FAQ
The Questions Every Incoming Resident Asks
Timing, paperwork, lease length, renewals — answered the way we answer them on the phone, including the parts that are not flattering to anyone.
Free to residents and fellows — the community pays the locator fee. No obligation, and no unit ever pushed on you.
Questions and answers
- When should an incoming intern start the apartment search?
- Late March or April, in the weeks right after Match Day. San Antonio pricing firms up 60 to 90 days ahead of a move-in, so that window is when a July 1 lease gets shaped on good terms. A June start still works — it just means picking from what remains instead of from the whole market.
- Is the service really free, or is the fee hidden in my rent?
- It is genuinely free to you. Communities budget locator fees as a marketing cost and pay them to licensed locating services when a referred renter signs; the advertised rent is the same whether or not a locator was involved. Because fees are broadly standard across communities, they do not steer which properties reach your shortlist.
- Which documents should I have ready before applying anywhere?
- The executed residency or fellowship contract, government photo ID, and — where your program offers one — a verification letter confirming your start date. Fellows changing programs should add current pay stubs. We match that package against each community’s written screening criteria before any application fee gets spent.
- Can you promise a community will approve me?
- No, and you should walk away from anyone who says yes. Screening decisions belong to each apartment community under its own written criteria. What we do is verify, before you apply, that the documentation you actually have matches the policy actually in force — targeting, not influence.
- My residency runs four years. Can I just sign a four-year lease?
- Almost never — twelve months is the standard initial term across San Antonio, and only some communities will discuss anything longer. What a multi-year tenant can control is the renewal posture: we ask each shortlisted community in writing how it has been handling renewal pricing, and we tell you honestly that increases are normal rather than pretending otherwise.
- What actually happens at renewal time?
- Expect a renewal offer 60 to 90 days before your lease ends, usually at a higher rate. Your card in that conversation is turnover cost: a reliable tenant staying put is worth real money to a community. We brief every client on that conversation, and if the number comes back unreasonable, running a fresh search for year two costs you nothing.
- We are a couples match. Does that complicate things?
- It changes the search more than it complicates the lease. Two contracts in one household file is routine paperwork at most communities; the genuinely hard part is geometry — two commutes, two schedules, and bedrooms that need to be far enough apart. That is exactly what our couples-match search is built around.
- What will you never ask me for?
- Social Security numbers, bank credentials, or driver-licence numbers — none of that belongs in a chat or a web form, and we never collect it through this site. Screening documents go directly to the community you choose through its own application system. We also never ask for payment, because you never owe us any.
Match week is loud. The housing search doesn’t have to be.
Tell us your program, your start date, and how you need to sleep. We shortlist, verify the written policies, and run the San Antonio legwork while you finish medical school.