Relocation to Houston (Georgetown, Hudson, West: fit in, apartment complexes, renters)

[dreamfool]

Hi,

My husband is finalizing a job offer in Houston area, so my job is to find us a place to live. I have looked at various apartment sites, craigslist etc but have not found too many places that fit into the description of our dream apartment. We plan to stay in the Houston area for a while (a few years) but neither of us plan to stay there the rest of the our lives.

The areas we are interested in should be: walkable, not too noisy, have plenty of shops etc around, safe, west of downtown, traffic not too bad (under 30 mins - work location is around energy corridor OR easy bus ride to get there). I have identified Galleria-Uptown, Westchase, Montrose.

We are looking to rent a 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom apartment with 1 /1.5 bath under $1,000 (utilities extra - I assume additional $200/month?) - prefer 800 sq ft+. However, many apartment complexes receive bad reviews by renters on the apartmentrating.com, so I really only have very few choices. I am starting to lean towards renting from a landlord (in a duplex/fourplex), but cannot be sure if that is a good idea either.

Can anyone tell me whether our expectation is realistic or not? If anyone has any recommendation of apartment complexes we welcome that as well. He is going to be in the area to view apartments in a few days (very short notice from the company!) and this might be the only chance we get to see any place in person. We certainly don't want to rent from an internet listing if we have not seen the place. HELP!

[Premont]

CityCentre is nice, but it's probably too expensive for your price range. CITYCENTRE

There's other older apartments in the Town and Country area that might work for you. Eldridge isn't as walkable, but there's some nice aprtments and it's in the Energy Corridor.

[EasilyAmused]

Older townhouses around CityCentre can be done for that price. The complexes are full of families, which you may not like, trying to get into the Memorial schools. But where there is a higher rate of concerned parents, there's usually lower crime.

The Pines, Georgetown, Memorial Townhouses, and a little farther west Hudson Oaks are good options. The apartments tend to be news and more expensive in that area.

Go to HAR.com, put in Residential lease, Area 23 with your budget and you should pull plenty.

[katygirl68]

If you can afford it, stick with Montrose or Galleria, The Heights, etc. Don't expect walkable - this city is pretty spread out, but I suppose CityCentre is a good one. Whatever you do, have your husband look at the apartments during the day AND AT NIGHT. When I was younger and still apartment dwelling, that was always the rule of thumb. Things look great during the day, but the whole area could change at night.

[testmo]

Montrose/Museum District is walkable and fits your description (bad traffic days maybe your commute is more than 30 minutes). you should look into stretching your budget more if you want to get a nice place there. i would describe a nice place there just starting around $1000 (utilities typically include water/sometimes gas). same advice goes for galleria although there are more older complexes there that are less pricey while still being better maintained

$1000 for an apartment/apartment type condos you can find in Westchase. area isn't what i'd define as walkable but is close to everything you'd need and the city. this area would be less expensive then the above so you'd get more for $1000 or be able to spend less

[thesouthwest]

Montrose is probably the most walkable neighborhood in all of Houston but it is quite far from the energy corridor.

[Locator12]

Hey you should check out [url=http://www.villagioapts.com]Villagio Apartments - Home[/url] they have 2x1 starting at 749.00 in the galleria area!

[Liljo22]

Originally Posted by thesouthwest

Montrose is probably the most walkable neighborhood in all of Houston but it is quite far from the energy corridor.

I always have felt that Midtown is the most walkable. You have pretty much everything you need on the west side of Main. There are restuarants and shops sprinkled throughout that side. You have Randalls right there. You can catch the light rail and go into downtown or down to the museum district or Hermann Park/Houston Zoo.

[dreamfool]

Thank you for all your responses, we truly appreciate it!!