Married Couple relocating and needing help (Austin, Manor: apartment, renters, house)

[stubbs4prez]

First off I want to thank everyone in advance for your support.

My wife will be attending UT Austin in the fall to work on her Doctoral Degree in collaborative piano. It is a 3 year program so we will need to be moving from a rural town by Toledo, OH. My job has decided to allow me to work from home so I do not need to look for a new job (well not right away that is ) so wherever we live needs to be at least 2 bedrooms to set up an office for me.

Here is the hard part, we have 4 pets (3 cats and a small dog) that we could in no way ever envision leaving behind AND my wife wants to be a short commute to campus since she will be there 6 days a week.

Since we have so many pets I know finding an apartment is pretty much out of the question so we are looking to rent a house. Since we will need to sell ours here we are going to be STRUGGLING until it sells so we would like to keep the house rental below $1000 a month if possible.

Can any of you recommend places to look, neighborhoods, a Realtor to work with, or any other advise for us.

Thanks again,

[MtnLion512]

Thankfully, Austin is a very pet friendly city so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a rental, but I agree that an apt won't happen. Unfortunately house rentals near campus under $1k is a tall order...they're hard to come by as it is, lots of them don't come on the open market very often as a few people on here can attest.

For that price range you will almost certainly have to look east of I-35 if you want to be close to campus. When I was entering grad school at UT and looking at a rental from out of state, my best resource by far was my program's admissions coordinator and other students. I got the best info on neighborhoods and rentals from helpful peers and faculty. Email your AC and see if he/she can get you some contact info for people who can point you in the right direction. Good luck.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by MtnLion512

For that price range you will almost certainly have to look east of I-35 if you want to be close to campus.

East of I-35, South of Manor. A friend found such a place last week, and she has a cat and a python.

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by stubbs4prez

First off I want to thank everyone in advance for your support.

My wife will be attending UT Austin in the fall to work on her Doctoral Degree in collaborative piano. It is a 3 year program so we will need to be moving from a rural town by Toledo, OH. My job has decided to allow me to work from home so I do not need to look for a new job (well not right away that is ) so wherever we live needs to be at least 2 bedrooms to set up an office for me.

Here is the hard part, we have 4 pets (3 cats and a small dog) that we could in no way ever envision leaving behind AND my wife wants to be a short commute to campus since she will be there 6 days a week.

Since we have so many pets I know finding an apartment is pretty much out of the question so we are looking to rent a house. Since we will need to sell ours here we are going to be STRUGGLING until it sells so we would like to keep the house rental below $1000 a month if possible.

Can any of you recommend places to look, neighborhoods, a Realtor to work with, or any other advise for us.

Thanks again,

I graduated from U.T. with a piano performance degree. Welcome to you and your wife — a fellow future alum!

A friend was in the same position as you and your wife (multiple pets, needed a house) and worked with a property locator to find a rental property. His experience — and this wasn't too long ago — was that he had to go where the rentals were, regardless of location. This could put a crimp in your wife's plan for a short commute to campus.

The unfortunate reality of having multiple pets is that a lot of property owners don't want renters with them, especially if they'll be kept indoors. I have only one cat, and I found it impossible to find a decent house anywhere central. So I live in an apartment instead.

As for distance to campus ... poll the people who post to C-D, and the definition of a "short commute" will vary greatly. Some people would say that a short commute is a 30 to 45 minute drive. Other, such as myself, would say that a short commute is around 10 minutes. I don't know what type of drive time you and your wife are accustomed to — so therefore, I don't know what a reasonable commute is for her.

[stubbs4prez]

Thank you everyone for your responses. We have a lead on an apartment that is owned by one of the faculty members there at the Butler School of Music. If that does not pan out we are going to start the process of purchasing a home. With 4 pets and a large grand piano coming with us that may be the only option anyways.