I moved to Austin Texas from India in about 2020 to do my master’s degree at UT Austin. Before I came here I had never rented an apartment in America, not even in My home country India. I did not know how deposits worked here. I did not know what fees were normal and what were not. I did not know I had rights as a renter.
So I made so many mistakes. I lost money on deposits I should have gotten back. I signed leases without reading them properly and paid for things I never agreed to out loud. I had landlords who kept my money and I did not know I could fight it.
I finished my degree and stayed in Austin for my work. I work in tech now and I still live here. Austin is my home now.
But I never forgot how hard that first year was to me. Not just the money part. The feeling of being new to a country and not understanding a system that everyone around you just seemed to know already.
That is why I started GoFinanceTools.
Renting your first place in America should feel exciting. But instead, for a lot of people, it feels like hidden fees showing up out of nowhere and deposits disappearing without a real explanation, and finding out too late that you had rights you never knew about.
GoFinanceTools is a real free blog that explains all of my real experience about renting in plain English before any of that happens to you. Real costs, Real rules, Real advice from someone who learned this stuff in the hard way
Every post on this site comes from something I actually went through, or something a friend, a coworker, or a family member went through while renting in Austin. Nothing here is made up or copied from somewhere else. It is just what I know from living it.
If you have a doubts about renting or want to reach out to me you can email me at support@gofinancetools.com. I read everything. Thanks, love you all
Peter Roy
Austin, Texas
