From San Marcos to Tyler...? (Dallas, Austin: sales, apartment complexes, rentals)

[Savail]

I am supposedly getting an internship this summer in Tyler and if all goes well will end up living there after I graduate next year. As much as I'd love to stay where I am now, between my age and the economy, I'd be a fool to pass up a nice job offer from a company who has helped me out so much over the last few years.

I'm looking for basic general information about Tyler, as well as specifics regarding apartments in the area [fully aware of ApartmentRatings.com, but sorting through the legit ratings is more trouble than it's worth]. I'd be working at the general offices of BGC [1600 SW Loop 323] and would prefer something that won't make a lengthy commute or with lots of traffic [at the moment, part of my reasoning for working in a smaller town is so I am driving against the traffic].

Obviously, I'm young. Hell, I won't even be old enough to drink when/if this final move post-graduation goes down. Being female and having bad knees that only stand to deteriorate from here on out, I would very much appreciate information on which areas of town to avoid [every town has them], especially since I am a very light sleeper [railroads are evil] and will most likely be living alone.

I already know the social norms, I'm afraid, having lived in what was perhaps the most scarily accurate representation of your stereotypical rural southern town. But as I'm more of a work/home-body and am aiming for another apartment, I can't foresee this as being too big of a problem [especially with friends in Dallas/Arlington only a few hours away].

Also, if anything I say offends, please let me know and I will reword it as best I can--or, at the very least, attempt to convey what I initially meant. I am tired, and as I mentioned, not very good at sleeping.

Oh, and I'd also appreciate any information about a good place to stay over the summer should I get my internship...Renting with a family would be ideal, as I tend to do well with kids [well, kids whose parents actually parent ] and don't mind playing chaffeur/babysitter as long as it doesn't interfere with work. I...really tend to get along better with people older than me. People my age usually end up scaring me.

[destin04]

I would suggest you look up the previous threads on Tyler. This is give you a good overall view of the city. Read them and then ask all the questions you would like! Tyler is a great place to live.

[Mark Senior]

Yes, just go to the top of this page and click on city-data forum and go to texas click on it and go to Tyler - there are more than 100 threads on Tyler. I have specifically answered about apartments before. If you need more information. We would be glad to answer. You may come back with a shorter list, however, I would answer you list but later. At work now.

[Mark Senior]

Ooops, back instructions. Go to city-data.com, then Texas, then Tyler, then scroll downs to Forum - Tyler mentioned 1,884 times - then maybe select the one that says, Tyler 100 replies.

[Savail]

I did read through many of them before registering; but most of them seemed to be people upset about illegal immigrants and minorities and etc, things that don't really faze me [most of my friends are hispanic, and I'm decent with Spanish], or discussions about political/religious/social issues between the different factions, which again is something that doesn't really faze me much. I'm rather boring, don't look like trouble, and have worked retail long enough to be able to dodge most of those types of situations.

Also, I couldn't find a "Tyler" sub-section. Granted, I didn't look super hard, as I was rather tired; but the only ones I saw were in the general section, and search kept going crazy on me. Going to try it again now that I'm on my desktop. Could just be that my lappy was hating wireless again.

Edit: I still didn't quite find what I was looking for. Even went through your posts through your profile. I know I should probably stick with the southwest of town, but I was already leaning that way due to proximity to work...I'm just really bad with traffic. It's not so bad for me to drive in Austin [provided I'm staying on or near I-35] because it's pretty much just get in a lane and stay in the lane and enjoy the gorgeous architecture; not a lot of jumping around except in peak tourist season or when my fellow students are trying to get to Sixth Street.

I found plenty of reasons to wish I could stay in San Marcos; but they were mostly things I'd already known about Tyler beforehand, so I'm chocking it up to jitters and ignoring it. Finally have somewhere I'm happy after all these years, and now I'll have to leave. Most of the posts tended to be more useful for small families. I don't have any kids and don't intend to have any for awhile. As far as apartments go, didn't really find much that I hadn't already pseudo-gleaned from other sites. Highcrest [44 reviews; 100% recommendations] is where I live currently, and I would love to find somewhere similar in Tyler. It's quiet, low traffic, safe, clean, AND sufficiently away from the trains!

If you have any advice in particular about temporary summer housing, I'd appreciate it as that is currently my top priority. I had someone who had contacted me through Craigslist, but then was contacted by another landlord who read my post and, while acknowledging they had nothing for my arrival date, warned me against the same name of the individual who had contacted me prior...Trying to avoid one of those three month summer leases, but if worse comes to worse, can you recommend any complexes similar to what I described? Everywhere I look seems to have contradicting information about noise levels and crime rates for the complexes. Rather frustrating.

[Mark Senior]

No information on a summer residents for you. Sorry. You could rent in one the four large apartment complexes to open in the past year The Mansions at the Cascades. One bedrooms 10-12 ceilings crown moldings marble etc from $685 for one bedroom, slightly more for one car garage. Google Cascades of East Texas and you can see the floor plans and all about the area - homes, townhomes, 14 story high rise, sales and rentals - a planned community sauna other amenities included in your rent payment. The year old ones are Stone Brook nice garage/carport not very scenic, Cumberland Place - treeless but large units, gated as well, The Madison - nice new large. Now the older ones of Hudson, Hunters Glen, Grande Hills Estates, really nice Grande Hills Estate, gated etc have short term leases if you need to do that for the summer. Have you been to Tyler yet? Most people are pleased with Tyler. Don't worry about the traffic compared to what you experience or trains around any of these apartments

[Savail]

Eek, those are quite a bit expensive. I don't really need a lot of space or fancy amenities. "Nice," "new," and "large" are more turn-offs than anything else since they generally entail "expensive." I haven't had the luxury of having parents who could/would pay for everything I could possibly want. I just want quiet and safety. I understand I probably won't be able to go walking around at 2am enjoying the nighttime anymore [ironic that it was more dangerous in a town of 2k or so than of 25k], but gated communities and the like always feel a bit excessive to me, a tad Oryx and Crake-esque.

The reviews of Grande Hill look pretty one-sided [and so do most of the others]. Definitely does not look safe at all. Several reviews of thefts and poor lighting. I guess I'll probably end up looking at Hollyview or The Hudson, but I really don't want to put deposits down for water and electricity for just three months. Erk...Do you know anything about either of those?

I have been out to Tyler quite a few times. Mostly camping though, and usually around the Fourth of July [pretty fireworks show]. Tyler is/was my second favorite place to camp [in Texas], right after Las Maples out around Burnet.

[Mark Senior]

Tyler, and camping as in Tyler State Park? If so, not really Tyler at all. About 20, 25 miles from any of these apartment complexes. Well, Tyler may be to expense for a regular type apartments. I've never had a need to look at crime stats on apartments, but do watch the local news all the time and none of these make the news while many other apartment complexes do. So really I don't know about the "reports" as reliable or not, however, I am definitely no "expert" just speaking from what I've experienced or seen or heard others say. Yes, you can see from several sources you certainly can get less expensive apartments, but be careful with the lower rent too. Again, for years I have heard positives about The Hudson and Hunters Glen accross the street. Tyler is not considered "high crime' city by any means, you can even compare other cities of 100,000 plus pop here on citi-data.com yep, a crime section. But yet, Tyler certainly does have crime, on any given weekday Tyler has up to 200,000 people or more people in the city proper, here shopping and Regional Medical Center, and work alone increases it by 40,000, plus U.T, and T.J.C. with 17,000 students combined, yep not crime free a few folks are here. I really don't have any other "ideas". You seem to have done your home work. Good Luck !!

[Savail]

I responded to a post on Craigslist, that ended up having already been filled; but I asked the girl for the name of her complex since she said it was very quiet. It's called "Oak Hill," but that it's not online anywhere. Any chance anyone local could look up a phone number for me? I've been through several business directories. Still working on dredging up a Tyler phonebook from the depths of the internet, but to no avail so far.

[Mark Senior]

Must be a real small "complex" or too new for phone book. No Oak ... apartments except one you wouldn't care for.