UpTown Homesearch Blog

This is a guide on the University of Texas Pre-Leasing procedures and what you need to know before renting a place:

1. Give your Uptown Agent your search criteria of the kind of property you are looking for and your price range.
2. Your Uptown Agent will find you a property that fits your criteria and that you would be happy living in.
3. Submit Applications within 3 days to ensure that the property you liked does not get reserved by another group – best deals and properties get leased very fast.
a.     Your personal application
b.    Application for your guarantor (co-signer) if needed
c.     Pay non-refundable application fees (vary from $50-$100/ per person depending on property)
4. Submit Application Deposit with your Application:
a.     With most properties this will be equal to one month’s rent.  Texan properties only require $1,000 total (not per person) deposit plus application fees.
b.    The application deposit is refundable back to you within 30 days after move out minus any deductions due to damage to the property caused by you or any unpaid balances.
c.    Most of the bigger Apartment complexes do not charge a deposit – instead they have a non refundable Admin fee of $250 – lower payment but not refundable.
d.    The Application Deposit is non-refundable if you decide to back out after approval and before lease signing.  Most properties consider you approved upon application.
e.    The Application Deposit becomes the security deposit when the lease is executed.  (Same money different name)
5. All applicants and guarantors must be approved by the owner/management company.
a.    If for any reason you or your guarantor do not meet the qualification criteria the Application Deposit is returned but not the application fees.
6. Lease Signing
a.    Once you get approved the lease will be drawn and you will be contacted to come and sign the lease.
b.    At lease signing you will be required to pay the first full month’s rent (bigger Apartment complexes do not require you to pay that until move in). This will cover the 1^st full month’s rent (it’s just pied in advance – not an extra payment).
7. Move-in – After you move in you will pay the pro-rated amount for the days you lived there in August (if you moved in after Aug 1^st).  You will have already paid Septembers rent at lease signing.  On October 1st you will begin paying regular rent throughout the remaining term of the lease.
8. What’s included in the lease? – Unless specified otherwise the lease does not include any utilities or cable and internet. A few places will specifically mention that they include – cable, internet and/or water bill. Mostly that would be large apartment complexes as they are owned by one entity and they can supply that but it has to be specifically mentioned.
9. Parking – most houses and condos come with parking included in the rent. While some apartment complexes do include parking in the rent, most of the ones close to Campus do not and they will charge $50 to $120 per mo for each parking spot. Make sure to inquire about that.
10. All leases are for 12 mo periods, beware most apartment complexes around campus do not prorate the rents for the days you are not there – houses and condos do.
I hope this is helpful, please visit www.UTHomesearch.com or www.AustinUptownRealty.com to search through the many UT area Apartments, Condos, and Houses in West and North Campus areas. Feel free to call me: Tony Lazarov – 512-762-8669 with any questions or e-mail me at tony@uthomesearch.com . I will help you find the best deal around campus and best of all the service is completely free.

Austin Texas, has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, it’s one of the most desirable cities to live in, very low crime rate, good music, amazing people, great University – UT…So it’s no surprise that so many people are moving to Austin every day. However that trend has quickly absorbed all the available housing especially in central Austin and around the University of Texas Campus. As a result this year pre-leasing prices for hoses, apartments and condos in West and North Campus and Hyde Park are much higher than last year’s prices. Finding a good deal is difficult – so here is a list of great deals you need to pre-lease ASAP for fall 2011 – prices will only go up from here on out so get those early bird specials:

508 Nelray – 5 bed 2 bath house in North Campus – only $1995 per mo. that is $400 per bedroom!

5507 Link Ave – 5 Bed 3 bath house in North Campus – only $2495 per mo – that is only $500 per bed.

UTHomesSearch.com has a special promotion for a 4 beds & 2 bath luxury west campus apartments for ONLY $2660 TOTAL. This comes out to $665 per bedroom! (You can also lease by the bedroom if needed.) includes internet and cable, parking is extra but cheap!!! this is an AMAZING DEAL for pre-leasing!

If you are looking for the best Top of the Line special - Galileo 3-2 for $2250 per mo. 2 of the rooms are huge if you like to share them so you can have up to 5 people. By far the best luxury special.

UTHomeSearch.com special on a brand new construction – Texan North Campus – there are 4 bed 2 bath and 6 bed 2 bath for only $550 per bedroom

West Campus best priced 3 bed 2 bath – $1875 per mo – Joseph’s corner.

Please contact Tony Lazarov at 512-762-8669 or e-mail me at tony@uthomesearch.com for a free tour of those and other great specials. Act now and get the best deals!!!

Written by Jason Fuller -  Agent Uptown Realty

It’s good to do a little bit of research when you are trying to decide where to live around campus.  Every student has their own story of what has or has not worked for them when choosing a place to live.  An important thing to consider is the difference between living in a corporate apartment like the Block or the Quarters, versus living in a privately owned condo like Park Place or Texan West Campus.   Here is a quick list of pros and cons for both.

Corporate Apt Pluses -

Tanning Booths

Gym

Rec Room

Pool

Active Social Setting and Organized Events

Roommate Matching

Internet and Cable included with rent

Gated Parking and Gated Community

Corporate Apt Negatives

Non Prorated Rent for August (you pay for days you do not live there)

$200+ nonrefundable administrative fee to live there

Properties have a reputation of having excessive noise

Extra charges for parking

Property Maintenance and Management have poor reputation

Privatly Owned Condos Pros

Pro-Rated Rent for August (You only pay for the days you live there)

Properties have reputation of being quieter and more private than Corp Apts

Parking included with rent

Garage parking

Reputation for better management response to tenant needs

Inexpensive application fees -

Privately Owned Condos Negatives

No Gym

No roommate matching

Less floorplan options

My locator services are free.

Jason Fuller
Licensed Real Estate Agent
Direct: 512-294-9060
Fax: 512-592-7943
jason.uptownrealty@gmail.com
Uptown Realty
2307 Rio Grande
Austin, Tx 78705

Park Place apartments in West Campus have 2br, 3br and 4br floorplans and include free parking in a

gated garage. Interiors feature tile floors, modern appliances and large living rooms.

Park Place is conveniently located close to a UT shuttle bus stop, and within walking distance to UT

campus. It is one of the most popular properties in West Campus and due to the affordable prices the

entire building is fully leased by early spring semester.

Contact us soon to get a tour of Park Place apartments.

For many University of Texas freshman, getting out of the dorms and living “off-campus” cannot come soon enough. Deciding what to lease & where to lease “off-campus” depends on many factors. Everyone knows there is west campus & north campus, but if you want walking distance to campus from these areas, it will usually come with a higher price tag. With rising costs in tuition, students are looking for ways to save money, and one big way to save money is lower the rent. When students come to me to locate their next home, I do my best to work with them and find a property that best meets their search criteria, but in particular, I look for properties that offer a reasonable price, good location, good quality inside the unit, & safety. Finding a property that meets all this criteria can be difficult to find. So, where can you find good value that is within walking distance to campus? The answer is with the west campus condo market. Before I explain why the condo market offers good value, it is first important to understand what a condo is, and what condos compete with.

There are four types of properties that UT students are leasing: Houses, Duplexes, the Corporate Apartments, & Condominiums. If you want walking-distance to campus, which is what most students want, the Apartments & Condos are the properties of choice. What is the difference between apartments & condos to the tenant? Usually, the unit you rent in a condominium complex is individually owned by a certain landlord or investor, who could live anywhere. To the contrary, the unit you rent in an apartment complex, along with all the other units in the complex, is owned & managed by the same corporation. Condos are also built with Condo specifications which means thicker walls, much better noise isolation, and several other better qualities than Apartments. That is because eventually Condos get sold to individual buyers.  Some of the more popular condominium complexes within walking distance of UT include the Croix condominiums, the Palmetto Condominiums, the Orange Tree Condominiums, & the 3200 Duval Condominiums.

So, why are Condos worth a closer look? Condos offer great location, significantly lower rent prices, & just as much safety as any other type of property. The main concern, or complaint students will have with a condo is “they look old from the outside”, or “they were built in 1982”, or “they don’t have granite countertops like the new apartments.” While these are all legitimate complaints, let me explain. Yes, most of the condos were built in the 1980’s, and they do look old from the outside, however what you see on the outside of the building doesn’t reflect what you see on the inside of the individual units, and I say “individual units.” Remember, because condos are “individually owned”, within the inner walls, each condo will look completely different from the condo next door. Why do all condos in the same complex look different from each other on the inside? The answer is because some owners don’t take pride in their unit, or simply don’t have financial capital to renovate like some of the other owners. On the other hand, I’ve seen owners of condos that do take great pride in their unit, they like to renovate, and they like to put money into their unit to make it more desirable to rent. I’ve seen condos where the owner has put tens of thousands of dollars worth of renovations and it looks incredible, and as crazy as it seems, they rent for the same amount as the owner that hasn’t spent a dime on renovations. If you really seek value, you have to take a closer look at the condo market, particularly those condos where the owner has spent money renovating it. There are some steals out there for lease, you just have to know how to find them.

When it comes to price, condos always beat the newer apartment complexes. When it comes to location, they offer the same walking distance as the apartments. When it comes to safety, there is no difference from the apartments. When it comes to what’s inside the inner walls, there are some really beautiful renovated condos on West Campus with owners that really take pride in them. So, how do you find these beautifully renovated condos? Call me and I’ll show you what I’m talking about. My name is Will, I’m a Texas-EX, and I’m one of the most experienced agents at Uptown Realty. I would be happy to help you find a beautifully renovated condo for a much better price than the apartments. My number is 512-569-5369 or you can email me at Will@UTHomeSearch.com .

Pre-leasing houses, condos or apartments around the UT Campus in central Austin – thousands of UT students and young professionals look for that great deal. There are some guidelines as how and where one should look for that, depending on the time of the year one is on the market and the type and size of property one is looking for. Here are some tips as how you can get that great deal when you are looking during the summer months for a Aug 2010 move in:

Most of the bigger houses around campus in West and North campus areas have been pre-leased by now. However there are a few properties that for whatever reason, mostly bad management, lack of marketing, overpricing, or other external reasons are still available for Aug 2010 move in. The good news is that this is the time during which those houses’ owners realize that they need to make a move or face vacancy, so generally they would change the management company they are working with and drop the price significantly. This is the time when you should strike. The rule of thumb here is that even if you are looking for a place with fewer bedrooms you are better off finding a few more friends to live with because any please with 3+ bedrooms could be greatly discounted. Most big groups get their places early in the season so whatever bigger places are left at this point could be in trouble.

This is where companies like Uptown Realty come into play. They contact or are contacted by those owners and they explain to them the predicament they are in. They make owners understand that they should look in any offer for their places even if it is much below what they envisioned to rent their place for. Don’t get me wrong, there are not many of those strugglers around but those that are around are there for you to snatch at a rate that would make all your friends jealous of.

So what is the strategy? I recommend that even if you don’t have a larger group, talk to your friends and see if you could fine some extra roommates so you can put together enough people to get those 4,5, and 6 bedroom places. Let me give you an example. Currently there is a 5 bed House in West Campus that is still available. The house is great and it is in a very good location 1100 W 22^nd St., Austin, TX, 78705, just off Leon St and 22^nd. Currently the tenants there are paying $3950 per mo or around $800 per bedroom – that is the average going rate per bedroom in West Campus Houses. Well the House has not been pre-leased for Aug 2010 yet and its available for grabs. Why didn’t it get leased? Is there something wrong with it? No…the owners had the house overpriced asking for $4500 per mo rent, never took the time to readjust the price or market the property. Eventually no one leased it and now we are in mid June and since bigger groups are done with their house shopping they are in big trouble.

Here is where you can get a great deal. We can get that same house now at $2995 per mo or maybe even a bit lower than that. That is $600 per bedroom or less. Getting a 2 or 3 bed in West Campus at the moment is much harder as there are a lot more 2 and 3 bedroom groups that 5 bedroom groups so owners are less willing to go down in price. Keep in mind that there are very few of those opportunities and if you get the people necessary you can get a great House, Condo or Apartment at a great discount. Currently there are 10-15 of those 3+ bedroom units that I know of – Contact Uptown Realty so they can show you those units, get the people together and get a great deal.

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