Moving to Austin June 1... should we scope it out spring break or later.. (Round Rock: extended stay)

[RomeandJill]

We were originally planning to come down during spring break to scope out austin community college, university of texas, the city itself and search for home rentals. We need a three bedroom or more.. should we wait until school gets out the second week of May to come down and find a house?
We are 12 hours away and have never moved so far away... any suggestions?

[Moonlady]

The sooner the better. The rental market is very tight right now. You should definitely engage with a realtor to help you find a rental. Almost all of the non-apartment rentals are listed on the MLS: austinhomesearch.com.

[AMJ27]

When is your spring break? I wouldn't come here to check out whether or not you want to live her while SXSW was going on.

[RomeandJill]

We were thinking about coming down March 16-24 but we can't actually move until June1. That is why I was concerned about coming down too soon. Idon't want to find a house and then find out it will be rented out before June 1. I'm so scared it will be hard to find a house.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by RomeandJill

We were originally planning to come down during spring break to scope out austin community college, university of texas, the city itself and search for home rentals. We need a three bedroom or more.. should we wait until school gets out the second week of May to come down and find a house?
We are 12 hours away and have never moved so far away... any suggestions?

I'd wait until early May. Homes available for June 1 will give 30 days notice May 1st. In March, there will be no homes on the market for June availability. You will be wasting your time.

There are some things you'll need to consider:

Every mover, whether buyer or renter, has the "mover's dilemma", which is that for some period of time you'll either have two places to live or nowhere to live. It amazes me, after 20+ years of helping people move into Austin, that this fundamental reality remains lost on so many people. So if you know this and are aware of it, you can plan contingencies that will allow you to navigate the move more easily and allow more properties into your consideration pool.

For example, what if the "perfect" home you want to rent won't actually be available until June 15, and you'll have "nowhere to live" while waiting for it. If you've already worked out your "Plan B", such as an extended stay motel, vacation rental home, etc, you'll be flexible enough to consider that property.

Likewise, if you were to come look in April, you'd have to realize that most landlords in Austin won't hold a home vacant longer than 10-15 days waiting for your move-in, yet you may not want to pay for both the old place and the new for a long overlap. So if you were to view the "perfect" home April 15th, which is currently vacant, and ask "can you hold it until June 1st?", the answer will be 'no'. But if you were prepared for that reality and able to pay an additional month of overlap rent to hold the property, you can still make it work.

I just showed my only vacant home to a young couple a few days ago who stood there stoney-faced when I said "no, we can't hold it vacant for you until March 31st. We talked about this on the phone already". Their lease doesn't end until March 31 and they are already out looking. Nothing wrong with that except they seem to not yet fully comprehend the "mover's dilemma" nor have planned for it.

The best place to search homes if you'll be doing it without a Locator is www.AustinHomeSearch.com. There you will see the actual listing agent contact info for each listing. Pay attention to the "Status", "PB" means it already has an accepted application but still shows up in online searches. I suggest you find a Locator Realtor who knows leasing though. There are many in Austin and it's a free service to you. Stay away from "Apartment" Locators or inexperienced Realtors though.

Good luck,

Steve

[RomeandJill]

Thank you Steve,
Are you a realtor? I would love to get your information to help us if you are interested. What you stated is exactly my concern. I am not concerned about the date too much. We could afford to overlap say a half of a month or wait an extra two weeks. But I don't want to go down too soon and find a house that is available way too soon. We have to wait until after my son graduates from high school May 20th. We are available and anxious to move anytime after that. I am also concerned about cost of a rental home. My husband and I both just went back to college and will be transferring to ACC to finish our Assoc. and then to UT for bachelors, so money will be very tight. We have three of our five children coming with us but two of them want to get their own little apartment, they are in college as well. We have a lot of antiques and we have our own brand new frig, stove, micro, washer and dryer. I have been searching the site you mentioned as well as the mls austin property search. Anyway, Thank you again

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by RomeandJill

Thank you Steve,
Are you a realtor? I would love to get your information to help us if you are interested. What you stated is exactly my concern. I am not concerned about the date too much. We could afford to overlap say a half of a month or wait an extra two weeks. But I don't want to go down too soon and find a house that is available way too soon. We have to wait until after my son graduates from high school May 20th. We are available and anxious to move anytime after that. I am also concerned about cost of a rental home. My husband and I both just went back to college and will be transferring to ACC to finish our Assoc. and then to UT for bachelors, so money will be very tight. We have three of our five children coming with us but two of them want to get their own little apartment, they are in college as well. We have a lot of antiques and we have our own brand new frig, stove, micro, washer and dryer. I have been searching the site you mentioned as well as the mls austin property search. Anyway, Thank you again

I am a Realtor, but I don't help people find rentals, I just lease the ones I own and manage and thus know a lot about how it works. Mostly I do sales. You need a Leasing Locator for search help, such as Habitat Hunters (google them and ask for Jodi, she's the owner).

I'd get rid of all the stuff you don't need. If you can't do that, and you're on a tight budget, you're probably going to end up in one of the outskirt areas such as Buda/Kyle, Hutto, Manor, Round Rock, Georgetown, Leander where bigger homes are cheaper. ACC campuses are scattered all over the Austin Metro area so no matter where you settle, you should be near at least one campus. But scheduling preferences often have ACC students attending multiple campuses to get the times and days they want.

Plan to have to store your stove, all houses come with one. About 1/3 of the lease homes in the Austin MLS include a refrigerator, so plan to store yours or keep it in the garage if you find a house you like that comes with one. If you have pets, it's going to be harder unless you have 2 or less, and they weigh less than 35 lbs. Many homes are "no pets".

Good luck.

Steve

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by RomeandJill

We were thinking about coming down March 16-24 but we can't actually move until June1. That is why I was concerned about coming down too soon. Idon't want to find a house and then find out it will be rented out before June 1. I'm so scared it will be hard to find a house.

SXSW runs through March 18. Until that clears out you are unlikely to find a hotel room within a convenient distance, traffic is heavy, and restaurants are swamped.