Tirey Counts, owner and broker of Apartment World.

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Ty Counts, owner and broker of Apartment World, who shared his top tips for helping clients set a rental budget.  

3. The way to calculate the most rent you can spend (and still qualify for the apartment) is to take your gross (before tax) income and divide by three. This is because most all apartments will require that your make “three times the rent” in your gross income.

2. If you want to know how nice a rental is, there is a simple formula: rent (divided by) square feet (minus) an adjusting number for the neighborhood (equals) the quality.

Here is an example: If it takes $1,400 to get an A+ 1000 square foot apartment in the ‘burbs, then we would say the adjusting number is .40. If it takes $1,700 to get an A+ inside the loop, then we would say the adjusting number is .70.

1. If I had five rentals to look at and I wanted to put them in the order of their quality (without ever actually seeing them), I would simply put them in the order of their price per sq. ft. from highest to lowest. This is what a big OLD property can cost the same as a small NEW property.

Tirey Counts has been a trusted apartment locator in Houston since 1998. Ty is the owner and broker for Monarch Real Estate Group, Apartment World, and Apartment Stop. Through these companies, his team can handle all of our real estate needs. Whether you are a buyer, seller or renter, one of his agents can meet with you and walk you through the entire transaction.