Exploring Austin via Apartment Hunting

May 2023 Monthly Adventure

My Monthly Adventures Series is primarily focused on exploring the Central Texas area as a way to get out of my apartment and check out more of the place I call home. Something I've learned as person who has been a renter in Austin for more than 5 years is that apartment hunting can be a great way to see more of the city! This month, I'm sharing my journey of apartment hunting and how it's allowed to explore and better appreciate Austin, TX. This adventure has been multiple months in the making and is finally being summarized. Now, let's get to it!

Background

For those who don't know, Austin at the most basic level can be divided into 5 regions: north, central, south, east, and west. This can divided into smaller, sub-regions:

• North Central

• South Central

• Northeast

• Southeast

• Northwest

• Southwest

These divisions are distinguished by a combination of highways, roads, and the Colorado River (a.k.a. "Lady Bird Lake"). There are also multiple neighborhoods within these sub-regions. Mueller, Riverside, and Circle C are few popular neighborhoods you may hear about more frequently. Each region, sub-region, and neighborhood will exhibit unique characteristics that makes Austin a special place. These characteristics are also important for deciding which part of town to live in addition to rent prices.

How I Locate Apartments

I could've hired an apartment locator since it's typically a free service and they can sometimes find you good deals. While this can save some time and effort, I would have missed out on exploring more of the city. When I shop around for my next apartment, I consider the following in this exact order:

1. Preferred price range

2. Commute to and from work

3. Neighborhood

4. Quality of apartment

Example of what Kimi looks for

I'm fine with a commute of about 30 minutes, but I also keep in mind how stressful that commute can be and if I would have multiple ways to get to work if traffic is bad on my primary route. The neighborhood is also a priority because I need to have easy access to stores, restaurants, or other establishments that are important for me to have nearby. Living in a safer neighborhood is a must for me. The city is growing rapidly, so activity like theft are becoming more common. However, I want to live somewhere that at least has some amenities to help reduce the prevalence of car or package theft. I definitely want to avoid areas where increasingly violent crime may occur. Once I get a better sense of what my price range is, my preferred commute time, and what different neighborhoods around town are like, I can focus on looking for a quality apartment complex.

Pro Tip: Make a wish list to help make searching for a new apartment easier. Have your non-negotiables and items that would be perks, but not a requirement for you to say "yes" to signing a lease somewhere. This list can quickly help you narrow down your choices.

What I Learned from Apartment Hunting in Austin

I've learned that the current market in Austin warrants spending multiple months scouting out your next apartment. Fortunately, I've lived in the city long enough and in different parts of town to know what regions and neighborhoods I would be interested in. While I would prefer to take a CapMetro bus or train to get to work, the different routes aren't designed in a way that makes it easy to get to my job depending on where I choose to stay. Driving along the bus routes or taking buses through different neighborhoods is an excellent way to see what apartments are near bus stops or stations if public transit is your preferred way to commute to work or get around Austin.

I also learned that Austin can be best described by neighborhoods almost just as easily as by its sub-regions. If you zoom in on an online map of the city, you will see the names of the different Austin neighborhoods. You'll also see the names of different apartment complexes in these neighborhoods. This is how my friend and I recently completed our apartment hunt since we would be moving into new apartments about 6 weeks apart from each other! We have lived here long enough that we knew where we wanted to look but didn't feel like taking time to drive around. We spent about 3 months creating a shared spreadsheet of all the places that we felt had potential in the regions of Austin we were open to moving to within our shared price range. As we found places on maps, we would check their website and reviews before adding them to the list. There are SO MANY apartment complexes in Austin with new ones constantly being built to help manage the growing population and having a close friend assist me with apartment hunting made it less stressful to filter through all of the apartment options in the city.

Zilker Park

Once our list was narrowed down to a handful of top choices, we took tours of those complexes. There was a place with canyon views that were simply breathtaking! I love drinking a hot cup of tea and I could easily picture myself on a patio or balcony watching the sunset with my tea in hand. However, it didn't meet all of my non-negotiables and I decided to continue looking. Austin is a city that puts a lot of emphasis on nature, so it was interesting to see how many neighborhood parks are around the city. Having a place to go to for a nice walk or to catch Pokémon (I love Pokémon Go and wrote about its potential impact on travel) is something on my apartment hunting wishlist, though not a priority. I like to look at nature more than I like to be immersed in nature.

Pro Tip: If you find that multiple apartments good matches for what you have on your wish list and you're not sure which location to choose, create a pros and cons list! Directly comparing the similarities and differences between your top choices will help make your final decision much clearer in your mind. I used the Google Sheets template for this apartment hunt and it was incredibly helpful!

Finally, I learned and came to the conclusion that the idea of "Keep Austin Weird" is no longer a thing anymore. My current neighborhood is one of the few places that still has that classic Austin, TX feeling. Unfortunately, it's clear that won't last forever as new businesses and housing continue to be built and prices rise. Austin is evolving into a new identity and while it's not one I might be particularly fond of, it is inevitable at this point. So, I took the time to find the region that still meets most of my needs and fulfills a majority of my wants. After nearly 8 months of searching, I eventually found a new place to call home in the city of Austin and I look forward to getting more acquainted to an area of town that I am somewhat less familiar with. A new area to explore means I'll have even more adventures to blog about each month!

Feel free to leave comments below, tweet (@KimiThoughts), or leave a post/message on Facebook (@KimisTravelThoughts) !