Where to rent in Dallas-access to Arlington (Houston, Austin: apartment, rentals)

[hello73]

Hello all, I hope you can help!

I am going to be relocating to Dallas in the next month or so. My criteria are as follows:

1. I will be renting an apartment, can afford 800-1000 per month, less would be great.
2. No kids, so don't care about school districts.
3. Will be commuting to Austin pretty frequently on the weekends as my husband is in law school there. He will also visit me.
4. Will be commuting to downtown for work daily, around corner of S Houston and Commerce St.
5. Safety is my absolute number one concern. I am willing to live in a tiny closet of an apartment if it is in a safer area.
6. My second concern is commute times.
7. I will only be working in Dallas for a year and a half. Most likely after that commitment is up, I will try and find work in the Austin area while my husband finishes law school. I say this because at the moment I am not terribly concerned with the ambiance and character of the neighborhood since I don't currently plan on living there permanently. I just want it to be safe and quiet.
8. I will be going to Arlington once a week or so, in evenings or on weekends.

Obvious choices I guess are Irving, and Grand Prairie. I'm also open to living south of downtown also. Looking for tips on commute times. Would prefer to live closer to downtown than Arlington itself. Thanks for your help!

[hamiltonpl]

Uptown, Downtown, and the Cedars (area south of downtown) all have rentals in that price range. Get an apartment locater. They're free and really helped me find a place.

Uptown would probably be your safest bet.

[Lakewooder]

Good suggestions - the Cedars is also sometimes called Southside/Lamar -- great place to go is Lee Harvey's - 214-428-1555 sort of an Austin-like dive. I also like ~:: Absinthe Lounge ::~. The main police station is right there so you can't get much safer - also DART rail is there.

I was originally going to suggest North Oak Cliff but I don't know too much about rentals there. You would probably want to stay well north of Jefferson Blvd. It would be an easy hop onto I35 to Austin and I-30 or even I-20 to Arlington.

If a few more minutes to Arlington aren't a deal breaker I suggest you also explore Knox-Henderson, Greenville Ave, East Dallas, M-Streets, Mockingbird Station and Lakewood.

I really think there are a lot of options right in Downtown - if I weren't tethered I would be exploring them myself.