Moving To San Antonio in 30 days (Spring, Canyon: apartment complex, for rent, low crime)

[dreafromestl]

Hello I will be moving to San Antonio to work for USAA within a month. I am looking for a affordable place to rent a 3 bedroom apartment/home and great schools. My starting pay is $34000 and I am stump on finding decent places. Can anybody recommend decent area with low crimes and great schools? I would really appreciate it.

[Pancho-Villa]

Funny we never hear "I want crap schools and high crime"

[pobre]

You'll probably want an apartment locator or Realtor. You'll also need to to decide your monthly budget.

[bspray]

You might want to look in areas around Leon Valley. There are some older homes over there that might fit your budget, although, $34k a year is not going to go very far. While there are 3 bedroom apartments out there, I don't think you will find many and, for what they are going to cost you, it would probably be better to look for a home or duplex to rent.

Good luck with your search.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by dreafromestl

Hello I will be moving to San Antonio to work for USAA within a month. I am looking for a affordable place to rent a 3 bedroom apartment/home and great schools. My starting pay is $34000 and I am stump on finding decent places. Can anybody recommend decent area with low crimes and great schools? I would really appreciate it.

Check out the apartment complexes near USAA. Some of them probably offer discounts based on your employer. Those would be in the Northside ISD which overall are pretty decent schools. Good luck! ( I personally would avoid anything in the Datapoint area but I have been called a racist snob for that, and I still don't care.)

[Deep Forest]

See if this helps you any:

Apartments for Rent - Nationwide Apartment Finder | Apartments.com

[ashbeeigh]

What exactly is your budget? In the medical center area 3 bedrooms apartments are about $1200 a month. And $1200 is about a paycheck for a $34k salary.

[Penquin927]

I also work for USAA and I love it there. Been there for 11 years this summer. OK back to your question.

When my husband and I rented we were in the Canyon Springs area which is just behind Stone Oak. We then bought a home in this area. We love the area still to this day. They have built a lot of apartments in the area since then. I don't know the price of the apartments (sorry I can't help there) but the area is great and the schools are great. Either NEISD or Comal. Not sure if any of the apartment complexes are in Comal ISD. The commute to work for me is 19 miles which isn't that bad to me. I came from the MD/DC area so really it isn't bad at all.

I am sure that if an apartment complex needs to rent a place and you can get a deal somewhere else you can do some dealing with letting them know that so so complex will give you this type of discount because you work at _____. My husband and I got a military discount. Definitely try every card you have to get the best discount.

Good luck on your move.

[Chaka]

Doesn't USAA offer a reloc service? Or is that just for upper level positions?

FWIW - that was my salary when I came to SA in 2001 and I rented a studio apt in the med center for $600 because that's all I could afford. I later found a two bedroom house in Lavaca (before it got hip and expensive) for $750, but even 2 bedroom apartments in nicer complexes in the med center (not luxury, just "clean and safe") were out of my reach then. The med center, where USAA is located, has a wide range of options, but I think a 3 bedroom on that salary will be stretching it.

If you're not missing a zero on that figure, you're going to be looking at about $800 per month for rent or less. It is *possible* to get a 3 bedroom place for that but it's not going to be in the type of area you desire ("great schools"), it'll be on the south or west side. Maybe someone can come up with a 3 bedroom for that price but it's not going to be easy.

You're not far off the median salary for this city so it's doable, but if you require three bedrooms, you're going to have to sacrifice in a lot of other areas. We live now in a 2 bedroom, 1600 SF house (2 kids + 2 parents) in a great neighborhood that we love, but it's an old house needing loads of work and we could not have paid the mortgage, low as it was then before taxes hit us hard, on $34K.

btw - on "great schools" - all is relative. Each campus has its pros and cons, and while the district may have issues, the campus or individual teachers may be great, so it's worth looking at the individual school before you base your decision entirely on that.