Advice about renting our property please (Austin, Atlanta: rental market, insurance, mortgage)

[cruickies]

Hi everyone.
As some of you might know we are planning a move to Austin from the UK...just as soon as we can sell our house here in London...and that is taking MUCH longer that we first thought it would!

When we came out for a visit in Oct we saw some homes that we liked and one of them is back on the market.

Since OCt the number of houses in our preferred neighbourhood 78750 has dwindled and none of the houses recently have ticked many of our boxes.
However, a house that we first saw in Oct is back on the Market and we are seriously considering buying it and renting it out until we can come over ourselves.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out how much we could expect to get for a 4 BR, unfurnished house in 78750, spicewood Elementary school catchment, 1 acre with a pool. Its in good condition and neutrally decorated, 1 storey.

Does anyone have a sense of how the rental market might shift in the near future and how rentable the house might be?

Is there anything that we as first time "renter out-ers" should be aware of...like special insurances, other costs, pitfalls>

Thanks in advance.

ALi

[atlanta hope]

Ali,

I've been looking in that neighborhood myself for the elementary. I haven't seen much to rent, so that's good for you! I would think that depending on how nice it is, it could rent for anywhere between $1500-2000. Also, you have to consider if you would be paying for a pool service to make sure they're taking care of your pool -- and a one acre lot, you might want to get a landscaping company to maintain it. If you throw in those perks, maybe you could get more.

Check out craigslist.org and also the austinhomesearch.com have rental places. In fact, I'd recommend listing it on craigslist if you aren't going to have a property management company taking care of it for you.

Sorry you're having rotten luck with your house. We're just getting ready to list ours and are hoping we can get out of Atlanta quickly. This housing market crisis is tough!

[gigi927]

My only additional advice is to make sure that you cover as many of your fixed expenses as you can...a lot of homes seem like a no brainer to rent until you figure in the cost of your monthly property taxes and trying to cover those on top of the mortgage payments. If you can or are willing to take a loss for the short term, then it's probably not as big a deal. Best of luck with selling your house!

[Derek ATX]

how many square feet is the home? Let me know and I will pull up rental rates for that area for comparable sized homes.

Derek

[cruickies]

Originally Posted by Derek ATX

how many square feet is the home? Let me know and I will pull up rental rates for that area for comparable sized homes.

Its roughly 2,400.
Many thanks

[atlanta hope]

Originally Posted by cruickies

Its roughly 2,400.
Many thanks

I'm probably a little low -- I just looked at houses in that zip...