Why I Can't Wait to Leave Austin (Houston, Dallas: apartment complex, lease)

[sal98]

Thanks for the support, guys. We did move here for SO's career, so that's the reason I was out of work upon arriving. TO be more specific - I work in the museum field. Which of course, all (most) of the museums in Texas are in Dallas or Houston, because that's where the $$$ in the state is. Our plan is to be out of here once his contract is up in the fall. I've considered changing fields and have applied for numerous jobs in other fields, but no dice.

[Spacepup]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Undoubtedly there will be a time in the future where housing is not so tight. We have cycles like most places, though not as extreme as California. Maybe if the national economy were better - people wouldn't be trying so much to move here.

I think this is very much the case. The situation isn't so much that Austin is the best job market ever than it is that the rest of the country is hurting worse. Austin's job market may be holding low unemployment but salaries have not risen (or even tracked the cost of living) like you would expect them to if employers were having had a hard time filling positions. The same is true with rentals: it is very much a market where the owners can just say "take it or leave it, because I've got ten other approved applications waiting."

[sxrckr]

Heard this story before.
Being that Austin is rather lacking in museums and the related cultural arts, I think you may be in the wrong place. In Texas, it's Houston or Dallas-Fort Worth for that. Houston's Museum District is known statewide.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Spacepup

Austin's job market may be holding low unemployment but salaries have not risen (or even tracked the cost of living) like you would expect them to if employers were having had a hard time filling positions.

The problem with salaries here is the unrelenting oversupply. Just like the OP, a large number of the arrivals here do so with no job - and become the hundreds of resumes for every job, especially those without hard skill requirements. My niece arrived here, and had an offer from her first interview when she came out of her second - but she's a nurse anesthetist. Arrive here with a BA in art history, and consider yourself lucky to get on at Magnolia Cafe.

If you are an employer here, and you have twenty five apps for every job, why would your ever raise salaries?

[ScoPro]

"Cultural Arts"? Good lord, that field has been absolutely flooded here for decades. It would be easier to get an English or history teaching job in AISD.

Austin is overrun with "artists" of all stripes.

Sorry it didn't work out for the OP, but more thorough research should be done before making a move without a job in hand.

Seems like everybody outside the state is still lured by the Seven Cities of Cibola myth.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by sal98

Housing is awful...we are a young professional couple who honestly just want to rent a small house in a nice neighborhood, but that is near impossible. You basically have to find a realtor, be able to leave work at the drop of a hat whenever a new rental becomes available, pay $50-75 just to APPLY to live there - and there is no guarantee that you'll even get the place. We are looking for a place now and have already spent $400 on application fees alone.

Feel free to criticize or harangue me (after all, this is the internet!), but after narrowly missing out on the 7th house we looked at today and getting a rejection call from yet another application/interview, I'm feeling seriously over this city.

Everything you have described is a result of the tight housing market here, that was created by the earlier economic recession. Financing for new housing dried up and housing construction ground to a standstill, while thousands of new people continued to move to Austin because jobs were available here. Housing and apartment construction has started back up now and there will be lots more available in the near future. But there are still not going to be a lot of older rent houses available, they will remain in short supply for some time I expect.

I don't understand the $50-$75 application fees though, that seems excessive. It cost me only $29.45 to check a tenant's qualifications, credit and criminal history, which was a comprehensive "premium" screening last year. http://www.rentecdirect.com/details/..._screening.php

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Everything you have described is a result of the tight housing market here, that was created by the earlier economic recession. Financing for new housing dried up and housing construction ground to a standstill, while thousands of new people continued to move to Austin because jobs were available here. Housing and apartment construction has started back up now and there will be lots more available in the near future. But there are still not going to be a lot of older rent houses available, they will remain in short supply for some time I expect.

I don't understand the $50-$75 application fees though, that seems excessive. It cost me only $29.45 to check a tenant's qualifications, credit and criminal history, which was a comprehensive "premium" screening last year. Tenant Screening and Tenant Credit Check | Instant Credit, Criminal, Evictions

I don't think $50 - 75 is unusual when a landlord is checking more than one person on the application though. I think a lot of prospective tenants really don't understand there are hard costs involved in the application process.

I also think some of it may be people who are using agents who build in some fees for that process and others who are using a higher price to create a financial or psychological barrier to discourage those who might not be qualified or be serious from even applying.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by sal98

Thanks for the support, guys. We did move here for SO's career, so that's the reason I was out of work upon arriving. TO be more specific - I work in the museum field. Which of course, all (most) of the museums in Texas are in Dallas or Houston, because that's where the $$$ in the state is. Our plan is to be out of here once his contract is up in the fall. I've considered changing fields and have applied for numerous jobs in other fields, but no dice.

If you're planning on moving this fall, why are you applying to lease houses now?

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by A-Tex

I don't think $50 - 75 is unusual when a landlord is checking more than one person on the application though. I think a lot of prospective tenants really don't understand there are hard costs involved in the application process.

I also think some of it may be people who are using agents who build in some fees for that process and others who are using a higher price to create a financial or psychological barrier to discourage those who might not be qualified or be serious from even applying.

You are right, I was only checking one person, checking two would be more like $60, so that is not all that unreasonable. Even with that it essentially means I'm getting nothing for my labor to perform the checks, call references, etc. It usually is several hours of work.

[radiolibre99]

Can you at least find A job in Austin? Nothing career related but a kick back job at ten bucks an hour to get by while you're finishing school?