<p>We are a little stumped and thought that the CC people would have more knowledge on this.</p>
<p>My S graduated from college last week and has a job! Yea! We are very excited. </p>
<p>We live in Michigan and the job is in north east Texas. He only has a month from graduation to starting his job and we will not be able to visit the area before he moves down there. </p>
<p>We are a little stumped about finding an apartment. He has found some apartment listings on line. But should he find something and sign a lease before he looks at the apartment. He found reviews and found a couple of places that look promising on paper. Other than looking on a map to see where they are located, we know nothing about the area.</p>
<p>He would like to find something close to the expressway to get to work. He would like to find somewhere that has younger people living there, not tons of families or senior citizens. The last place he lived (on an internship) was on the railroad tracks, by the airport and has mostly families and seniors living there. It was a nice apt, the location stunk.</p>
<p>He did find a place that he could rent short term but at a high place.</p>
<p>He is not finding anything on craigslist or through the newspaper online. It would be great if he could find something short term, furnished but he is having problems finding anything along those lines.</p>
<p>We stayed in a motel and apartment hunted way back when. The large complexes, which are adequate if not unique, perfect, etc. will have agents to show him around. good luck!</p>
<p>So you think it would be ok to go down there and find something then? That’s what we would really like to do. It’s so hard to find a place sight unseen. </p>
<p>This isn’t just a summer place, it would be nice if it was someplace he could be happy with for awhile.</p>
<p>given that this is one of many threads on this topic, I have an idea…for you and others…</p>
<p>Go to the forum on CC of the closest university to your son’s new job; personally contact some of the regular posters on that forum and ask opinions about the area…</p>
<p>Hopefully you will be able to get better opinions…</p>
<p>i.e. near UT Austin, Rice (houston), UDallas etc…</p>
<p>deb, I would repost with the title Longview Texas. I bet you will get some good information. If anybody out there can afford to move to California’s central coast PM me and I’ll help you out. j/k</p>
<p>Some real estate agencies have rental listings. They would have people who know the neighborhoods as well, if you can find someone you trust to help you.</p>
<p>Longview is not the biggest city so it would only take a couple months to figure out where you want to live. Most areas have at least one or two apartment complexes with short-term furnished units. Rent for three months and take time to find a permanent location. An alternative is residence motels designed for longer stays. The have decent longer stay rates and you get a small kitchen and all supplies except food. You don’t have to worry about dealing with getting utilities and all that right away.</p>
<p>barrons, that is exactly what he would like to do. Find something short term furnished. He can’t seem to find anything on the internet. It also does not look like there is an extended stay type motel there that I can find. He has no furniture and we are not going to move a big truck of stuff from Michigan to Texas so furnished would be good. So he can get his feet on the ground and buy some furniture. He’s out of money so Mom and Dad will be footing things until he gets some checks and signing bonus.</p>
<p>has he posted on Craigs list what he’s looking for? Someone might have an ideal match, but they aren’t willing to post it in fear of all the wacky responses you get to a Craigs list posting.</p>
<p>I found several executive suites hotels listed by just using the Google on “extended stay hotels-longview TX” Major chains in the business. Candlewood and others.</p>
<p>city-data dot com then go to the forums and then to Texas – there are generally helpful people there. You may have to register, but it is a great resource. When I searched for Longview many recent threads came up. </p>
<p>I suggest the short term rental, but the folks on city-data might have some suggestions.</p>
<p>would second the idea of one of the long stay hotels for a month or two till he gets an idea of where he really wants to rent. That was what my son was planning to do when he moved across country to South Carolina (but a distant relative of my husbands who my son had never even met till he went for his interviews very kindly invited him to stay with them till he got settled).</p>
<p>In a town that small - he should be able to decide on a place within a week!!! Stay at an extended-stay motel for a week, and get a real estate agent to help him find a place…</p>
<p>NO!! He should not sign a lease sight unseen. Things that look good online might not be in person - smells/noise/quality issues not apparent from the photos. I could go on.</p>
<p>He can spend a few days in a hotel/motel and find something. My S found his place, when in the same situation, in one day of in-person hunting after online hunting and setting up appointments. I’ll look for the similar thread where there were tips. In this situation, finding a rental agent is probably the most helpful thing he could do.</p>
j/k</p>