Young couple relocating to San Antonio near Lackland AFB (Dallas: apartments, rentals) - City-Data Forum

matp5f · 02-21-2011, 09:55 AM

My boyfriend and I will be relocating to San Antonio from KC in the middle of March. He will be working at the Hyatt Hill Country near Lackland AFB. I was wondering if anyone could give us some advice of some good/safe neighborhoods to live in with less than a 30 minute commute. We are 24-25 year-olds and looking for a rental for under $900. We are open to a house, condo, or apt. Any areas near shopping/restaurants/nightlife would be good. We love to walk our dog so sidewalks and safe neighborhoods are a must. Also any apartment communities with social events would be great! Appreciate any advice on this!!

rd2007 · 02-21-2011, 10:08 AM

The HHC is in Westover Hills, not Lackland. Definitely don't look in the Lackland area if that's where he'll be working. I think a lot of things in SA say they are near Lackland because Lackland is a huge employer in the area, but it's actually about 10 miles away and in a direction that most would consider not the best... Check out anything that says Westover Hills, SeaWorld, Alamo Ranch, far west side, or something like that. There's tons of houses in the area and a lot of apartments are also springing up. If you ask me, the prices for the apartments are crazy high, especially when you consider it is just money down the drain and not an investment like a house is. To each their own, though, so go with what makes you most comfortable; just don't look for housing in the Lackland area, trust me..

majormadmax · 02-21-2011, 11:24 AM

Agreed, I work on Lackland (as does RD) and we both live an easy half-hour commute of the base. You are better off staying about that far away, you'll greatly increase your chances of finding what you are looking for. Also, keep in mind that right now it's a buyers/renters market, so you have the advantage when looking.

Good luck and welcome to SA!

Cheers! M2

rd2007 · 02-21-2011, 11:28 AM

The BF will be working at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort, which is off 151 in Westover Hills. I just wanted to make sure they didn't look in the Lackland area for housing since they would actually increase their commute. There's no shortage of houses and apartments in the Westover Hills area and it is indeed a buyers market. If it is practical for them, now is definitely the time to buy and this is definitely the place to buy it. The buyers market won't last forever and it's not like thousands of others haven't already figured out this is one of the places to move to...

SanAntonianByChoice · 02-21-2011, 11:57 AM

Stone Ranch of Westover Hills if you're looking for an apartment. Its just down the road from Hyatt. Not sure on prices. I'm in general area and I drive by complex daily. It looks nice and is fairly new, 3 to 4 years old I'm guessing? Good Luck!!

scuba steve · 02-21-2011, 01:07 PM

Night life nearby and far west side (151 area) are mutually exclusive, IMO.

matp5f · 02-21-2011, 04:51 PM

Thank you guys! Yes, the bf will be working at the Hyatt Hill Country off 151 - which I guess is actually the "Westover Hills" area??, 10 minutes north of Lackland. Thanks for throwing out all the search terms. That is definitely the difficult part of apartment hunting via the internet when you're using craigslist/google/etc.

ashbeeigh · 02-21-2011, 05:00 PM

Search by zipcode as well. I believe this area is 78251, 78253, 78245 and a tad of 78254. We throw out neighborhoods as if they are towns but they are not incorporated individual areas as they are in other cities like Dallas.

Also, even though older check out

http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-a...index-san.html

rd2007 · 02-21-2011, 05:28 PM

If you've decided to go the apartment route, there's a few that are an easy bicycle ride from the Hyatt HCR. Be careful with zip codes, though. I live in 78253, but that is a huge zip code that consists of most everything west and outside 1604. It would be easiest to find a place and plot it on Google Earth or something like that. Remember that most traffic flows south and inside the loops in the morning and north and outside the loops in the evening. 151 is a nightmare on both of those commutes in thaose directions, but if you live and work right there, it'll have a minimal impact on you. However, even a few miles going either of those directions at the wrong time can take forever. My daughter lives in Alamo Ranch apartments and works at Chase, so her commute should be less than 5 minutes. It's well over 30 minutes if she's working the wrong times..
If you have the option, I'd highly recommend a visit prior to moving.

BTW, I can recommend those apartments and that's as a dad, so you know I'm sincere. I don't want my only daughter living somewhere I don't approve.

Hedgehog_Mom · 02-21-2011, 08:22 PM

Be careful looking for a place to live using Craigslist. Craigslist is useful for some things, but when I used to look for apartment rentals, nothing I found ever worked out. Some were just misleading and some were definitely scams.

Your best bet looking for an apartment is probably to use a local apartment locator. The apartments pay them, so they don't charge you anything. Get a list of possible complexes and then look on apartmentratings.com for reviews (expect to read about high utility bills, that's just San Antonio) and also look on Crimebase - San Antonio Express-News (http://www.mysanantonio.com/crimebase/ - broken link) for police reports for the area. Look up the street and the block...if there are a lot of break-ins or car burglaries in that block, then you don't want to live there.