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Can anyone provide some insight into the Pecan Springs / Springdale area? There are some (seemingly) nice apartments out there that aren't too costly.

Thanks!

Edit: I am looking to move out there somewhere near the beginning of June, too.

Edited by Chris M. Crittenden
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How are ya'll finding apartments? I've tried google searches, real estate websites, and craigslist, but something tells me that the cheaper stuff is going to be elsewhere.

I just left UT Austin but housing in Austin ranges depending on what you're looking for -- pretty much like any place. Craigslist is going to be your best bet (unless you use one of those apartment locators -- they're free too). I would strongly suggest living somewhere where there is a UT Shuttle -- my first year I lived in an area served by only CapMetro and it was a pain. 

 

If you guys are looking for an apartment finder, I would suggest MrWestCampus (just google it). He's not affiliated with any management company -- I used him my second year and it worked out pretty well. 

 

Also, if you can get in I would strongly recommend university graduate housing as a good cheap option. The complexes are a bit far from campus but they are served by the shuttle and they're SUPER cheap. 

 

Hope this helps

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Oh, how I envy you! The neighborhood I have my heart set on for a 1br is looking more like 800-900! I'm trying a few options that may be cheaper, but unfortunately I am limited b/c I want to be near a) campus, B) grocery options, and c) the capitol/downtown/the city center.....definitely not having the most fun time looking, especially with such little time.

 

Yeah, I have the same preferences (a-c), but I'm looking at rooms in houses/apartments with roommates. I totally understand wanting to live along, but if you want to get the price down, you might want to consider roommates? On the other hand, MrWestCampus that spade20k mentioned looks pretty promising; I spotted some places in Hyde Park and North Campus that were on the cheaper side ($450-650) and a lot of them were 1 bedroom/1 bath houses.

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Looking at the ads on craigslist, it seems like there are so many summer sublets listed right now. For people who have been students in Austin before, is it generally difficult to sublet your room for the summer? For my program, there's a chance I would want to leave the city for a summer internship, and I'm worried about having to eat the rent money.

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How are you guys finding roommates? Just randoms? I'm trying to decide if I want to live alone or not. And if not, how to find a good roommate.

I was wondering about this as well. Not only am I terrified of ending up with a horrible roommate, but I am also hesitant about moving into an apartment or house where someone has already been established. For some reason that seems weird and intrusive to me, but I have no idea how to find a roommate in order to find a place together.

 
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I was wondering about this as well. Not only am I terrified of ending up with a horrible roommate, but I am also hesitant about moving into an apartment or house where someone has already been established. For some reason that seems weird and intrusive to me, but I have no idea how to find a roommate in order to find a place together.

 

Yeah, I have the same fear. My program told us at Prospective Student Weekend that, after people had made their decisions, they would make a Facebook group to help us find roommates. They haven't done this yet, and I'm wondering if they're waiting until after April 15? But I would like to get started with this "finding a place to live" thing. But I'm hesitant about choosing a roommate because it's graduate school, it's going to be a lot of work, and I don't want to be stressing about my roommate/living situation on top of school.

Edited by gooseberry
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Yeah, finding roommates is a potentially difficult situation. I saw some nice whole houses (3-4 bedrooms on craigslist), but I'm a pretty solid plane ride away and I have a full-time job, so I would basically have to fly down and hope to find something in one whirlwind weekend. But then how would my other 2-3 roommates approve it? Taking a room in an established house definitely seems easier, but I see how it could feel awkward, especially at first. You probably wouldn't have to worry about furnishing the common areas, at least! 

Edited by lacanadiense
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I've only seen one posting on craigslist about joining an established house so I haven't really considered this. Maybe if you could get a group of roommates together first, then decide on somewhere to live? Maybe even go down on the same weekend to find a place? I have no idea. But I think it'd be easier to find roommates first (ideally roommates who are looking in the same part of town at least) then find somewhere you agree on, but the logistics of that are tricky when you're all in different places with different schedules. And it's hard to find roommates when there is nowhere to discuss things like that in the first place.

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I'll be heading down on Tuesday to meet with my POI. I'm hoping that the graduate students will be able to give me some information regarding where to live, roommates, etc. Otherwise I have no idea...a lot of the postings on craigslist seem to be for undergrads looking for roommates.

 
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I'm thinking about what proportion of my funding I could reasonably spend on housing. Would $200 per week (after rent has been paid, but before utilities have been paid) be enough to get by in Austin?

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From my limited-but-still-worth-sharing experience, finding a room in an established house is a lot easier and cheaper than finding an empty apartment and then filling it will furniture and roommates. Everyone has different preferences, though. If anyone is looking for a just a room, I've had pretty good luck with the "Rooms/shared" section of Craigslist and then typing "grad" or "graduate" in the search field.

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I found a place while I was visiting this past weekend. It's a teeny little studio, but I like cozy spaces and I'm really not into living with other people. I was told I would never find a studio in Hyde Park for under $700, so I'm pretty glad to have proved them wrong. If you're like me and really want a place of your own, regardless of the size, I would recommend using an apartment locater. I called a lot of places (and got a lot of rude responses), but I ended up using apartment finders service. The woman I worked with was really friendly and she didn't try to force me to look at places outside of my budget.

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I found a place while I was visiting this past weekend. It's a teeny little studio, but I like cozy spaces and I'm really not into living with other people. I was told I would never find a studio in Hyde Park for under $700, so I'm pretty glad to have proved them wrong. If you're like me and really want a place of your own, regardless of the size, I would recommend using an apartment locater. I called a lot of places (and got a lot of rude responses), but I ended up using apartment finders service. The woman I worked with was really friendly and she didn't try to force me to look at places outside of my budget.

Hey could you PM me her contact details. I am international and want to start looking just to go over in May and sign it. Thank you so much!

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Anyone tried the university apartments? The price and location look pretty attractive.

Any ideas how long it'd usually take before I get off the waiting list (1-bedroom)?

 

Any help is appreciated.

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Anyone tried the university apartments? The price and location look pretty attractive.

Any ideas how long it'd usually take before I get off the waiting list (1-bedroom)?

 

Any help is appreciated.

When I visited last week, one of the graduate students told me it's unlikely to get in the first year. However, apparently the waitlist is continuous so this helps the second time around.

 
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Hey does anyone know hard it is to get a place with at least a washer and drier and hopefully furnished, I don't mind paying 1k a month for something decent bur rather not have to furnish it from scratch

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Hi MPPgal,

I think it might be easier to go through a service than look by yourself if you have strict preferences. I worked with Paul Greenamyer at Smart Austin Locating [paul(at)smartcitylocating.com]. I just got confirmed for an apt pre-lease. The place I got doesn't meet your requirement so I can't pass on the info to you.

 

Good luck!

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Hi everyone,

 

I just was apartment searching and found a place that I was really happy with- decent price, corner of Hyde Park near the Triangle, seemed really nice... Turned in a deposit and application, but I just started reading these reviews online- apartmentratings.com and sort of flipped- the apartment sounded TERRIBLE and I'm like completely shocked from the reviews. Do people think these reviews are anything worth trusting? I worked with a locator I really liked, but now I'm concerned I got screwed and I'm back home (abroad) now. So I guess my question is, go with how I felt about the place when I saw it, or try to get out of it/find something else based on the reviews on a (sorta) random website?

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You have to take apartment reviews with a grain of salt. Remember, people generally only write reviews when they are very upset! How recent are the reviews? Generally, when I look at reviews for apartments, all the bad ones will come in waves. Most of the time it's a bad manager. When the reviews stop, things got better and nobody complained. I've lived in a few places that had horrible reviews online, and I tried my best to leave honest reviews--it's hard to trust the review sites sometimes when all you see are 1 star and 5 star reviews! One of the problems people run into that causes them to leave bad reviews is they don't understand their rights as a tenant, or they don't notify the office of problems properly. 

 

I wouldn't try to get out of an apartment because of online reviews--you never know how your experience will be, and you never know if you'll end up living there for years because you love it. Just make sure you document everything (full damage report on move-in, all notices in writing, etc.) and you should be fine. 

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Hi everyone,

 

I just was apartment searching and found a place that I was really happy with- decent price, corner of Hyde Park near the Triangle, seemed really nice... Turned in a deposit and application, but I just started reading these reviews online- apartmentratings.com and sort of flipped- the apartment sounded TERRIBLE and I'm like completely shocked from the reviews. Do people think these reviews are anything worth trusting? I worked with a locator I really liked, but now I'm concerned I got screwed and I'm back home (abroad) now. So I guess my question is, go with how I felt about the place when I saw it, or try to get out of it/find something else based on the reviews on a (sorta) random website?

 

I would agree with everything fishasaurus said above. Additionally, you should categorize the criticisms. If tenants are talking about visible things like cabinets falling apart and  low water pressure in the shower, you should know if this will be true or not of your own unit. Hopefully you tried out these things when you visited and won't be surprised when you move in. If the criticisms are mainly about management concerning things like cheating you out of a deposit, you should be more weary to sign a contract with such people. Everything can seem good until you need repairs and to move out.

Yes, document everything and ask for a walk-through when you move in and move out. However, this is something  you should ask the management if they can guarantee doing. Some places will refuse to do it even though it may be written in the contract you sign. Save all your correspondence!

I'm in the situation of trying to sign a lease without first seeing the apartment (I live abroad now). I've relied on Yelp and apartmentratings.com heavily to make my decision. I also noticed the dates the reviews were written and if there is mention of recent upgrades and management changes. I think we both won't know until we move into our respective places, but sometimes there is no better option.

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thanks, i feel a bit better! the concerns seem to be mainly pest and safety based, but i totally checked a few crime maps and the area seems to be really low in crimes. i also took note that there is a regular pest control schedule, so i wonder if maybe people just were slobs? oh well, i'll know when i get there!

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Hey does anyone know hard it is to get a place with at least a washer and drier and hopefully furnished, I don't mind paying 1k a month for something decent bur rather not have to furnish it from scratch

 

I second the idea of an apartment locator if you have specific requirements.  I looked at A LOT of apartment complexes, and none of them were furnished, except for a few places that offered "executive apartments"... which are pricey because they are meant to be short-term.  I know a student in my program was looking for someone to take over their lease (and their furniture) while they were abroad for a year... so I'd try checking the university website for off-campus housing to see if you can find something furnished:  http://www.utexas.edu/provost/housing/

 

Also, UT has campus housing for grad students (apartment or UG dorm)... might be worth a look if you're worried about furnishing.  Also, if you can find a room in a shared house, the current students might already have furnished most of it.

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thanks, i feel a bit better! the concerns seem to be mainly pest and safety based, but i totally checked a few crime maps and the area seems to be really low in crimes. i also took note that there is a regular pest control schedule, so i wonder if maybe people just were slobs? oh well, i'll know when i get there!

 

Crime is not bad in that area. I lived around the corner from there for 5 years, up until a few months ago. You will just need to take the basic precautions that you would take in any major city: lock your doors and windows, lock your car, don't leave any items visible in your car, and lock your bike to a secure structure with a secure lock.

 

As for pests... if you're from up north, the cucarachas here will take some getting used to. They can be hard to control in older apartment buildings when it's warm and humid. Keep your place very clean and deploy preventative measures (roach motels, borax, whatever you prefer) *BEFORE* you see them.

 

That's a great location and you can easily take the IF bus to campus. I bet you will enjoy living in that part of town.

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