I'm moving out of Austin, but some advice:
Leases start year round, most in May, but usually places only require 30 days notice if you're not renewing or breaking lease.
Hyde Park is cute and really safe, but housing is relatively expensive, but think of it as a cheap version of organic white lifestyle blog paradise that is "the 78704." The unsafe parts are really the old apartment complexes along Airport Blvd that are actually somewhat affordable for students and crackheads (I dated a guy who lived at one and visit the neighborhood often).
Riverside area: undergrad central for UT students and run of the mill pot dealers, not reccomended for grad students.
78704 zip code: lmao come visit some time but you probably can't afford to live here, and if you can, then thanks for driving up our rents and sucking our city services. I've been working here for years and believe me, if you're a rich out of towner, this is where you'll live, and you'll buy a dumpy little bungalow to pretend you're a poor stylish little bohemian in and that you're so different than the next import trying to "Keep Austin Weird."
East side of IH 35: no you probably won't be robbed/murdered, please get over yourself and maybe learn how to protect yourself from being victimized (like maybe lock your doors or hide your valuables).
That's the extent of my advice, I'll stop now before I rub off too much more of my jaded bitterness about the corporate mecca the city's become in the past few years.
