Apartment Advice -- Close in Proximity (Austin, Spring: apartment complex, for rent, high crime)

[AutumnFOG]

Hey folks,

My fiance and I will be moving to the Austin area in June. We are looking for a good apartment complex to move into. We would like to live in a relatively quiet (not library quiet, but not party central) area of Austin that would put us close proximity to shopping, dining and museums. We love the warm weather and would also like to take advantage of hiking and outdoor activity opportunities that your lovely climate provides!

We don't need to be all that close to bars and would prefer to stay away from the heaviest college resident neighborhoods (again -- prefer something quiet). We will be moving there without jobs (I know, we're crazy) so specific locations are not necessary. We would enjoy being within reasonable distance to the downtown. Living within view of the skyline would be a significant plus but is not absolutely necessary.

We have about $12,000 to start with on the day of the move, and will have about $16,000 to work with total. Ideally, we'd like to pay no more than $850 per month in rent, though we'd prefer if that number could be kept lower (In the 700 range would be great).

Ideally, we are looking for a spacious one bedroom apartment or affordable two bedroom to start out. We would probably prefer a nice one bedroom apartment over a sub-par two bedroom for our price range. I was curious if anyone had suggestions as to specific neighborhoods/areas to look into that would provide us with the right kind of location for what we're looking for in terms of location, or maybe even specific apartment complexes.

Thanks in advance,
A FUTURE NEIGHBOR!

[thesonofgray]

Arboretum?

I'd imagine anywhere except downtown, South Congress, and West Campus would be relatively quiet. But that, of course, depends on your immediate neighbors. As for price, a "nice" one bedroom will easily cost you $850/mo, so I'd tamper expectations if you want to be in the $700 range. But nice is a subjective term. Nice to me = good location (either view or park/nature/shopping access), modern kitchen, W/D, garage, garden tub, large balcony, good amenities, etc. But I pay $900/mo for only some of that in a 1 bedroom.

That sort of budget only gives you a few months to look for a job, and I know some what have gone 6+ months without finding anything significant (i.e. not part-time retail), so I hope you work in a high demand profession!

Wow, sorry to be filled with such good news. But I wish you the best of luck!

[AutumnFOG]

Nice *is* a subjective term. And we don't work in high demand professions. We're rolling the dice. So it goes.

We don't need a garden tub, garage, large balcony. Good amenities would again, depend on your definition. We'd mostly like to be reasonably located to good hiking/outdoors access.

I'm a bit confused as to the $900, though. We're not looking to live directly in the city. We just want to be able to, you know, see it. Or part of it. Or get to it...sometimes. In fact, quite the opposite. I haven't seen a one bedroom yet that would cost that much unless I am looking to live, you know, on South Congress or something, as you said. I would suspect that spending $16,000 in around six months would take a little bit of effort on our part, but to each their own -- there have been times, too, when I could go through that amount in a few weeks. (Too, people seem to think that not having jobs mean that we will gleefully be sitting on our butts for the duration. We'd get jobs doing something before we'd sit around doing nothing waiting for career opportunity to fall into our laps.)

But if that is the case, we'd just assume temper our needs and live farther out from town rather than try to scrap moving all together. We do like some of the AMLI properties, most of which that would be reasonably priced and are farther out. Arboretum? I'll take a look.

[thesonofgray]

Originally Posted by AutumnFOG

Nice *is* a subjective term. And we don't work in high demand professions. We're rolling the dice. So it goes.

We don't need a garden tub, garage, large balcony. Good amenities would again, depend on your definition. We'd mostly like to be reasonably located to good hiking/outdoors access.

I'm a bit confused as to the $900, though. We're not looking to live directly in the city. We just want to be able to, you know, see it. Or part of it. Or get to it...sometimes. In fact, quite the opposite. I haven't seen a one bedroom yet that would cost that much unless I am looking to live, you know, on South Congress or something, as you said. I would suspect that spending $16,000 in around six months would take a little bit of effort on our part, but to each their own -- there have been times, too, when I could go through that amount in a few weeks.

But if that is the case, we'd just assume temper our needs and live farther out from town rather than try to scrap moving all together. We do like some of the AMLI properties, most of which that would be reasonably priced and are farther out. Arboretum? I'll take a look.

Well I guess I'm just expensive.

As for the $900, my 'backyard' is the Bull Creek nature preserve and I get a number of those "nice" things, so I think it's worth it (especially the garage, gawd I love the garage).

What do you mean by good hiking/outdoor access? If you mean walk out your door and a park is next door, then $800+ is reasonable. But if you mean a 10 minute drive, then $700 will get you plenty. I don't know much about south Austin (but others will surely chime in), but in north Austin, anywhere around the Mopac/183 intersection will be within 10 minutes of downtown and Zilker in no-rush hour conditions, and a similar or even shorter drive to the various parks, trails, and natural features of west Austin. Go further north on 183 or Mopac and you get cheaper in price, but further from the action in central Austin.

Apartments located central (roughly bound by 183, Town Lake, 360, and I-35) that are cheap are typically also old and small with few amenities - and probably have students. There are a ton of apartments around the Far West/Spicewood Springs/Steck/Hart Lane area just west of Mopac, but those are major hit-or-miss. Some are old and outdated, catering to students who either don't know better or don't really care. But some are decent in quality and price. And there isn't really anything within walking distance except a little bit of retail, but it's a short drive to parks and such.

Anyways, I'll stop rambling. Hopefully that helps a little. Don't be afraid to use an apartment finder service - I've heard good things and they're typically free for the apartment seekers.

[AutumnFOG]

Thanks for the advice. A 10 minute drive to hiking/outdoor access would be great. I'll take a look at some places in the areas you've suggested.

$900 isn't that expensive. But we understand the risks of possibly working two entry level jobs and paying for an apartment, so we would rather get down there, live in a relatively nice and reasonably priced place for a year, then transition when we're comfortable with money. We certainly understand the risks, but there is no place in the planet where we can say "We're moving without jobs in our careers and plan to do nothing!" and people wouldn't say it's a foolhardy maneuver. Of course we'll do *something*. It'd be nice if we got administrative class jobs straight away. But that won't happen. We may end up doing data entry for $8 an hour a million miles away just to get by. But if that's what she takes at first, that's what she takes.

Thanks for the advice. The Austin forums are one of the most active forums for locations on this site and I've really enjoyed looking through all the threads and all the wealth of information everyone is willing to provide. I'll be posting specific apartment complexes in my thread here as I find them and hope to hear some reviews of neighborhoods and locations when possible. It's great to see that you guys are willing to help.

[orbius]

Keep in mind theres basically no building codes in Austin so interior connecting walls range from 'can hear nothing but deep bass' to 'can hear every word the person on the other side of the wall is saying'.
Also consider things like where the air conditioners are located, parking lot noise, how noise travels from units above you, etc, etc, etc.
Usually the older the complex the better built it is. Some of the newer 'snazzier' complexes are basically uninhabitable because of thin walls.

[AutumnFOG]

Thanks for the advice, orbius.

What do we know about the Travis Station Apartments? I've seen a lot of good reviews on the internet. Some bad ones. The incredibly low price scares me.

Apartments for rent in Austin, TX - Travis Station, managed by Mid-America Apartment Communities
6600 Ed Bluestein Blvd.

And what do we know about The Villas on Sixth? They look like they'd be a bit pricier (maybe near the top of our range)? Again, mostly good reviews.

http://www.villasonsixth.com/index.html
2011 East 6th Street

[thedogatemyhomework]

Marquis at Treetops and Marquis at Castle Rock are nice and probably within your budget. Easy access to Mopac, 360 and 183. They are in the Arboretum/Great Hills/Northwest Hills area which are quiet, fairly close to downtown and filled with amenities.

You might be able to find more closer to town, but in my experience you do end up in danger of student-y areas. Nothing against students, of course

[AGA]

There are several nice complexes in the S.W area that give good easy access to downtown/zilker etc.... search 78749,78748,78745 ish areas

[AutumnFOG]

Thanks guys, I'll check these locations out.

Are there any neighborhoods in Austin that we should absolutely avoid (student super zones, high crime areas, built on quick sand? :P)