Please help with apartment guide around Texas medical center (Houston: apartment complexes, leases)

[linsan]

Hi guys! I will be moving from Fort Worth to Houston to attend Houston dental school in July and need suggestions on where to live. I am 23 female looking for a good, **safe** apartment where I can go home at night and not have to worry and to live by myself for four years. I would like to live close to medical center so i don't have to commute far from home to school. I've been looking online at various apartments around the Texas medical center and very scared after the ratings about breaking in and burglary I guess since I have to live by myself and so I am scared now, therefore, please give me some recommendation and also what do you guys think about these apartments?: Lanesborough Apt, Greenbriar Apt, Maroneal Apt, Kirby Place Apt, Brompton Courts Apt, and Braeswood Park Condominium(u can rent from a condo right?)? At first I was only gonna spend about $600-750 on a 1 bedroom/1bath, but I am willing to pay up to $850 for my safety Thanks in advance!

Lin

[Beto]

AMLI at the Medical Center or Lanesborough Apt would be ideal.

[tstone]

I'd live in Midtown and ride the rail down to TMC. Just do an advanced search on my previous posts about my experiences living in TMC. While nice on the surface, it was home to a lot of crap and riff raff I would've rather not dealt with. After spending 800/mo on a 1/1 apartment. Your mileage may vary, though.

[houstoner]

There are quite a few nicer apartment complexes around the Med Center, but I'd look for a garage apartment, duplex, or 4-plex, or smaller complex around the Museum District, Rice Village/West U, or Lower Shepherd-Kirby, like this GreatLandlords.com. Consult craigslist, Houston Press, har.com, thegreensheet.com, and greatlandlords.com for residential leases or check other threads around here. You could actually live any number of places within the west side of the loop and still be relatively close to the Med Center. Since you're going to UT (I take it?), I'm sure they will have suggestions for you. Did they just throw an apartment guide at you and send you on your way?

tstone, you had a bad experience at a complex closer to the Astrodome or around there, right? That's always been a dead zone. There are a couple nice-ish complexes over there now. It would probably be more useful to tell at which complex (Scotland Yard?) you had the bad experience.

[karuna95]

Take a look at Cambridge Apts. It's about 1.5 mi. from Med Ctr., and is gated, with a security guard. I know someone who lives there, and she is pretty satisfied with security. Also, on Knight Road, just south of Old Spanish Trail, there's a large, newly built, gated apt. complex for students I think, next to the Recreation Center and the UT police station.
It's always good to pay attention to your environment, no matter where you live. Don't walk around with headphones on, music blaring... You may want to consider chatting with a UT police officer, and asking his/her opinion re: safety and nearby apts. The ones I've met are all very nice and helpful.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by houstoner

tstone, you had a bad experience at a complex closer to the Astrodome or around there, right? That's always been a dead zone. There are a couple nice-ish complexes over there now. It would probably be more useful to tell at which complex (Scotland Yard?) you had the bad experience.

It was Archstone Medical Center, which sat nestled in the streets Knight, Holly Hall and Fannin.

Archstone Medical Center in Houston at ArchstoneApartments.com -- go through the photos... doesn't look too bad, huh? It was a good day when the security gates actually worked, though.

My cousin lives closer to Hermann Park/museum area and there was a rash of home/apartment invasions a few months ago. Luckily her loft didn't get hit but some of her neighbors and one of her friends adjacent to her complex did. It was all over the news for awhile.

You have to also remember living in TMC you will be living around many deathly ill patients. There's nothing wrong with it by itself, but it's depressing and draining on the psyche after awhile.

I forgot about the Rice area. That's quite nice. Closer than Midtown, too. Looking back we definitely shoulda lived there.

[houstoner]

^^Yeah, I've never liked Holly Hall and that area. Gets choked with traffic when there are events at Reliant, too.

What do you mean? Are you referring to patients in the apartments or the hospitals? I've known of people flying in and out of Houston for treatments at the Med Center, but I guess I never thought about them staying in apartments.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by houstoner

^^Yeah, I've never liked Holly Hall and that area. Gets choked with traffic when there are events at Reliant, too.

What do you mean? Are you referring to patients in the apartments or the hospitals? I've known of people flying in and out of Houston for treatments at the Med Center, but I guess I never thought about them staying in apartments.

Yeah, the rodeo traffic was horrible. Nothing like sitting on your balcony at night, breathing diesel fumes from all the buses lined up on the street. And when that was over with, just too much riff raff and homeless people were lurking around the area after about 11pm. You could find people hooking at that gas station on Holly Hall/Knight. I used to work weird hours and was a night owl sometimes, so I got to see what was really going on.

And yes, some patients would sign leases in apartments in the area if they were on long-term treatments. Usually the type that were necessary every day but didn't require hospital rooms. The complex had all kinds of lease terms available when I was there. Sad stuff, indeed. Even pre-K aged kids.

[linsan]

Originally Posted by tstone

I'd live in Midtown and ride the rail down to TMC. Just do an advanced search on my previous posts about my experiences living in TMC. While nice on the surface, it was home to a lot of crap and riff raff I would've rather not dealt with. After spending 800/mo on a 1/1 apartment. Your mileage may vary, though.

Can I ask you how much you pay a month for an apartment in Midtown? I was checking the area out online and looked at some apartments, it seem like it's going to cost me about a 1000 a month for a bedroom(?) I don't know if I can really afford that tho..

[tstone]

I meant if I were you I'd look there instead. Also, the Rice U area.

$1,000 a month for either area is maybe upper-middle end, but not unreasonable.