Rental Market in Bend (moving to, budget, pet friendly)

[Steve Pickering]

After four years our 5th wheel is going to be a vacation home at our Arizona Property. Full time was just too much. We have the Camper for camping.


and we had a smaller 5th wheel

But the full timer was too much for camping

[ukiyo-e]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Personally, I already own a small travel trailer and I like it, so I could live in it while building. I would not have the expense of buying an RV. But just because I'd be happy doing it doesn't mean that someone else could tolerate it.

I don't mind the small travel trailers; but personally, I can't stand large RVs, especially when 1) I get stuck behind one going up a long grade, and 2) when I'm tent camping and trying to enjoy the outdoors, but have to set up at a park campsite and listen to someone's generator so they can have their TV and a/c out in "nature."

[Steve Pickering]

You can always go around. At my age my last tent campout was Sturgis in 2007. A pup tent for 19 days doesn't cut it anymore.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Rental test. I've got one that will be going on the market in a few days, so I will see what the response is. Getting close to $3000 in repairs. I brought it on myself by giving someone a break. I know better than to give tenants the chance they think they deserve.

I've got another one where the tenant gave notice and rescinded. I've already got a new tenant for that one. He wants me to call him as soon as I receive notice so he can give notice where he is at.

[TrevorJames]

This is my first post and I have found a lot of the information on this board very informative but nerve racking as well. I am relocating from Vermont with my girl friend soon to be fiancee, both college grads and in our late twenties, with positive landlord references. After living in Vermont for 10 years, I want to make a move as does she, where we can make a life together in a refreshing area. We are coming to town on July 15th for a week, her parents are coming as well and making a mini vacation out of it. This trip is partly business for me, I will be working the JbarJ ranch horse show from the 15th to the 28th. It's fortunate I will be getting paid to check the area out and hopefully lock in a place to rent during this time.

What were looking for
House, Duplex, Townhome
$1200/month max
2-3 bedroom or/ 1 bedroom + loft/ office space and ample storage
Garage
Dog friendly, we don't currently have one but it's a must have for my girlfriend
walking or biking distance to the downtown area
under 30 minutes to Mt. Bachelor

I would rather sacrifice walking distance to town over the garage but if there was ample storage I could go the other way

My concerns and questions
1. There seems to be a lot of rental agencies with "rental apps" do I fill out a rental app for every property or per agency?
2. If one of us has a job secured and the other doesn't at the time of applying will this hurt our chances? (We both will pass credit, background, landlord references checks)
3. In the case of us not finding a place during that time frame are there monthly/ six month rentals available? We would then have to store our belongings and re-move which is not ideal
4. Is craigslist and bendrentalguide.com my best options?
5. Should/ how long before I am in bend should I get in contact with these property management groups
6. What do these management groups do for me?

I know this is a lot of information, any response, advice or pointing in the right direction will be extremely helpful. Thank you in advance.
Trevor

[delta07]

Originally Posted by TrevorJames

This is my first post and I have found a lot of the information on this board very informative but nerve racking as well. I am relocating from Vermont with my girl friend soon to be fiancee, both college grads and in our late twenties, with positive landlord references. After living in Vermont for 10 years, I want to make a move as does she, where we can make a life together in a refreshing area. We are coming to town on July 15th for a week, her parents are coming as well and making a mini vacation out of it. This trip is partly business for me, I will be working the JbarJ ranch horse show from the 15th to the 28th. It's fortunate I will be getting paid to check the area out and hopefully lock in a place to rent during this time.

What were looking for
House, Duplex, Townhome
$1200/month max
2-3 bedroom or/ 1 bedroom + loft/ office space and ample storage
Garage
Dog friendly, we don't currently have one but it's a must have for my girlfriend
walking or biking distance to the downtown area
under 30 minutes to Mt. Bachelor

I would rather sacrifice walking distance to town over the garage but if there was ample storage I could go the other way

My concerns and questions
1. There seems to be a lot of rental agencies with "rental apps" do I fill out a rental app for every property or per agency?
2. If one of us has a job secured and the other doesn't at the time of applying will this hurt our chances? (We both will pass credit, background, landlord references checks)
3. In the case of us not finding a place during that time frame are there monthly/ six month rentals available? We would then have to store our belongings and re-move which is not ideal
4. Is craigslist and bendrentalguide.com my best options?
5. Should/ how long before I am in bend should I get in contact with these property management groups
6. What do these management groups do for me?

I know this is a lot of information, any response, advice or pointing in the right direction will be extremely helpful. Thank you in advance.
Trevor

You should be able to find something, I would think. Your budget seems reasonable and you aren't looking for anything too unusual or unique. You may have trouble with the dog friendly aspect, but more likely because you don't actually have a dog yet. For most owners and/or agencies, they will interpret you wanting to get a dog as a puppy, which may or may not be true. Most rentals don't want puppies.

Finding something that is less than 30 minutes from Mt. Bachelor may be an issue, but truly, it's only going to be a matter of minutes. It's about 30 minutes from downtown Bend. If you stick to the west side of town, you should be happy with the distance to the mountain.

When I was moving to Bend, we ended up going through craigslist because we couldn't make a trip out to find a house and had to rent site unseen. We discovered that most agencies wouldn't let us do this. I would try to meet with the agencies when you are here. Even if you aren't looking to rent right away, perhaps they would bend their site unseen rules if you viewed properties with them previously. I'm not a big fan of agencies though, as I don't feel like they do anything for the renter (and often not even the landlord). They just usually charge of bunch of money with application fees, cleaning fees, etc. My preference has always been to go with an individual landlord, especially because I have pets and they are usually more fleixible than the agencies.

[Steve Pickering]

Same advice. Avoid the agencies like a plague.

[kapetrich]

Anecdote: Just listed a stand alone house on CL just off third street. I had a signed year lease in 24hrs with more interest, again, than I knew what to do with.

Question for Mods: Why is someone posting pictures of their RV set up in this thread?

[TrevorJames]

Thanks so much for all the great info! Were only 2 weeks away from our visit and the I am so excited to finally get in town. The houses on craigslist have been moving fast and it seems like the rental market has jumped up a few hundred dollars a month over the past month. Anyone have any leads on soon to be available places?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I've got 2, but they don't fit your criteria. Also, I don't like renting to people who are just moving to the area. My experience is that they just want a place to light while they look around. Then I have a vacancy soon after, have to clean up all over again and do the entire tenant search all over again. No thanks.

For $1200 a month, you should be able to find a moderately decent house. But in order to be 30 minutes from the ski slope, you will be looking in one of the most expensive areas, and probably won't get anything for $1200. Plus it is not a short bike ride to downtown