Houston Apartments

The Texas Association of Apartments is a non-profit trade organization made up of owners, builders, developers, and property management firms and companies that actively represent the entire rental housing industry at the state capitol and at least 25 state regulatory agencies.

Filling out the Texas Association of Apartments Application is often a crucial part of the the approval process for your next apartment home.  The application, also known as a Texas Rental Application, provides the apartment community information about you such as your credit history and criminal history.  Other relevant information required is who will live with you, and, if you have pets, what kind and how many.   

Remember that TAA applications should only be used by Texas licensed real estate agents, so consult your apartment locator.  Your locator is an excellent source for all of these questions and issues raised, so feel free to ask for help and clarification throughout the entire process of finding your next home.

On Saturday November 11, 2008, several of us from ApartmentWIZ went to Lulu M. Stevens Elementary and participated in the Beautification Project. We worked alongside teachers, staff, and parents to plant new shrubs, paint on the exterior, and clean up the school campus. We had a lot of fun helping make an immediate and noticeable change in the school’s appearance. We will join the school again in the spring to beautify the school further.

ApartmentWIZ employees participate in a Partnership program to mentor students at the elementary school near our office. We meet with those students every week for an hour or two. We help them with school work, play games, and try to provide a positive influence on their lives. It has proven an enriching experience for both ApartmentWIZ and the students.

Crime at Houston area apartments is a problem for tenants, apartment locators, and management companies alike.  There is really no apartment complex in The Greater Houston area that is completely crime free.  In an effort to promote safety at apartment complexes, ApartmentWIZ is sponsoring the Houston Police Patrolmen’s Union to help fight crime at area complexes and naming the month of November apartment crime awareness month. To kick off crime awareness month, ApartmentWIZ and the Houston Patrolmen’s Union is offering these top ten tips for choosing a safe apartment: and staying safe at your current apartment:

1) Check out the local crime statisitcs in your apartment’s area.  If you live in Houston, you can get crime stats at Houston Police Department Crime Stats.

2) Use a good apartment locator. Apartment locators are free and can offer wonderful insights on apartments that have low crime rates and good tenant feedback.

3) Choose a gated community with a fate that actually works. Gates at big apartment compexes are notorious for breaking. Ask your prospective apartment complex who maintains there gate. Then call the gate company and ask for an outage or service report.

4) Choose an apartment that is wired for alarm monitoring, and pay to have your apartment monitored by a security company.This is especially important if you live on the first floor.

5) Don’t live on the first floor. 90% of all apartment break ins occur on first floor units.

6) Visit a prospective apartment complex at night to ensure the property is lighted and secure.  Visiting an apartment property at night can show the complexes true colors.

7) Don’t leave any valuables in your car. This one may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people forget to take their valabules with them.

8) Look for an apartment with a 24 hour security gaurd.  Many apartments will advertise that they provide security when actually all they provide is a courteous officer.  Be sure your complex has a bonded, full time, security gaurd.

9) Talk to current tenants and ask them about their experiences at the property.  You would be surprised what you can learn from people by asking.

10) Stay away from apartment ratings sites! These sites are often full of bogus complaints by people who are just upset. Competing management companies have also been know to post false ratings.

9/1/2006 

Sounds great… Thanks again for taking the time to help me through this. I can’t wait to get settled in my new place. This is the best apartment locators I have ever worked with. Tell your manager I said you need a raiseJ
Good luck with your other customers.

8/23/2006

Thanks for all of your help. I will be sure to give your name to other friends and clients when they’re looking…you’re the only realtor who has done what I thought apartment locators should do, which is know the properties, actually know the units you are recommending, and staying on top of my needs and current openings.
 I wish I could have found an apartment for you to make your commission…if this goes through, perhaps I can give you a free healing session, yoga class, or life direction counseling session in exchange for your work? Let me know…
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The two comments above are unedited feedback e-mails from two of Jessica Laviage’s clients.  One is particularly interesting in that the client ended up leasing a private property, yet still felt compelled to write a client testimony.  In an age where most companies write their own client testimonies, and most clients only take the time to reply when dissatisfied; these feedback e-mails represent a significant customer service accomplishment.  To request Jessica’s help specifically in searching for an apartment e-mail her at jlaviage [at no spam] apartmentwiz.com or visit ApartmentWIZ Houston apartment locators and submit a request mentioning her name.   

New leases signed usually drops significantly as students return to school and fall sets in.  That’s good news if you are one of the few people looking for apartments in Houston during this time.  Rent prices can drop as much as 40 percent from peak August rents as Fall approaches.  Rents will usually stay low for Houston apartments until after the new year. 

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I had worked for almost a year on developing a blog about apartments in Houston and have only recently been forced to delete all the posts and start fresh.  Apparently, the former blog was subjected to so much comment spam and track backs that it actually brought our server to a slow crawl.  Hopefully, this new Houston apartments blog will overcome previous shortcomings.