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So... as I mentioned in my other thread, we are a family of 5 who will likely be relocating, temporarily, for one year.
We are considering two options for housing:
1) Rent an unfurnished place and move our household goods: This would require a full move (minus some long-term storage items we would leave in our current home). We would rent out our current home. This means preparing to list our house for rent and preparing for a move. This is a lot of work, but it would mean we'd have all of our own belongings with us, which might make the transition easier, especially for the kids. Renting the house out has its risks, but it does have its benefits -- I might feel more comfortable knowing my house was occupied while I was away.
2) Rent a furnished place: We would leave most of our belongings here, pack up our clothes and other needed items and move them down. This would save us the hassle of renting out our house and having a full household move. But we'd be living with "someone else's" furniture, and it might not accomodate us the way we are used to.
There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to both. Two other things that come into play are that fact that we have a dog and the fact that there don't seem to be many furnished rentals available, especially with the 4-5 bedrooms that we'd need (we'd like to have room for grandma). I haven't given up the search, though I'm afraid that the few furnished places I do find will likely have a "no pets" policy...
Any thoughts? Would you go through all the hassle just so you could have your own "stuff"? Even if it didn't matter to YOU, would you do it for your kids??
I would go primarily with renting the home furnished and bringing the few things for the kids - but not everything - we did it for a couple of months while in temp housing and it was fine - we could have done it for the first year.
I would go primarily with renting the home furnished and bringing the few things for the kids - but not everything - we did it for a couple of months while in temp housing and it was fine - we could have done it for the first year.
This does seem the simplest option... it is one we are seriously considering, but unfortunately I haven't found a furnished home for rent that is large enough for us and will take a dog. I'm not giving up on looking, though.
Neither. Buy used stuff at thrift shops, sale barns and yard sales.
I did consider this option originally, but I just don't think we can make it work. For one, our time is limited and I don't think we could move to a new area and get everything we need within a few weeks, especially not knowing our way around and having to find all of these places.
Secondly, I think the sheer amount of what we'd need would make it a daunting, if not impossible, task, anyway. Even with just the basics (no formal living room, no formal dining room, no office, no mudroom), we need family room sofas, tables, tv cabinet, desk, and TV... kitchen table & 6 chairs... master bedroom bed frame & mattresses, 2 nightstands, 2 dressers... three kids' bedroom sets -- frames, mattresses, nightstands, dressers, and desks and/or bookshelves... rec room furniture -- pull-out sofa, play table, storage cubes... various storage pieces -- trunks, cubbies, etc... four complete bedding sets -- comforter, sheets, pillows, mattress pads, etc... bath towels for five, kitchen towels... and that doesn't include all that we would need to stock a kitchen!
If it were just me and my husband, we could make it work, but we are a family of five, so realistically it's not doable.
I also considered buying cheap from Ikea/Target/WalMart -- I actually sat down and made a rough list of what we'd need, bare minimum, to be comfortable -- and we were looking at about $10K. And to rent furniture, etc? Well, that would cost 2-3 times that much.
That's when we decided that we would need a place that is completely or mostly furnished. Or, we will pay for the move ourselves, take mostly everything, and rent our home (rental market is good here).
Ok, just to share some more info, so far in my search I have found TWO furnished properties with enough space to accomodate all of us.
The first one is a double penthouse condo, fully furnished, with gorgeous water views. Not sure if they take pets or if they have elevators, but it's not an ideal situation with a very old dog who can barely climb stairs. But after I checked the schools, I could no longer consider it an option.
The second one is a furnished vacation-style home on the water. Sounds lovely, I know, but it doesn't look like it would be comfortable for year-round use -- sparsely furnished, with no TV's, not even cable hook-up or internet hook-up. We would have to do that on our own. But unfortunately, they do not take pets!
So that's it, that's all that I have found so far, that's why we are leaning toward the full move option. I am also wondering if there is really any chance that I will find a furnished place that will take pets... any thoughts?
I did consider this option originally, but I just don't think we can make it work. For one, our time is limited and I don't think we could move to a new area and get everything we need within a few weeks, especially not knowing our way around and having to find all of these places.
Secondly, I think the sheer amount of what we'd need would make it a daunting, if not impossible, task, anyway. Even with just the basics (no formal living room, no formal dining room, no office, no mudroom), we need family room sofas, tables, tv cabinet, desk, and TV... kitchen table & 6 chairs... master bedroom bed frame & mattresses, 2 nightstands, 2 dressers... three kids' bedroom sets -- frames, mattresses, nightstands, dressers, and desks and/or bookshelves... rec room furniture -- pull-out sofa, play table, storage cubes... various storage pieces -- trunks, cubbies, etc... four complete bedding sets -- comforter, sheets, pillows, mattress pads, etc... bath towels for five, kitchen towels... and that doesn't include all that we would need to stock a kitchen!
If it were just me and my husband, we could make it work, but we are a family of five, so realistically it's not doable.
I also considered buying cheap from Ikea/Target/WalMart -- I actually sat down and made a rough list of what we'd need, bare minimum, to be comfortable -- and we were looking at about $10K. And to rent furniture, etc? Well, that would cost 2-3 times that much.
That's when we decided that we would need a place that is completely or mostly furnished. Or, we will pay for the move ourselves, take mostly everything, and rent our home (rental market is good here).
Your kids can't live for one year, with the TV setting on a milk crate and their mattresses on the floor?
Your kids can't live for one year, with the TV setting on a milk crate and their mattresses on the floor?
Don't get me wrong, if this were Europe and we were giving the kids the experience of a lifetime, we would all sacrifice a lot to make it happen. But it isn't. It's going from one suburban town to another, and giving up all of what they know -- both sides of the families, friends they have known their whole lives, etc.
Living with "basics" would be doable for a few weeks, maybe even a month, but honestly, we would just not be comfortable like that long-term. I know that some people could do it, but at the risk of sounding materialistic, that is not us. And I'm not just talking about the kids here...
Removed by me - sorry, I missed your post about not renting furniture
If you know of any places that rent whole houses worth of furniture at a reasonable price, or think of anything else I've missed, by all means let me know...
I looked around online at lots of places, including ones that specialize in corporate relos, and it was just too darned expensive, $2-3K a month, and that's without kitchen cookware, etc.
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it is one we are seriously considering, but unfortunately I haven't found a furnished home for rent that is large enough for us and will take a dog. I'm not giving up on looking, though.
