Welcome to Central Texas! It’s as exciting to start a new page of your life and discover new horizons as it is stressful to move and juggle all the logistics of uprooting your life. So let’s help you a bit! Here are some resources that we hope we’ll make it a little bit easier to organize your move to Waco. Make good use of BUPA and its social network too, there’s probably someone who went through that exact situation you find yourself in and can help or give advice.
You First Trip to Waco
If you plan to fly in and land in Dallas or Austin, we recommend that you make sure that a colleague or your PI can come pick you up. They do so often, so don’t hesitate to ask them.
Otherwise, we think you should consider flying to Waco airport instead. It’s possible to find a shuttle (the least expensive but reliable service we know of is Waco Streak) or get a Uber/Lyft from the Dallas or Austin airports, but this will be expensive and whatever amount you saved on a plane ticket to a bigger airport you will lose in shuttle fees.
If you arrive at Waco Airport finding someone to pick you up will be a piece of cake (in addition to asking your labmates or PI, don’t hesitate to ask others at BUPA too!). There’s also a city shuttle that will drop you wherever you want in Waco or adjacent counties, for $3 to $5.
Find your New Home
We created a map of all the main Waco neighborhoods. It gives a short description of what to expect for each neighborhood (just click on the respective polygons to see it), a list of nearby cities if you’d rather live in a more rural setting and commute, as well as the location of the main grocery stores in Waco. That last bit of information is especially useful if you don’t have a car (see “Transportation” below). If you are coming with children have a look at our Coming with Family page, as you might want to consider where you want them to attend school first, and then plan around that. Finally, when comes the time to select a renter or homeowner insurance, we recommend that you have a look at Lemonade in addition to the couple quotes you will probably get. They are cheaper than average and whatever surplus money is left at the end of the year goes to charities, not the insurer’s pocket!
Renting:
Apartments.com is usually pretty comprehensive and has a handy criteria-based search function. It’s a good way to find places – then Google them and call. Don’t use the website to reach out to any of those, as most will never get back to you. Availabilities or rent are also usually not current (though they will give you a good idea of what to expect).
When you call individual places, always check which utilities are included, if any, and ask about all possible fees (refundable or not) that management will charge. Waco is a university town and demand for apartments is high. Managers learn quickly how to get predatory with those hidden fees.
Baylor’s is only marginally helpful when it comes to finding places, but they have a lot of VERY useful forms under “Housing Issues” that you should have a look at. In particular, make sure to go through the Lease Checklistdocument before you sign anything. If your landlord does not make you fill one out, print an apartment condition inventory form yourself and make sure you have them walk the grounds with you, fill it and sign it, both when you move in and then when you move out.
If you want to have some more time to get to know the city better before choosing where to eventually settle, looking at temporary accommodation can be a good idea. This Facebook Group has frequent sublease offers that you might be interested in. They also regularly exchange reviews and advices about finding off-campus housing in general.
Buying:
The housing market in Waco is attractive and many grad students choose to buy. The decision might be a bit more tricky for a postdoc, due to the difference in how long they are going to be in Waco. CEGGS, the Biology grad student association, has an interesting guide to buying a house if you want to explore that idea. We don’t have any particular recommendations to offer, but here is a directory of realtors working in Waco.
Transportation
Waco is not bike or pedestrian friendly. At all. If you think you are coming from a place that was not already, Waco is still probably worse. There are very few bike lanes, or even sidewalks, out of the downtown area and historic neighborhoods. If you want to bike, you can use this Cycling Mapas a reference. Keep in mind those are not bike lanes but rather recommended streets to use. In the rare instances where you’d find a bike lane, remain very careful and vigilant. Wacoans are not used to bikes and usually have no idea what to do with a bike lane (which means they often use them as turning lanes!).
With all that in mind, if you don’t have a car, you will want to carefully plan how far you will be from grocery stores and/or work when you pick your new address. If you plan on using the bus, have a look at Waco Transit System webpage – also look at their maps and times, as well as the fares.
On a smaller scale, there are a couple of free trolleys that help you get around downtown or the campus.
Finally, Baylor’s Alternative Transportation page has a couple of tips and guidelines that might be useful (explore the tabs on the left of that page).
Next Steps of Your Move
You have a roof over your head, but you can’t rest on your laurels just yet. There a couple more things you should do first! One is to turn your new place in a comfy nest by getting yourself some furniture, the second is to make sure you can drive in Texas, if you happen to move in with a car.
Finding Furniture:
There are a couple options out there that you might want to explore.
If you are in a temporary accommodation, or for whatever reason you only need temporary access to furniture, there is an option to rent furniture sets by paying a monthly fee.
Otherwise, the most common way to go about it is to find good second hand items. The Consignment Furniture Showroom is huge and they deliver too. A bunch of Waco’s thrift stores carry furniture pieces too, though mostly smaller pieces, as well as housewares: the Salvation Army store, several Goodwill locations, Hidden Treasures by Caritas, etc.
Online, you can check the Baylor Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook group, or the local Facebook Marketplace. Of course, Craigslist is the most famous and largest classified ad portal in the U.S. If you are not familiar with it, remember that Craigslist is massive, so it attracts all sorts of people and you want to err on the side of caution when meeting someone for a transaction. Meet in public spaces, like a busy parking lot, rather than at your place and/or bring a friend along.
Driving:
Whatever you do, this is going to be a nightmare. For those coming from abroad, try and console yourself with the fact that suffering a nervous breakdown at a DMV is part of the American experience. So have a couple deep breaths and locate the closest punching-bag-equipped location from your place. You’ll need it.
Now. First, you have to complete a couple steps before you can request a TX driver license, as detailed on the Texas DMV website. Don’t wait too long to do so. The grace period is 90 days after you become a Texas resident, and your Texas license application must be submitted before the end of it.
Once that’s done you will then have to deal with the TX Dept. of Public Safety. Follow the links that apply to you, from that page.
When prompted to sign up for an appointment, if you don’t mind driving out of Waco, we recommend that you pick one of the smaller town offices (e.g., Meridian, Gatesville, Marlin, etc.) as they tend to be staffed by nicer people than in Waco. They are also less crowded, so you might not have to wait as long.
Make sure (and do Google it a good dozen times to be safe and cross sources) that you have all the documents. Go to your appointment with your phone, one that has a data plan and is at 100% battery. Save all copies of the documents you are bringing, plus a bunch of others that administrations tend to ask often or that seem related, on your phone, or on the cloud, whichever, just make sure you have access to it all.
Whatever you do they will probably come up with something you don’t have and make you come back. If you actually manage to complete your registration in less than three visits to the local DPS office, BUPA will organize celebratory drinks in your honor. Really. That’s how much of an achievement that is. Or would be. We have never actually seen it happen…
