I give Ballinger Commons/Essex Management a solid 1 star rating only because they have a nice exercise facility, the equipment is nice and the hours are excellent. Don't be fooled by Ballinger Commons excellent move in specials and be aware that after 1 year your rent will be increased by $100. The type of tenant you are is not taken into consideration, it doesn't matter how responsible you are. The rent is increase with every lease renewal after that. Keep in mind that you WON"T get your deposit back no matter how well you take care of the apartment. This company replaces their carpets every 5 years, if you are the unlucky tenant to leave at the time the replacement is needed you will be responsible for 40% of the replacement costs. It doesn't matter what the state of the carpet is at move out. The leasing office will be less then helpful if you call to dispute the charges on your move out statement. You will be told that you need to speak to a manager but they will never return your call. This apartment is not worth the headache you will experience at move out. If you decide to rent from them do yourself a HUGE favor and take lots of pictures at move in, especially the carpet and make sure you INSIST on a walk thru inspection when you turn your keys in. Otherwise you will be as lucky as we were to get an inflated move out statement and you will receive no resolution if you call to talk to someone. Please take these steps to help protect yourself from unnecessary fees and being taken advantage of by Ballinger Commons/Essex. Lastly, Essex claims that they want to speak to tenants to learn more about their concerns. Speaking from experience this is not true. They don't care about the tenants concerns as long as they get their money.

I've lived here for one year but will be moving as soon as my lease ends. The apartments were already overpriced, but they are increasing rent significantly. This may however be due to new ownership. My biggest complaint is the apparent mold issue. It is a beautiful area with plenty of trees and I know that there are lakes nearby, but I am a clean person and black mold has been growing in my apartment the whole time I've lived here no matter how much I try to get rid of it, change airflow, etc. I followed the mold clause in the lease to a T, but have been unsuccessful in preventing its growth. I encourage you to ask the apartment managers about their history with their mold problem before signing a lease.

We have lived at Ballinger Commons since June of 2010. It has proved to be a safe and lovely place to live. There is a mixed population of families, singles and seniors (like us). There are sweeping green spaces and acres of forest with nature trails. Our neighbors have been in the complex longer than we have and are fine. We have always felt completely safe. One of the best things is the how quickly the Maintenance department responds to our requests! In the almost four years we have lived here I have never once seen behavior described in the other reviews. I recommend BC as a wonderful and safe place to live!

Sadly my experience came to an end sooner than I expected due to needed to flee some relationship abuse, however, I can definitely say that I have enjoyed my time here, and I am anxious to have the chance to rent here again. :)

It was the perfect place until you got to know the people around you! its huge and beautiful, but the people around you are horrible and the people who worked there are nice but then they get mean and charge you for worthless stuff. We lived there for 8 years, and it was good, but then people there started to get horrible and they lie, workers there get mean and don't help. Horrible service, not a good place for children because of other children there and things going around. If you try living their..GOOD LUCK!