couple questions about Austin, moving from GA (Athens, Atlanta: apartments, rental)

[mactown]

Hey there,

I'm considering a move to Austin soon, maybe as soon as May, or late as September.

I do have a couple of questions though if I may, main one being, how's the summertime heat there compared to say Georgia, I'm in central GA right now and it's one of the reasons I am actually moving. Our temps range in the mid 90's up to about 105 here during say June/July, but it is very very humid.

I have only visited Texas in the winter and it was only for about a week, but I have always been told that the heat there was more of a dry heat compared to here. Been reading up on it as of late and seeing contradicting stories of that....may sound like a dumb question but hey, if you don't know, ask!
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As for the second question, I would like to rent an apartment in NW Austin. Now the thing is I've never rented before, I moved into a house my grandfather left me in his will @ the age of 18 along with a hefty amount of money, I also worked for an ISP for about 6 years with a good salary, but however I haven't worked at all in over a year, I'm currently just living off my savings and investments.

The point I'm trying to get at is, money isn't really an issue, I could just flat out buy a small house in Austin, but I would really prefer to just rent a nice apartment so I retain the option of saying 'I don't like it here' and moving back.

The issue however is, when I was young I more or less ruined my credit rating with those CC company's that charges those outrageous rates, and just never did pay them (i know dumb move), but needless to say my credit rating stinks. What I'm wondering is if anyone knows what I could do to get a nice apartment, like for instance maybe pay the entire lease up front, do they do that?

Anyway, don't want to make a big wall of text, and advice would be appreciated.

[Danbo1957]

Summer weather in Austin is hotter and more humid than Central Georgia. We do not even have the three seasons that you have either.

This is Austin, we rent to anybody who has a job or who goes to school - NW Austin apartments too.

[Trainwreck20]

Oh, no way is it more humid than central GA, at least no in my experience. I spent most of a year in Albany, GA, some years ago, and it was way more humid than Austin. At least in that year.

[Jennibc]

I think people have different perspectives on humidity. One of my sisters used to live in Memphis and we went to visit her a few times and we thought it was pretty humid there. We initially moved here from the NE and found Austin to be dry, but when a different sister, who lived in the desert, came for a visit, she complained about the humidity here. So when you read about the humidity here, it is probably from people who have moved from drier climates.

[10scoachrick]

A little of our experience...moving from Atlanta last June.

It was 97 degrees with 40mph winds the day we moved in. It got no cooler until late September. There was noticeable humidity in the air perhaps 3 days all summer...no dew on the grass...everything was crispy-even first thing in the morning. Central GA(Macon?) has the heat and humidity(not every day)...tougher on the body BUT there was no reprieve here last summer. We're told that it was exceptionally, consistently hot--and it was--3rd hottest/driest summer on record, according to some.

Now, if we get a normal summer, think of August in Central GA, subtract the high humidity, and spread it over 4 months...there ya go.

[AustinExPat]

Here's how the heat/humidity trade-off has worked in my case. I walk and carry my clubs when I play golf, so that's basically a 4-hour hike with a substantial backpack. I find that playing golf in Athens, GA, in summer when it's 87 degrees is MUCH more taxing due to the humidity than playing in Austin in summer when it's 97 degrees. I take it central GA at least as humid as Athens.

[txgolfer130]

Austin is hot as all get out. And while Austin does have humidity, it is not like C. GA. It get's hot...and I do mean hot. And the humidity on the especially hot/humid days can rank right up there with even coastal GA (ex. 98*/90* humidity) but it's not like that every day. Late Jul Aug/early Sep are the really hot months.

[ILikeSmartHippies]

Before moving to austin I was concerned about getting an apt. because of income history. I'm living off savings as well, havent worked for a while, although I have perfect credit. In CA, this would make it tough to find a good place because "no income, no rental". However, in austin, I mentioned this to all the apartment managers, and no one had a problem with it - they all said the policy (which differs a bit between management companies) is that you must have verifiable proof of 2x or 2.5x amount of savings as the TOTAL apt lease amount. i.e. rental lease 12 mos. at $1K per mo. is $12K, so must have about $25K in savings, and the way to prove this is just to bring in a bank statement. I was also still a bit concerned because no way would I have $25K in cash.. all my money is in investment accounts (esp. now, with the market down, I am fully invested) though that money is relativesy liquid. Anyway, I printed out a balance sheet, circled the big numbers, and got a lease no problem.

In fact for the less scrupulous, it would be EASY to fake such proof... just take a bank statement, digitally modify the numbers, print it out...

these apts. didnt even require a deposit or last mos. rent. I'm still in shock. My last place in CA required $3300 security deposit which included last mos rent, plus full 1st mos. rent the first day, and that was typical. Here, they wanted $50 total, refundable, in case I moved out without paying a water bill or something. Wow.

Moral of the story is that if you've got the cash, a "luxury" apt is easy to get into. Most lease terms are 12 mos. but I talked around enough to find a 6 mo. at the same price. Which is good since I also want the option of going to a different neighborhood or etc. BTW, unlike CA (and I dunna about GA), after the lease expires here, the rental company makes it very painful to remain without signing a new lease, by increasing the rent includes a sucharge of $250/mo immediately, plus rental increases. This is unheard of in CA (to my knowledge), where if your lease runs out, the rental becomes month-to-month payable/negotiable, i.e. rent can increase though rarely does (and if it does it's maybe 4%), and there are no penalties... however, in TX, it seems like they want to massively-financially-encourage everyone to maintain a lease - re-signing immediately if necessary.

[Exiled Texan]

Off topic, why are you out of work for so long? I've known many trust fund kids who blow through their money. Sounds like that is what you are doing. Can you try and re-train yourself? Get more school? If you stay out of work for too long, any potential employer is going to worry about your work ethic. Saying, "Ehhhh, I didn't worry about it b/c I had money." is not going to fly in an interview.

Focus on finding and doing something that amounts to a sustainable career......or if you think that you have that, do something resume worthy right now. Go join the peace corp or something.

GL.