Austin’s rental market has changed dramatically in the last 10-15 years. Keeping up with the boom times this city has seen, construction has exploded to keep up with the seemingly endless demand for new housing. Thus, a new generation of buildings has sprouted out of the ground like mushrooms at a Grateful Dead concert. This blog post is about the four major types of apartments you’ll find when looking for a new apartment in Austin.

The Sadface from the 60’s

These are older legacy apartments built around the 60’s-90’s with paint-dryingly exciting names like The Woods at Oak Creek Village Park Place Mills. They have the charm of a retirement home for orcs. Shockingly, I’m not a big fan of these since they’ve spent virtually no time or effort in modernizing….anything. Most of them hide their digital presence in shame, not even having websites to even showcase their mediocrity.

Unfortunately, there is no “rustic charm” or “vintage” you will feel here. Instead, these carpet laden sunlight deprived orc dens will suffocate any sources of inspiration. Here you’ll find old worn down appliances and poorly chosen color schemes. You get the idea. Really, most of them are just existing on some fantasy alternate reality where Austin never grew into the city is now. They can be effective for on a tight budget, but reasons I believe I have made obvious by now, I usually aim the next type.

The Makeover!

A good way to think about these is to think of shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy or movies like The Princess Diaries, or any of the bazillions of makeover reality shows that form the foundation of millions of people’s self-esteem issues.

Anyways, these are the same buildings from before, but with serious gentrification-y makeovers. Lots of money from investors from with big complicated spreadsheets has been directed to improving appliance quality, paint jobs, removing carpet (thank god), general amenity upgrades, and most importantly new chic names that sound like nightclubs. The Ellie. Aspect. Echo. Trio. Is it a cool exclusive European techno nightclub or future home for you and doggo? Nobody knows! Some of my top go-to apartments for people with lower budgets fall in this category.

Read: Top 5 Affordable South Austin Apartments

The Modern Mid-rise

So it turns out, lots of people are moving to Austin. Surprise! Lot’s of those people are coming with good jobs, higher budgets, and capacity to demand the nicer first wordly things. This is the new generation of buildings built in the last 10 years. Here you’ll find air-conditioned gyms, nice resort style pools, swanky stainless steel appliances, air conditioned hallways, and a nice sense of general modernity.

These apartments tend to be the most popular with my clients. In the last 10 years, a ton of them have sprouted up. Competition amongst them is fierce. Fierce I say! So they are going above and beyond with amenities, building quality, style and design, community events, and most importantly, swanky night-club sounding names like The Arnold, Tree, Azul, Groves. You can now find these buildings all over Austin offering competitive rates and pricing.

Read: Top Medium Priced Modern South Austin Apartments

Read: Top 5(ish) East Austin Apartments

Super Swanky Downtown Highrises

So things have been going well for you. Maybe you sold your third New York Times Best Selling semi-autobiographical international espionage spy novel. Maybe you started that world-shattering techy startup company that turns plastic waste into tasty gummy bears. Maybe your experimental pan-flute death metal band took off and now you’re like super cool and famous. You never hesitate to get extra guac on your taco. Either which way, things have been going your way financially. In the apartment world, you’re ready for the big leagues now.

Read: Top 5 Swanky Downtown Austin Apartments

Read: Top Luxury South Austin Apartments

These are the creme-de-la-creme. The whole shebang. The royal flush. The buildings that make up those sweet downtown skyrise buildings that made you want to move here in the first place. Here is where you can expect grand skyline views, luxury pools, well-dressed leasing staff, apartments with wine racks, and a sudden urge to go to that jazz club down the street on Tuesday nights to sip on classy overpriced cocktails. Your fit-bit counter will sky-rocket once you move to one of these since you’ll be in walking distance of that place you probably work at, or Whole Foods, or that cool new James Beard award-winning restaurant down the street.

Unsurprisingly, you’ll be paying handsomely for all of this. Not to mention, parking at these places can add an extra $100 a month. If you don’t flinch at the price tags at these places then go forth and let me help you find that swanky pad for you! Otherwise, I would aim for one of the plentiful and better priced Modern Mid-Rise buildings.

“Ok Alex, stop messing around. What kind of valuable insights should I take away from your nonsensical ramblings about apartments?”…is likely what you’re pondering.

What you should take away is that there is a wide variety of options when it comes to building quality, type, and affordability. Thanks to the wonders of competition, Austin’s apartment rental market is healthy, vibrant, and diverse.