Moving to San Antonio from southern California (Austin, El Paso: extended stay, apartments)

[sansweet]

I tend to ramble, but I'll try to keep this concise.

I've considered moving to Texas or Tennessee off and on for the past few years. The main reason I haven't yet, is that I don't want to move without a job lined up. I currently work at a casual-dining type place, and there may be an opportunity to transfer to San Antonio by the end of the year. I've taken a quick look at places for rent in the area, and was pleasantly surprised. You can rent a 2br apartment for about the same as you can get a single room in California.

I'm cautious about jumping into a lease, in case things don't turn out after I move, is CL generally the best option to find a basic single room to rent short term? I would need a place that isn't too far of a commute from either the Walzem & 35 intersection, or where the 1604 crosses Culebra. I wouldn't want to spend more than 400-500, is it very difficult to find something like that? I'm super low-key, I'm a guy in my early twenties, I don't smoke, don't have any pets.

How brutal are the summers there? Heat doesn't usually bother me, I've been living in pretty much the best weather in the country, generally 70's-80's in the summer with mild winters. In spite of that, I spend most of my time indoors.

I plan to stay with the company I work for for a while, but would also like to find a basic part-time job so I'm less bored. The job market in California is stiff, even very simple jobs have lots of competition. Is it the same case in San Antonio?

How is T-mobile coverage in San Antonio? I'll switch carriers if I have to, but I'd rather not.

Oh, also, what are the alcohol codes/laws in San Antonio?

Thanks (:

[TXEX06]

In and Out eh?

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by sansweet

I tend to ramble, but I'll try to keep this concise.

I've considered moving to Texas or Tennessee off and on for the past few years. The main reason I haven't yet, is that I don't want to move without a job lined up. I currently work at a casual-dining type place, and there may be an opportunity to transfer to San Antonio by the end of the year. I've taken a quick look at places for rent in the area, and was pleasantly surprised. You can rent a 2br apartment for about the same as you can get a single room in California.

I'm cautious about jumping into a lease, in case things don't turn out after I move, is CL generally the best option to find a basic single room to rent short term? I would need a place that isn't too far of a commute from either the Walzem & 35 intersection, or where the 1604 crosses Culebra. I wouldn't want to spend more than 400-500, is it very difficult to find something like that? I'm super low-key, I'm a guy in my early twenties, I don't smoke, don't have any pets.

How brutal are the summers there? Heat doesn't usually bother me, I've been living in pretty much the best weather in the country, generally 70's-80's in the summer with mild winters. In spite of that, I spend most of my time indoors.

I plan to stay with the company I work for for a while, but would also like to find a basic part-time job so I'm less bored. The job market in California is stiff, even very simple jobs have lots of competition. Is it the same case in San Antonio?

How is T-mobile coverage in San Antonio? I'll switch carriers if I have to, but I'd rather not.

Oh, also, what are the alcohol codes/laws in San Antonio?

Thanks (:

I'm straddling between Los angeles (woodland hills) and SA now. I lived in SA from 2005-12 and in So Cal from 1991-2005. The summer is HOTT (and deeply humid), even at night in SA. I have T-Mobile now and think that it's OK. I've heard some tell me that ATT has better reception, but T-mobile is ok. I don't think that you can find an apartment for $400-500 though. When I left SA in 2012, I was paying almost $800/mo plus exp at my apartment at Huebner & 10. I think that it's gone up even more since then since ppl from other states are flooding our cities. But you would be pleasantly surprised at the costs of gasoline, food, car registration, and just about everything else. You cannot be without AC in Texas though. I'm glad that you're considering SA. Most Calif feel so entitled and think that Austin is the ONLY place for them. PM me if you have any other questions.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

My sister lives in San Diego and comes here to visit every summer. We've noticed that she doesn't tolerate the heat here very well anymore.

You can probably find a small apartment for $500. CL is not the best way to find a rental here, an apartment locator would be the way to go. Or you could try an extended stay motel if you don't want a lease at first. I think some areas around Walzem and 35 would be cheaper than 1604 and Culebra. Your electric bill may be higher because you will run the air conditioning all the time in the summer, probably.

The job market...I think it's easier here to get a job than it is in southern CA...my sister's boyfriend looked for a job in San Diego for nearly a year before he got hired part-time at Panera (where he gets about 4 hours a week). This was hard for us to imagine because in San Antonio you can always find some sort of job, maybe not the best job in the world but something to put a roof over your head while you look for something better.

You probably need a vehicle here, even if you don't have one where you live now. San Antonio is pretty spread out and in the summers it's so hot that if you walk or bike to work, you get there a sweaty mess.

T-Mobile is okay here, I get lots of dropped calls and my husband has to climb on the roof at work to get a signal sometimes. I told T-Mobile that and they sent a signal booster for the house (which does zero good for hubby's phone issues at work). But the coverage is not horrible. My sister has noticed that sometimes on the drive from San Diego to San Antonio there is no coverage at all...her car broke down a couple hours outside El Paso and she couldn't use her phone at all. But that would only be a concern during the trip here.

Alcohol laws here...you have to be 21 to drink but I think that's the same everywhere. The grocery stores and convenience stores sell beer and wine, but not liquor. Liquor stores are closed on Sunday. The other stores can't sell beer or wine until noon on Sundays.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by Hedgehog_Mom

My sister lives in San Diego and comes here to visit every summer. We've noticed that she doesn't tolerate the heat here very well anymore.

You can probably find a small apartment for $500. CL is not the best way to find a rental here, an apartment locator would be the way to go. Or you could try an extended stay motel if you don't want a lease at first. I think some areas around Walzem and 35 would be cheaper than 1604 and Culebra. Your electric bill may be higher because you will run the air conditioning all the time in the summer, probably.

The job market...I think it's easier here to get a job than it is in southern CA...my sister's boyfriend looked for a job in San Diego for nearly a year before he got hired part-time at Panera (where he gets about 4 hours a week). This was hard for us to imagine because in San Antonio you can always find some sort of job, maybe not the best job in the world but something to put a roof over your head while you look for something better.

You probably need a vehicle here, even if you don't have one where you live now. San Antonio is pretty spread out and in the summers it's so hot that if you walk or bike to work, you get there a sweaty mess.

T-Mobile is okay here, I get lots of dropped calls and my husband has to climb on the roof at work to get a signal sometimes. I told T-Mobile that and they sent a signal booster for the house (which does zero good for hubby's phone issues at work). But the coverage is not horrible. My sister has noticed that sometimes on the drive from San Diego to San Antonio there is no coverage at all...her car broke down a couple hours outside El Paso and she couldn't use her phone at all. But that would only be a concern during the trip here.

Alcohol laws here...you have to be 21 to drink but I think that's the same everywhere. The grocery stores and convenience stores sell beer and wine, but not liquor. Liquor stores are closed on Sunday. The other stores can't sell beer or wine until noon on Sundays.

funny that you mentioned about the lack of service while driving on the 10 to and from San Diego. When I drove from SA to LA, I had no service from Kerrville to El Paso, although I had Simple Mobile at the time (a T-mobile knockoff).

[ashbeeigh]

$400-$500 without a roommate is rough. I am paying $519 with a student discount right now in between both of those locations. The Walzem area will be cheaper but probably not the safest. The Culebra area is newer and you will probably have to live closer to 410 to be within a reasonable budget. The apartments in that Alamo Ranch area start closer to $700 for a studio apartment. Oh gosh. There was one more thing I was going to say but I forgot. Oh. yes. Look at forrent.com for apartments in the appropriate zipcodes. For the Culebra area look at 78245, 78251, 78254 and 78238. For the Walzem area I would say 78239 and 78218. Maybe 78217.

I think the rest of your questions have been answered pretty well.

[RJMorris82]

Me and my wife are born and raised California, I'm from Long Beach, wife is from Covina and we moved here 7 years ago, at 24 and 22 in age respectively. The decision was the best decision we ever made, and as much as we love southern california, we have found it is much more enjoyable a place to visit than to live.

The job market out here is great if you are looking for restaurant and retail work, just about everyone is always hiring and Now Hiring signs are everywhere. Your price point of $500 a month for room and board isn't unreasonable as it sounds like you are looking to just rent out a room from someone's house. I believe you could probably find that. I still see plenty of places for rent around the $500 range, but you will definitely be more in an area similar to Santa Ana, not bad, but not good either.

Cost of living here is ridiculously cheaper compared to SoCal as well. From groceries, gas, no state income tax, and utilities I instantly got about a 15% to 20% raise and didn't make any extra money.

Now onto the summers, people complain a lot about the summers here, but I still prefer the summers here to the summers in the Valley in Socal. Typical summers are upper 90's barely cracking triple digits, but what gets you is the humidity, it hovers between 50 and 60% here during the summers. Basically you learn to take 2 showers a day. On the plus side the air quality even when they say is a bad day would be considered great in California, I remember how bad the smog was during the summer there. The summer's here are basically from mid-June into Mid-September, but the other 9 months out of the year, the weather is pretty comparable to the weather you are used to now, fall is generally mid 70's, winter is generally in the low 60's (with a 2 week true winter with day time highs in the 30's and 40's), spring is upper 70's to upper 80's.

Another thing to know is that if you haven't visited San Antonio before it has a lot of green vegetation, and I mean a lot, movies always portray San Antonio as desert, but it is nothing like that. People are much nicer here than anywhere I have ever been in California as well. I can keep going and going, but if you'd like to know more send me a message.

[unintentionallyfunny]

Wehotex hasn't been in SA this summer.

This summer has been fantastic. Not overly hot or humid with a good breeze and nights have been amazing. Someone nights have even been very cool.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by unintentionallyfunny

Wehotex hasn't been in SA this summer.

This summer has been fantastic. Not overly hot or humid with a good breeze and nights have been amazing. Someone nights have even been very cool.

Yeah you're right. I'm coming back on JUly 30.

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by unintentionallyfunny

Wehotex hasn't been in SA this summer.

This summer has been fantastic. Not overly hot or humid with a good breeze and nights have been amazing. Someone nights have even been very cool.

Are you sure you are in San Antonio yourself?