Checking out Apartments around SMU

So today I spent a few hours on the phone with various leasing offices around the University Park area of Dallas. Exhausting and confusing, to say the least. It's difficult to assess an apartment building and address when you're not familiar with the city in which you will be living. So I took exhaustive notes, and hopefully, with the help of my dad and maybe a friend who is familiar with the Dallas area, I'll be able to make a smart, informed decision about where I want to live and how much I'm willing to pay.

The apartments that I visited when I was in Dallas last time that weren't in the Village were all too expensive for me to live in on my own, and so I originally planned to go back to Dallas at the end of June/beginning of July to figure out a few other options and visit with some leasing agents. Now, because of family schedules, that's looking like it might not be possible. Soooo, not only am I finding an apartment in unfamiliar territory, I may also be signing a lease sight unseen.

Scary stuff, right?

Well, I've talked with a bunch of leasing offices within the Village: The Cliffs, The Corners/Corners East, The Bend/Bend East, The Gate, and The Meadows. Apparently they are tearing down of the building to start construction on a new building, and so the tenant of the Bluffs have moved into other buildings throughout the Village communities, so not only is there a decreased availability, there is an increase in rate as well. This is a bummer, but probably not a barrier to my living there. Rent in Dallas is still less than rent in Santa Barbara (although considerably more than rent at my parents' house, which after utilities is a whopping $0).

As it stands, the least expensive 1/1 in the Village for a 10 month lease starting on or around August 1 would be about $730. I think that both the Bend East and Corners East had apartments at that rate. My preference in the Village would probably be to live in the Cliffs, because it has a gated parking lot and comes with alarms on the apartments, but apparently most of the people displaced from the Bluffs are moving into the Cliffs, and so there is zero availability as of now.

We're still 60(ish) days out from my move, so within the next 30 days things should be opening up, so I'll have to check back. As of now I'm on the wait list at the Gate and the Cliffs, and hopefully everything will work out.

Contrary to popular TLS wisdom, there are more places to live than just the Village. :) One place that has come recommended was a building called Cambridge Court Apartments. They, too, are gated, and are cheaper than the Village, but they lack some of the amenities of the Village properties and are a little bit (maybe 5 minutes) farther away from school. BUT, on the plus side, they offer a student discount, so that's good. I hate to consider somewhere that I haven't seen, and I haven't been able to check out these particular apartments, but the property has a pretty decent score on apartmentratings.com and the pictures look nice.

Siiiiiigh. Moving 1200 miles away from home when you don't have a dorm room (and the attached conveniences of one) waiting for you on the other end is turning out to be trickier than I thought it would.