Estelle Apartments

Estelle is the most beautiful apartment complex in Homewood! I looked far and wide and found few apartment communities that compare to the modern finishes, design, and price point of Estelle. The community staff are extremely responsive and are consistently making changes to the property to better the experience for tenants. As a transplant to the Birmingham area it’s been a blessing to love my apartment community, staff, and other community members. Picture is from the B3 layout. My apartment gets tons of natural light!

They keep raising the rent but are seemingly unable to maintain the property at all. I’ve lived here for two years and the gate has never worked. People’s cars are being stolen and broken into and the management doesn’t care. If they did, they would’ve figured out how to fix it by now. The management should be replaced for neglect and incompetency. Someone is going to get hurt (or worse) if all residents are having to drive in and out of the same one way gate. Pictured below you can see an unfortunate resident finding thenselves stuck at the exit gate, while the entrance gate is completely ajar. If you’re apartment hunting, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.

DO YOUR RESEARCH! There are so many things wrong with Estelle Apartments that the Property Manager constantly tries to cover up. If you look at the other reviews that have been posted you’ll notice that there’s a bad one (with very helpful and insightful information) and then 2-5 fake reviews (from vendors, family members, etc.) to try to combat the real review. After I did my own research it looks like the only people leaving good reviews for Estelle Apartments have personal ties to the management and/or are being bribed by them. Are the gift cards and meaningless giveaways really worth it? If I was a tenant again I would want the TRUTH.

Estelle is nice but way to expensive and needs some work with the staff to address problems better. I was the first few tenets in the apartment complex. The gates never worked. Paid $50 for a key fob for the gate not to be working half the time. People’s cars was getting stolen/broken into and all they told us to do was to make sure we locked our cars. They never put up cameras to fix the problem or to at least see who was doing it. I had put my 60 day notice in and my water bill shot up. It was $116 for my 1 bedroom apartment with me just living in there. Called and finally got them to credit my money after being asked multiple times if I had a water leak which I knew I didn’t and also the water company bringing up in the email how she’s seen I’ve put my notice in!!! (Why does that matter) My water bill for June/July was again $100 for just me, I called again and all they could take off was $14. I bought a house and moved at the beginning of June but still continued to pay for my rent for another month. Paid everything I had to be done with the complex and I get told I had to pay $87 for a water bill for the month of June 1st /July 14th when I wasn’t even using the water but for 3 days of the cycle because I had moved out June 3rd. Called and all I was told was since they don’t have a meter the water bill gets split up between apartments and gave me a number to call about the water and it went straight to voicemail. You shouldn’t be charging a 1 bedroom apartment for water as the same as a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment. I just find it really strange how my water bill was $40 to $50 the 2 years I’ve been there but the moment I turned in my notice to leave it shot up to $100. If you’re looking for apartment complexes do yourself a favor and go elsewhere unless you wanna be paying $100 a month for a water bill for a 1 bedroom apartment on top of my very expensive rent I was paying.

I’ve loved living here the past 2 years!! The apartments are very clean and in great condition, and maintenance is VERY timely (same day) in fixing any issues that arise. Pleasant office staff who are there during office hours and answer the phone and questions when you need them— helpful and attentive. Rent does keep going up which I find odd.. not sure I’d be able to renew my lease if they decide to up the price again. Which would be sad because I’ve enjoyed my time here. Amenities are really nice and I enjoy the pool when it’s cleaned properly. Also love the clubhouse and convenience of the mailroom! Very pet friendly property and the office will do fun things to engage residents like dog Halloween costume contests and offer free food and treats sometimes. I have almost no complaints about the property itself but there are definitely some minor things that could be fixed— as with any apartment complex. But Estelle in my opinion lacks the big concerning issues that you’d find elsewhere other places. They have Good/ responsive management, clean facilities/ amenities, efficient maintenance team, apartments are in great shape and like new when you move in (the whole property is only like 2 1/2 years old), awesome inside dog washing station and small dog park, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, farm-style sink and wide/ large shower tub, good bathroom storage (in most units), decent size closets, and bright walls/ features. Also washer and dryer provided in unit and they’re new but basic, nothing fancy but not in bad condition at all. Gets the job done great. Also have a trash valet that comes and gets your trash straight from your door for you! Cons: took away 1 star for these minor things but— the gates are never working properly so it’s not always as secure as I’d like. If you live on the side of the property where hooters is and your walls face them, you’ll probably hear drunk men screaming at midnight about alabama football and wings. Also the glowing hooters sign outside your window probably won’t be the best view but I’ve seen worse— just buy blackout curtains and get a box fan to drown out the noise some nights. There have been some really sketchy characters that don’t seem to live here or they seem to be “visiting friends” that have no business snooping around and making residents feel uncomfortable. Sometimes the noise levels (depending on the building) can get too loud because walls are thin and buildings were built to save costs and go up quickly. Not a bad thing necessarily, unless your sensitive to noise, just makes it easy to literally hear everything including your neighbors walking above you, a dog running, or music being played. I recommend being on the top floor to avoid that above you if this is something that you know would drive you nuts (me)- that’s been a game changer (we moved from the second floor in a different building that was louder). Some buildings are designated college student buildings just because of the 3 bedrooms so unless you want to listen to all that noise and coming + going nightly I’d stay away from building 7 and surrounding ones with younger groups. Parking is also a huge issue near building 7 and surrounding because of all the people. Back of the property is better and other buildings are less crowded than others so they have better parking- but in some areas that can be a huge pain. I wish they would’ve built the parking lots bigger to account for more residents.