Austin rental housing (Anderson: real estate, apartment complex, rentals)

[dallasdee]

I am moving to the Austin area for graduate school, and have decided that I want to rent from a private owner-- not an apartment complex.

Could someone point me in the direction of where to find these types of units? Specifically, what parts of town have the most private owner rentals? And the biggest question of all is where to find these rentals advertised?

I am going to be in Austin on Monday and Tuesday, so please tell me where to drive around if that is how I have to find private owner rentals.

Thanks!

[love roses]

Craigslist, a real estate agent, or an apartment locator service

[spelrod]

Best online searches to use for that is padmapper.com to filter through craigslist and austinhomesearch.com, imo.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by dallasdee

I am moving to the Austin area for graduate school, and have decided that I want to rent from a private owner-- not an apartment complex.

Could someone point me in the direction of where to find these types of units? Specifically, what parts of town have the most private owner rentals? And the biggest question of all is where to find these rentals advertised?

I am going to be in Austin on Monday and Tuesday, so please tell me where to drive around if that is how I have to find private owner rentals.

Thanks!

Many private owners, like myself, do not work through realtors. Check the newspaper Austin Classifieds - Austin American-Statesman Classifieds (http://www.statesman.com/search/content/classifieds/index.html?migrated=n - broken link) and drive around the area you are interested in. I have always been able to find a tenant in less then a month by advertising in the Statesman newspaper and putting a sign out in the front yard. No I don't have any vacancies.

[TexasHorseLady]

You're going to need a multi-pronged approach. Many private landlords use agents to lease their properties for them, even if they do the management themselves; those you will be most likely to find on the MLS via austinhomesearch.com. You're more likely, also, to find that sellers whose houses have not sold who have decided to lease them out for a while until the market improves will go this route.

Others do the screening themselves, so you'll need to check out craigslist and, to a certain extent, the Austin American-Statesman classifieds.

Some use property management companies to find and screen the tenants, and then do the management themselves. If you go this route, and you don't want to deal with a property management company taking the rent and being there at 2 in the morning when you've got an emergency, you'll want to specify that you're looking for an owner who does the management themselves so that they will only show you those properties.

[dave bacon]

craigslist

[someguyatx]

This really dpeends how close you want to live to campus. I would suggest Mopac off Far Wast & Steck/Anderson Lane. This will be relatively close to campus but not in a college area. There are a fair amount of duplex and smaller homes for rent in this area.