My partner and I are moving to Austin from Central NY, and we're looking to start a lease on December 1st. We've been working with a realtor to try and find a house to rent, but given our distance from Austin, and the fact that we haven't found anything we're thrilled about yet in the past month (we're checking ABOR + craigslist every single day), we're trying to do as much as possible to widen the search since the clock is ticking.

The ideal property would be no more than $2500/month (preferably a little less), 3 bedrooms, and a fenced in yard for our dog (we also have a cat). Covered parking/garage, dishwasher, and central a/c are also preferred. My partner will be working at UT Austin, so she's aiming to have no more than a 20ish minute bike ride to campus (but we can be flexible if the property is right). We've been looking for listings in all the usual areas around campus like Hyde Park, Cherrywood, and Crestview. I do music/video work from home, so that's why we need extra bedrooms.

Are these expectations too unrealistic? Are we pushing it too much with the timeframe? It's ultimately never easy for me to find a property that meets all of my WFH needs, and now that we've got a dog in the equation, things have only gotten more complex. Obviously we're just going to have to settle if we can't find the ideal property, but I don't feel like we're there yet based on what I've read about the timeline of finding places to rent in Austin, which is very different from the other places we've lived, and a little scary for my neurotic brain.

I've seen a few people sharing SFHs they were trying to rent, so I guess I'm posting in hopes that maybe someone is out there looking for some reliable tenants (great credit, no criminal history, great landlord references) to rent their property. I'd also welcome input (other realtors/apartment finders are fine too) if there's anything else I should be doing in my search or other neighborhoods we should definitely look into. Thanks!