BEFORE YOU APPLY
Get your apartment search ready before you apply
Use these tools to get your search in order before you spend money on applications. They can’t predict approval or tell you if a record will pass.
What you enter here stays on this page. It isn’t sent or saved, and reloading the page clears it. The apartment search form is separate.
Support beyond the apartment search
Find reentry programs, food assistance, legal aid, housing help and employment resources across Austin, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio.
Checklist before you apply
Go through these steps at your own pace. Checking them all off means you’re ready, not that you’ll be approved.
0 of 7 steps checked.
Move-in budget planner
Enter your best guess in dollars. Leave a cost blank if you don’t know it. The result stays a partial estimate until every field is filled in. Ask the property for the real charges, including ongoing fees and any prorated rent.
Enter costs and cash available to estimate your move-in budget.
Questions to ask before paying fees
Pick the topics that matter to you. We check each community’s screening criteria, so these cover what you still confirm yourself. You don’t need to give offense details or dates.
- Can I see your full fee schedule before applying?
- Is the apartment available for my move date, and which fees are refundable?
All 65 renter guides
Pick the part of your search you need help with. These guides cover common situations. We check each community’s criteria for you, and legal questions go to a lawyer or legal aid.
Screening reports and your rights
Understand reports, errors, notices, and your rights in screening.
- Arrest vs. Conviction: Reading a Tenant Screening Report
- Automatic Denial or Individual Apartment Review?
- Apartment Lookback Periods: Which Date Actually Counts?
- Will a DWI Appear on an Apartment Background Check?
- Criminal Records and Fair Housing: Texas Renter Guide 2026
- How Texas Apartment Background Checks Fit Together
- Dispute an Apartment Background Error: A Practical Checklist
- Apartment Adverse Action Notices: What to Do Next
- What Does a Felony Screening Exclusion Actually Mean?
- Violent Offense Screening Exclusions: Check the Exact Rule
- Find the Company Behind Your Apartment Screening Report
- An Expunged Case Still on a Tenant Report? Check These Steps
- Why a Completed Deferred Case Can Still Appear on Screening
- Why Dismissed Charges May Still Appear on Background Checks
- Denied Housing Over a Record? Separate Your Next Steps
Your record situation
Guides about offense types, case outcomes and clearing a record.
- Class A, B and C Misdemeanors in Apartment Screening
- Deferred Adjudication vs. Conviction: What Renters Need
- Misdemeanor or Felony DWI: Questions Before Renting
- Texas DWI Nondisclosure: Prepare for an Eligibility Review
- Texas Expunction Under Chapter 55A: A Renter’s Starting Point
- What Individualized Review Means for a Felony Record
- After Nondisclosure: Checking Your Apartment Screening
- Conviction Age and Apartment Criteria: Compare the Dates
- Domestic Violence Records and Apartment Screening
- Multiple Convictions: Organize Your Apartment Review
- An Older Violent Offense Record: Screening Questions
- Find Texas Legal Help for Expunction or Nondisclosure
- Misdemeanor vs. Felony: How Apartment Policies Differ
- Texas Nondisclosure Orders: What Chapter 411 Covers
- Possession vs. Distribution: How Rental Criteria Differ
- Property Crime Records and Individual Apartment Review
- Renting After a Drug Conviction: A Texas Search Plan
- Need to Move During Active Deferred Adjudication?
- A Texas Apartment Search After a DWI: Where to Begin
- Renting With a Nonviolent Felony: How Policies Define It
- After a Theft Conviction: Prepare Your Texas Rental Search
- A Weapons Charge and a Texas Apartment Application
- Old Felony or Recent Conviction: Compare Rental Timelines
- An Old Misdemeanor and a New Texas Apartment Search
- Renting With a Pending Case in Texas: Know Before Applying
- When Does an Old Misdemeanor Stop Affecting a Rental?
- Sealing a Deferred Case: Nondisclosure and Rental Reports
- Apartments That Consider Drug Convictions: What We Check
- Will an Apartment Review a Felony? How We Check
- Apartment Review With More Than One Conviction
- Renting With a Violent Offense Record: What We Check
- Checking an Apartment’s Misdemeanor Screening Rules
- Theft and Fraud Records: Questions for Apartment Review
Application preparation
Organize documents, see what we check in the criteria, and avoid unnecessary fees.
- Why Apartment Locating Is Free to Renters | Our Fees
- Check Your Records Before an Apartment Application
- Describing Deferred Adjudication on a Rental Application
- Before You Pay: Check an Apartment Listing for Scams
- Texas Rental Selection Criteria: Know Before You Pay
- Felony Apartment Application: Documents to Gather
- Deferred Adjudication: Your Rental Document Checklist
- Prepare a Misdemeanor Rental Application Without Guessing
Reentry and supervised housing
Plan around release dates, supervision requirements, and address approval.
- Income Documents for Your First Apartment After Reentry
- An Apartment Lease and Parole Address Approval Are Separate
- Facing a Parole Housing Deadline? Plan the Next Calls
- Leaving TDCJ: Prepare for an Independent Apartment
- Moving on Probation in Texas: Address Permission Steps
- Probation or Parole: Who Must Review Your Apartment Move?
- Renting on Probation: Your Texas Apartment Search Plan
- Before Parole Address Review: Questions and Documents
- TDCJ Housing Referrals and an Independent Apartment Search