Searching for an apartment in Denton/Collin/Tarrant/Dallas County from California (Flower Mound: extended stay)

[butasan]

We are looking for an 1(preferably 2) bedroom apartment in Denton/Collin/Tarrant/Dallas County from CA, and would like some advice on cities and surrounding areas. We have no kids, but 3 cats and our budget is $1200/month top.

We have visited Dallas suburbs 4 times this year and actually bought a house in Flower Mound this spring so we somewhat became familiar with the areas.

We initially planed to stay put in CA for a year or two while leasing out the house we bought, but after visiting Texas it's become clear to us that we need to leave California as soon as possible. We just can't stand the COL(mostly housing) as well as insane liberal politics here.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[TurtleCreek80]

If you own a house in Flower Mound that you intend to live in someday, I would focus your search within 10ish minutes of the house so you can drive by on a regular basis and make sure your tenants are keeping up with the upkeep.

[butasan]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

If you own a house in Flower Mound that you intend to live in someday, I would focus your search within 10ish minutes of the house so you can drive by on a regular basis and make sure your tenants are keeping up with the upkeep.

Preferably Yes, but we don't know where we end up getting a job(I'm in IT and wife is in Marketing) so we would like to keep the location somewhat open.

[TurtleCreek80]

Then you need to actually get jobs before signing a lease. There are literally IT and Marketing jobs scattered almost all over the main 2,000ish square mile part of the metroplex.

[ChristieP]

And few landlords are going to rent to someone with no job.

[TeamLynn]

Get the job first, then you know where to live.
3 cats will be tough though in my experience.

[butasan]

We have actually been trying to get a job remotely for a couple of month and still trying, but no luck yet. Also that it cost around $500 to get a single out-of-state interview, which can be astronomical.

As for "IT jobs market is booming in Dallas" argument, the reality is that the requirements/qualifications for IT/Programming jobs are ridiculous these days so only a hand full of geeks who literary sitting in front of his PC 24/7 type of programmer or H1b visa foreigner willing to work for a peanuts would likely to land on a job before an average Joe programmer like me and not to mention that the out of state applicants are most likely to get filtered out first.

I know it's risky for us to move without a job lined up, but we have been wasting $3000/month for one of those Socal's famous 60 years old crapshacks on rent and we do have enough saving more than monthly rent x 12month x 3years so it may not be such a bad idea to move first.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by TeamLynn

Get the job first, then you know where to live.
3 cats will be tough though in my experience.

I was able to rent with three cats. I just had to do some digging on Craigslist. It was the first place I visited and I put a deposit on it immediately. Got my whole pet deposit back too.

OP, don't bother with big corporate apartment complexes if you have three cats; most of them won't even consider you. Try renting a SFH, condo, or townhouse instead.

[ChristieP]

If you insist on moving without a job, plan to stay in an extended stay hotel until you find a job. Have one of you come out to find a job, then once you get one, have the second come out with the cats

[Beardown91737]

Originally Posted by butasan

We have actually been trying to get a job remotely for a couple of month and still trying, but no luck yet. Also that it cost around $500 to get a single out-of-state interview, which can be astronomical.

As for "IT jobs market is booming in Dallas" argument, the reality is that the requirements/qualifications for IT/Programming jobs are ridiculous these days so only a hand full of geeks who literary sitting in front of his PC 24/7 type of programmer or H1b visa foreigner willing to work for a peanuts would likely to land on a job before an average Joe programmer like me and not to mention that the out of state applicants are most likely to get filtered out first.

I know it's risky for us to move without a job lined up, but we have been wasting $3000/month for one of those Socal's famous 60 years old crapshacks on rent and we do have enough saving more than monthly rent x 12month x 3years so it may not be such a bad idea to move first.

This area doesn't have a wealth of open IT jobs waiting for applicants. Some places are hiring and some are laying off. The ones laying off may also be hiring but they think they are going to hire cheap. I am here with a transferred job, but it took my wife 1 year to find a job. It became easy for her when she decided she could downgrade 2 levels instead of the 1 she had originally planned on. She makes half what she did in California.

Be sure before moving and look for apartments and jobs near your house.