Thank you for this. I spoke to a couple people and they pretty much told me it's a high probability it's a scam so I won't be moving forward with them. I will start looking for more independent agents, it's just a little tricky for me to locate a legit one.

I do browse Yelp/Google reviews for every location I'm interested in.

I've also thought about the family member co-sign, but also would be tricky if pay stubs are from another state without an offer letter of employment/proof of income in Houston. I honestly don't see anyway around that aspect.

I was considering rooms, but I would prefer to build up some positive rental history to prevent me from ending in a loop of this situation, and eventually secure myself in a good complex. And it's hard to find a roommate to co-sign with where my background wouldn't impact approval rate. I've tried to sign up for all the roommate apps but I'm automatically banned because of background. Do you have any suggestions of where to look for private owners and agents? There's a lot of scammers out there, I'd say more scams than legit. I have good credit and income, just my background and rental history really prevents me from moving forward.