Moving to Texas: an apartment primer

Texas apartments are plentiful, the leases are fairly standard, and the metros are enormous. The first two make the search easier than most states; the third is why you want a plan.

What is different about renting here

• A standard lease. Most professionally managed communities use a Texas Apartment Association lease with addenda. Once you have read one, you have read most of them; the fees are in the addenda.
• Renters insurance is usually required. Expect to show a policy before move-in.
• Notice to vacate is often 60 days. Longer than many renters expect; note it when you sign.
• Deposits vary with screening. A deposit can be small or a full month depending on what the community sees in an application.
• Utilities are often billed through the community. Water, sewer and trash frequently show up on your rent statement rather than a separate bill.

The four metros, in shape

None of this is about price — prices change monthly and belong on a dated Game Plan. It is about how each place is laid out, which decides where you should look.

• Austin — a compact core with fast-growing suburbs to the north and south. Traffic on the main north–south routes shapes everything; a commute across the river is different from a commute along it.
• Dallas–Fort Worth — two cities and dozens of suburbs across a very wide area. Pick the side of the metro first, then the neighborhood.
• Houston — vast, with major employment centers far apart (Downtown, the Medical Center, the Energy Corridor, the Galleria). The commute decides the neighborhood more than anywhere else in the state.
• San Antonio — a historic core with growth to the north and west, large military and medical employers, and generally shorter commutes than the other three.

Searching a city you have never lived in

1. Start from the address you will go to most. Work, school, a hospital. Everything else follows from the commute.
2. Decide how you will get there. Most of Texas is a driving state; transit works in specific corridors. Be honest about which applies to you.
3. Set a true monthly budget, not a rent budget. Fees differ by community; the total is what you live on.
4. Plan one trip, or none. Video tours are normal here. If you visit, tour three or four communities in one day on a planned route.
5. Gather the paperwork early. ID, proof of income, and sometimes a guarantor’s information — so you can apply the day you decide.

Where a locator helps

A licensed Texas locator searches the whole metro, checks the fees and rules for each community, and sends you a shortlist built around your commute and budget — free to you, because participating communities pay a referral fee when you sign. Tell us what matters and we will take it from there.