Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX

[AnnzPB]

My husband and I are going to be starting med school and grad school (respectively) at UT Southwestern this fall, and we're trying to figure out what areas would be good for apartments. I heard from someone that there are nice yet reasonably priced apartments just east of 75 that might be good to look into...? Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on where to start the apartment hunt? We're looking for a 2-bedroom (ideally with 1 bathroom, but I know that 2-2's are more common when it comes to 2-bedrooms).

[aes0151]

@AnnzPB:

Depends on if you have children or not. School districts seem to be everything to most prospective parents.

I'll just list out a couple of areas for you.

Las Colinas - Relatively inexpensive, 15-20 min drive, mostly a business district with occasional massive condo complexes

East of 75: Hip, moderately priced, 15-25 min drive, not always the safest

South of UTSW: Ghetto, dirt-cheap (think $400+), <5 min drive, not very safe

Highland Park: Nice, safe, great school district, cost is out of reach for most students, immediate vicinity of UTSW

Irving: Cheap, wide variety of costs, 20 min drive, quality of schools vary

Richardson/Plano: Far from UTSW 40 min+ drive, great school districts, affordable and safe family housing

Carrollton: Moderately-priced, little further NW than Las Colinas, good schools, lots of new housing

Coppell: Aging neighborhood, great school district, safe, ~20 min drive, difficult to find new openings

[Strategy]

Hi, anyone's attending UT Dallas? I'm a bit concerned about housing. My budget is ~600$, is it possible to find something in that range in early August within some reasonable distance (and safe)? I am international, so I won't have a car, at least not for the first couple of months. Oh, and I want to live alone (no roommates, please).

Also, is campus housing (waterview) worth it? I've read some poor reviews about it...

Thanks!

[kadiyala1987]

Hi, anyone's attending UT Dallas? I'm a bit concerned about housing. My budget is ~600$, is it possible to find something in that range in early August within some reasonable distance (and safe)? I am international, so I won't have a car, at least not for the first couple of months. Oh, and I want to live alone (no roommates, please).

Also, is campus housing (waterview) worth it? I've read some poor reviews about it...

Thanks!

Hey,

I am heading to UT Dallas as well (for the PhD program in Operations Management). I emailed a grad student in my program and he said, university village is better in terms of facilities and space, but of course is priced higher. He stays at waterview and according to him, its just fine as well. I applied for Waterview and am on a wait list.

The one recurring advice about off campus housing I got is- to stay away from apartments on McCallum. That grad student also suggested a couple of apartments off-campus :courtyards at campbell and marquis at waterview.

Edited April 18, 2012 by kadiyala1987

[sweet_schist]

So I'm looking for an apartment around the SMU campus, does anyone have any good areas or specific apartment complexes to look into or to avoid. I've been doing research, but it's a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Many of the review sites seem to have questionable positive reviews that seem to be written by the management... any help would be appreicated!

[kerzyb]

So I'm looking for an apartment around the SMU campus, does anyone have any good areas or specific apartment complexes to look into or to avoid. I've been doing research, but it's a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Many of the review sites seem to have questionable positive reviews that seem to be written by the management... any help would be appreicated!

I'll be starting at SMU in the fall and will be living at the Village a little northeast of campus. It's a group of several apartment complexes ranging from about $650 for a studio to $2500+ for a three bedroom. There are a LOT of options.

Here's the website: http://www.thevillageapts.com/

Some factors that sold me:

1) The SMU DART bus runs through, and it's a short bike ride to campus (10 minutes max). It's also close to the DART rail.

2) It's close to Central Market, Whole Foods, Kroger, Target, and a bunch of restaurants. North Park mall is less than 5 miles away.

3) From what I've seen and heard, a lot of students (both graduate and undergraduate) live there.

4) I haven't actually seen it, but apparently there's a pond in the middle of the complexes with jogging trails. There's also a country club-type establishment, sports fields, and I'm sure even more fancy amenities that I'm not and will never be aware of.

5) This doesn't matter to me much, so I don't really remember the details. But, since I'll be a TA, I got a few discounted services for being an employee at SMU.

Needless to say, on my stipend, I'm renting one of the cheaper efficiences for $685 .

Hope this helps! Feel free to message me!

[texjew21]

In terms of Jazz and music, Dallas is one of the best cities in America for it. Norah Jones, Roy Hargrove, Erykah Badu and many others are originally from the Dallas area. I think Norah lives in New York now, but Dallas is great for jazz. Most of the jazz areas are in Deep Ellum and Oak Cliff.

As far as the overall positives and negatives about the city...

Positives: There are endless amounts of activities. Dallas has more shopping malls/centers than any other city in America per capita. It has more restaurants than any other city in America per capita as well. Great bar scene, terrific sports town. There are many festivals that go on through out the year.

Negatives: Downtown is not a very happening place. It is only seen for business. Most of the places to go out are in Uptown or Addison. Also transportation is not terrific, it is getting better but other cities tend to have it better. DART is ok, but can be inefficient and very slow compared to the trains and buses in other cities.

[Arcadian]

I live in a sliver of northern Dallas situated between Richardson and Addison (that really is the only way to describe it, as there is no official name for this area). I moved here a year-and-a-half ago for grad school, and before that I lived in San Antonio for 20 years and Austin for 2 years.

To be honest, I spend the vast majority of my time either at home or at school/work. My favorite things to do in the city are the Dallas Symphony and arts district in general. We have some nice museums. They often play jazz music at the main art museum.

The DART rail system is good and expanding. It pretty much sprawls throughout the whole Metroplex. So it's not true that you need a car to do everything...just most things.

[FlamingoLingo]

Also, Dallas and Fort Worth are really different. I think they get smooshed together a majority of the time, but they are really two very distinct cities to consider

[chloebug]

Greetings!

Just moved down here because of husband's job transfer. I was in a School Psych M.S. program in PA where I am from.Had one more course to go and then starting practicums and internships. Now I am down here state licensing is different, don't know where to finish. I was thinking of just finshing the masters in counseling part and worry about the School Psych cert. later. I am nor sure where to go. It is so different down here. I almost feel like I have to start over. Anyone know any good program in the DFW area?

[bumblyboo]

Hate to bump an old thread, but could anyone suggest affordable apartments ($600<) in the cities between Dallas/Ft. Worth? I'm from the North Texas area, but not all too familiar with the DFW metroplex...

[Sizzle]

Where are you going to school? The DFW area is huge, and you need to narrow it down before you can find housing.

[bumblyboo]

I'll be going to both UNT- Denton and UNTHSC for a dual degree. Hoping to find something in between the two schools. I've been looking at housing in the HEB/Keller area but don't know how travel time will be when you factor in traffic. 

[disposableheroes]

Bump. I may be attending TCU so i had a few questions about Fort Worth. I am also married to a newly arrived hispanic (I am Latino too) who aspires to taking english classes and eventually obtain a technical nursing degree. She would also like to join the workforce (she currently has a job as a hostess at a local restaurant). I am wondering if this city can accomodate us.

[ellieharb]

I will also be attending TCU and would like to see if anyone has any input on housing around the area? Mainly if anyone knows of areas that aren't too expensive.

[qualiafreak]

I'll be going to both UNT- Denton and UNTHSC for a dual degree. Hoping to find something in between the two schools. I've been looking at housing in the HEB/Keller area but don't know how travel time will be when you factor in traffic.

Travel from Keller to Fort worth isn't too bad. It can range depending on traffic but never longer than an hour. You learn to work around traffic too, there are different routes with less traffic, so it usually took me 40 ish. Edited April 16, 2015 by qualiafreak

[CBG321]

I'm looking for a safe and quiet apartment complex relatively close (15 minutes ideally) to the Callier Center in Dallas, ( 1966 Inwood Rd, Dallas, TX 75235 ) I believe the center is in the Medical District.  

I'm not having a lot of luck, the rent is either very expensive or there are bad reviews about constant noise or terrible management/roaches/car theft.  Is that just city living?  I haven't run into these apartment issues locally so am having trouble finding somewhere i'd be comfortable/safe in the city environment.  I'd be happy to live outside the "city" areas but am told the commute in is not fun and is much more than my 15-20min ideal...

Plus someone will say a neighborhood is sketchy and it will be directly next to one that is considered super nice so it is tough figuring this out long distance.  Has anyone lived here and had a great apartment experience?  I feel like fellow graduate students will be more concerned with noise than random twenty-somethings who don't need to study/get sleep!

I have plenty of time to look but am just trying to get organized...

[m-artman]

Hi there! I lived in Dallas for a while and am familiar-ish with everything. Generally, if you stay north of I-30, you're good, unless you live in Oak Cliff which is a fun area. For your first year, you might want to try The Village. It's a huge area of tons of apartments that are mostly students. They aren't too expensive and it's in a safe area. My guess is it would be 20 minutes to commute during non-busy hours. You could also try Uptown (pretty expensive though), Oak Lawn, Knox-Henderson or Greenville. Those are all a little bit farther from you, but I don't really know of too many places in the neighborhood of where you will be. I also never had a problem with car theft (and don't know anyone who did?) and I lived 'on the edge' of sketchy neighborhood for a while. Feel free to PM me if you find a place or two and I can tell you about the area. 

[CBG321]

11 hours ago, m-artman said:

Hi there! I lived in Dallas for a while and am familiar-ish with everything. Generally, if you stay north of I-30, you're good, unless you live in Oak Cliff which is a fun area. For your first year, you might want to try The Village. It's a huge area of tons of apartments that are mostly students. They aren't too expensive and it's in a safe area. My guess is it would be 20 minutes to commute during non-busy hours. You could also try Uptown (pretty expensive though), Oak Lawn, Knox-Henderson or Greenville. Those are all a little bit farther from you, but I don't really know of too many places in the neighborhood of where you will be. I also never had a problem with car theft (and don't know anyone who did?) and I lived 'on the edge' of sketchy neighborhood for a while. Feel free to PM me if you find a place or two and I can tell you about the area. 

I will probably take you up on that!  I thought the Village apartments looked nice but they seem to have a gross cockroach infestation problem in the majority of their buildings...i'll look into it more but it seemed to be a consistent complaint online.  

Glad to hear car theft isn't as common as it was starting to sound haha.  Thank you for the area suggestions too!

[nutella]

I was accepted into SMU and am strongly considering attending. I've never been to Texas and would like to learn more about the city and more importantly, the neighborhoods surrounding SMU. I'll be moving with my SO. We have a car but I imagine he'll be using it to commute for work every day so I am hoping to move somewhere close to SMU where I can walk, bike, or take a short bus ride. Is the area by SMU bike-friendly? Our budget would be around 900-1100 for an apartment. Would I be able to find an apartment with that price range near SMU?

[Alyspeechie]

Can someone comment on how bad the weather is? Should I be constantly worried about getting struck by a tornado or hurricane?

How are the drivers in Dallas?

 

[Citizen of Night Vale]

@Alyspeechie I'm also moving to Dallas and have found the Dallas subreddit really helpful in finding out what to expect when I move.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Citizen of Night Vale

[havemybloodchild]

BUMP

Interview at SMU and I have sooooo many questions about Dallas.  Anyone here who can help?

[magnetite]

Dallasite checking in. Feel free to PM me!

[havemybloodchild]

Can anyone tell me how common cockroach infestations are? Also I’m wondering about scorpions. Are they just a fact of life in the summer?