to qualify. Most full-time workers can hit that number.

Credit Expectations

Westdale Creek doesn’t publish a credit score minimum. They use ScreeningWorks, a third-party screening service. Here’s a reasonable expectation based on what I’ve seen at properties like this:

• 600+: Standard approval with standard deposit
• 550–599: Likely approved with a higher deposit
• Below 550: Tough. Income strength and clean rental history can offset, but don’t count on it

If your credit is in the 550 to 600 range, this is exactly the kind of property where talking to me first saves you $75. I can tell you whether it’s worth applying before you spend the money.

What Gets You Denied

Here’s what usually gets you denied at budget properties like this:

• Active eviction filing within the past 3 to 5 years
• Property debt showing on your rental history report (this is the one that’s hardest to work around anywhere)
• Income below 3x without a qualified guarantor
• Violent felony convictions (lookback periods vary)
• Registered sex offender status (universal disqualifier across Austin)

Application Process

1. Apply online through the Westdale Creek website or in person at the leasing office
2. Pay the $75 application fee (non-refundable)
3. ScreeningWorks runs credit, background, and rental history
4. Approval typically within 1 to 3 business days

One thing to watch: multiple reviewers got caught by the auto-renewal clause. If you don’t give 60 days written notice before your lease ends, it rolls into month to month automatically. And getting out of that? Another 60-day notice plus early termination fees. One ApartmentRatings reviewer reported an $824 termination fee on top of the 60-day hold. Read the lease carefully. If you’re already locked in somewhere and weighing your options, here’s our breakdown of what it actually costs to break a lease in Austin.

Here’s what separates working with a locator from applying blind: I can tell you whether you’re likely to qualify before you spend $75 finding out. If Westdale Creek’s screening looks tight for your situation, I know which nearby properties have more flexibility, and which ones will definitely deny you. If you have screening concerns, I cover second chance situations across Austin.

Resident Reviews Decoded

Listing sites show you a 3.1 Google rating and call it a day. That number? Not useful on its own. I went through 150 Google reviews, 121 ApartmentRatings reviews, and 43 Yelp reviews looking for the patterns. Individual complaints don’t tell you much. Repeated themes do. And when the same complaints show up across three separate platforms spanning multiple years, that’s not a coincidence.

Review Pattern Analysis

What Residents Praise

Staff here gets called out by name. Juan, Rosemary (the property manager), and Victor show up across multiple positive Google reviews from the past year. Zenen Hernandez, going on four years at the property, called the entire team “exceptional.” Buie Ligon praised all three by name.

Price for the area is the other consistent positive. Residents who stay are upfront about what they’re getting: “cheap but safe,” “affordable for the area.” MoMo Henderson moved in with low income in February 2026 and locked in a 15-month lease. Abby Acone started as a temporary solution and ended up staying and upgrading to a larger unit.

What Residents Criticize

The same three problems show up over and over, year after year: water shutoffs, pest infestations, and mold. They come up in reviews from 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 across all three platforms. Yelp’s 1.0 rating is the most extreme. Of 43 Yelp reviews, 39 are one-star and zero are five-star. That’s not a skewed sample. That’s a pattern.

One resident who lived there five years (Current Resident 927534) described water shutoffs lasting “full days at a time,” ongoing pests, and mold she reported twice. Erin Folkner called it “roach, mold, and slumlord central.” Jay Mendoza reported water shutoffs “multiple times per week.” Austin T. on Yelp confirmed shutoffs “at least a couple times a month with many times no warning.” This is a building from 1978. The 2005 renovation made it look better, but new countertops don’t fix old plumbing, and paint doesn’t seal the gaps where bugs get in.

A detail that doesn’t show up on listing sites: units share water heaters. Several ApartmentRatings reviewers talk about fighting their neighbors for hot water. You won’t find your own water heater in the unit because there isn’t one.

Another detail that caught my attention: at least one reviewer on ApartmentRatings said management signed up apartments for Austin Energy’s Power Saver Program without telling anyone. That program lets Austin Energy remotely shut off your AC during summer peak hours. The reviewer said they never got the opt-out form. And because the original AC units were never replaced during the 2005 rehab, the apartment doesn’t cool back down properly after the AC comes back on.

And then there’s the laundry room. There are 8 dryers for 244 units. One reviewer put it plainly: if they ever found all 8 working on the same day, they’d go buy lottery tickets. Machines break, coins get eaten without refunds, and at least one reviewer reported dryers leaving burn marks on clothing.

How Management Responds

Management responds to most Google reviews, but there’s a pattern. The replies sound like templates, they’re often months late, and occasionally the property says they “can’t find” the reviewer in their system. That last detail shows up with both StayHumble777 and Buenos dias soleados. When someone writes a detailed complaint and the property responds with “we can’t find you in our system,” that doesn’t look great.

On Yelp, the pattern is different. One 2024 reviewer (Indubes W.) reported that when they raised a problem, management sent their lawyer’s phone number and stopped responding entirely. That’s a response you don’t usually see at a budget property.

On the positive side, recent reviews from 2026 suggest the current staff, particularly Juan and Rosemary, are more engaged than teams from prior years. Laura Allen noted that “things have gone uphill.” Several others echo that. Whether that trend holds is worth watching.

The Uncomfortable Truth

No listing site will write this section. I’m not trying to kill the deal. I just want you to know exactly what you’re signing up for.

The Water Problem Is the Building, Not a One-Time Fix

This isn’t a burst pipe that gets repaired and forgotten. Going back years, residents describe water shutoffs several times a week. David Shirek described shutoffs “3 or more times a week.” Jay Mendoza called them “scheduled maintenance” that happens multiple times weekly. The plumbing in a 1978 building serving 244 units is wearing out, and the 2005 renovation didn’t touch it. If you work from home or have a schedule that depends on running water at predictable times, this is a real problem, not a minor inconvenience.

Pests Are a Structural Issue, Not a Cleanliness Issue

You can keep your apartment spotless and still deal with roaches, fruit flies, and rodents. Tatiana Tess described herself as being in the medical field and “incredibly clean,” yet her indoor cats got giardia from the roaches. Review Ninja posted photos of mold being scraped off, painted over, and coming back. When there are gaps between units in a wood-frame building from the late 1970s, spraying one apartment doesn’t fix it. They spray for pests, but the same complaints keep showing up year after year.

Your Move-Out Bill May Not Match Your Expectations

Several reviewers say they got charged for damage that was already there when they moved in. Eric Sikes described charges for “things that were already a problem.” StayHumble777 reported the same pattern. Jacob Goebel said his unit was “filthy” with “mold all over the bathroom ceiling” on day one. Here’s my advice: photograph everything on move-in day. Every wall, every floor, every appliance, every window. Email those photos to the leasing office with a date stamp. That’s your protection if there’s a deposit dispute at move-out.

Your AC Might Not Be Fully Under Your Control

At least one ApartmentRatings reviewer found out that management signed units up for Austin Energy’s Power Saver Program. That lets Austin Energy remotely shut off your AC during summer peaks. The reviewer never got the opt-out form and didn’t know it was happening. The AC units are original from 1978 and never got replaced in the 2005 rehab, so once the system shuts off, the apartment can’t cool back down. Ask the leasing office directly whether your unit is enrolled in this program and request the opt-out form before you sign.

Ready to Move Forward, or Want to Explore Alternatives?

You’ve seen the full picture. If Westdale Creek works for your situation, I can walk you through the application. If the infrastructure stuff is a dealbreaker, I know every property within 2 miles of here and can show you what’s available at a similar price.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does Westdale Creek allow pets?

Yes. Up to 2 pets, 70 lbs max each. $400 non-refundable fee per pet, $10/month pet rent. Breed restrictions apply (no aggressive breeds). Check with the leasing office for the current restricted breed list.

What credit score do I need for Westdale Creek?

No published minimum. From what I’ve seen at similar properties, 550+ gives you a reasonable shot. Stronger income and clean rental history help offset lower scores.

Are utilities included in rent?

Westdale Creek’s FAQ page doesn’t mention utilities, which usually means they’re billed separately. Many Westdale properties use RUBS for water and sewer, adding a variable monthly charge. At least one reviewer reported water bills of $40+/month. Ask the leasing office what’s included before you sign.

What is the laundry situation?

Most units don’t have a washer/dryer. Three floor plans have connections, but two are currently unavailable. The on-site laundry center has 8 dryers for 244 units and a track record of breakdowns.

When was Westdale Creek built and renovated?

Built in 1978, renovated in 2005. The renovation updated countertops, flooring, and appliances in some units but didn’t touch the plumbing, the walls, or the water heaters.

What are the biggest complaints about Westdale Creek?

Water shutoffs, pest problems (roaches, rats, fruit flies), and mold. These show up across Google, ApartmentRatings, and Yelp spanning multiple years. All three come from the same place: 1978 construction. The laundry room is a close fourth.

Is Westdale Creek in a good location for commuting?

Depends where you’re going. MoPac and 360 are minutes away, making the Arboretum, Research Boulevard, and western Austin employers fast off-peak. Downtown takes 15 to 20 minutes without traffic, 30 to 45 during rush. CapMetro bus service runs the Far West corridor but on limited schedules.

The Bottom Line: Is Westdale Creek Worth It?

Westdale Creek does one thing very well: it puts you in 78731 for $783 to $1,715/month. In a corridor where most one bedrooms start above $900, that pricing is real. The staff, specifically Juan, Rosemary, and Victor, gets positive reviews from long-term residents. The $10/month pet rent is among the lowest in this area. And the 3-month minimum lease gives you flexibility you won’t find at most Austin properties.

Here’s the trade-off: a 1978 building that shows its age in ways that affect daily life. Water shutoffs, persistent pest problems, shared water heaters, thin walls, and mold reports aren’t isolated complaints. They’re patterns across 314+ reviews on three platforms spanning years.

This property makes sense if:

• Your budget is under $1,000/month and you need a 78731 address
• You’re commuting along MoPac or 360 and want a short drive to work
• You can tolerate older building infrastructure in exchange for lower rent
• You need a short-term lease (3-month minimum)

This property doesn’t make sense if:

• You work from home and can’t afford unpredictable water shutoffs
• Pest issues are a hard dealbreaker regardless of price
• You need in-unit washer and dryer (most floor plans don’t offer it)
• Noise between units bothers you (1978 construction, thin walls)

The rent is real. The downsides are too. If those work for you, Westdale Creek is a legitimate option in an expensive zip code. If they’re not, North Austin and Central Austin have properties at similar prices with newer buildings.

If you want help figuring out whether Westdale Creek fits, or you’d rather find similar pricing without the infrastructure headaches, fill out the form and I’ll text you within a few hours.

Need Help?

You’ve got everything to make your decision on Westdale Creek. But if you want help:

Fill out the form above and I’ll text you to answer questions, check your application situation, share current specials, and figure out next steps. You’ll talk to me directly, not an automated system. My service is 100% free to you, always.

Going solo? 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.