Advice Needed on Renting a Single-Family Home (Houston, Sugar Land: for sale, renter)

[jerbear30]

Currently, my wife and sons and I live in a condo. The location is great for the schools, but we very much miss having a backyard. Our aim is to move into a single-family home, as renters. We'd like to stay in the Spring Branch area, but since my wife and I both work downtown, we're kind of amenable to a lot of areas. Buying isn't really a possibility at this time for us, as there are some student loans that will need to be paid first. So, here are my questions:

1. How stable are most single-family home leases? (Sometimes I notice that the same home being listed for rent is also being listed for sale. Does this mean that there is a good chance that the next owner will give us the boot at the end of the lease? And does this vary significantly by region? In other words, am I more likely to find long-term single-family leases in one part of the city than another?)

2. I am very familiar with the HAR phone app. It is excellent and it is the main tool I have for locating single family home rentals. What other resources do you recommend? Is it important to "hoof" it through neighborhoods to see what the local signs say? Any other resources out there that help to compensate for what HAR might miss?

3. And here is another question (added in "edit" mode). Is there anything a prospective tenant can do in the process of applying for a lease that would help him/her discern whether or not the home will be available for lease for a while (several years)?

Thanks for any suggestions I get. I realize this is a bit of a specialized question.

[DejaBlue]

Since you're fine living in a condo why not try a townhome. Townhomes tend to be more friendly to long term leases.

Without the housing market I'd imagine single family home owners are more anxious to sell rather than lease and at the most just want you to have a 2 year lease. Won't Exxon be up and running in 2 years?

I'd think long term leases aren't anywhere. Long term as in what? 4+ years? Probably not in this market. Everything is sell sell and with everyone and their mom moving to Houston I'd think they'd be ready to cash out on the house rather than be still on it with a renter.

And in the area you want most sellers would rather go with a buyer than a renter because buyers are coming out the ying yang to Houston ready to pay whatever to live in Spring Branch and near the Energy Corridor.

[jerbear30]

Originally Posted by DejaBlue

Since you're fine living in a condo why not try a townhome. Townhomes tend to be more friendly to long term leases.

Without the housing market I'd imagine single family home owners are more anxious to sell rather than lease and at the most just want you to have a 2 year lease. Won't Exxon be up and running in 2 years?

I'd think long term leases aren't anywhere. Long term as in what? 4+ years? Probably not in this market. Everything is sell sell and with everyone and their mom moving to Houston I'd think they'd be ready to cash out on the house rather than be still on it with a renter.

And in the area you want most sellers would rather go with a buyer than a renter because buyers are coming out the ying yang to Houston ready to pay whatever to live in Spring Branch and near the Energy Corridor.

Thanks for the suggestions. I actually should have clarified that I do live in a townhome. I mean I think it's both a townhome and a condo. It's two stories, has a dinky little back porch area, etc.... Anyway, we'd really like to have a backyard, so most townhome's don't have that.

As per the idea of a long term lease, I would actually just want to lease for one year at a time on a renewable contract, as most renters do. I was just referring to the likely availability of the home for several years.

Here is a different way of putting the initial question: "how likely is it that if I were to rent a single family home in the Spring Branch area, the home will available to me for several years in a row, given that I pay my rent on time, etc...?" Also, to clarify, my budget is about 1800/month max and I'm fine with most schools in the Spring Branch school district. I'm not fine with Northbrook hs or Landrum middle.

[screwpeter]

Would you consider other areas outside of Spring Branch, such as Katy or Sugar Land? In terms of commute to downtown, Sugar Land may be another alternative to consider.

[Oskar_Z28]

I just rented my house in Spring Branch on 1 yr lease, but have an option on the lease to sell given 60 day notice - I want to keep my options open. Finding a renter was really easy for me.

I am not planning on selling anytime soon, but if this renting gets to be a hassle, I'll be putting up my home on the market. I like the monthly income that's coming in - it actually pays my mortgage on a bigger house . Will I continue past one year, maybe..... However I could sell my house for double what I paid for it 10 years ago, so this could be tempting.

[jerbear30]

Originally Posted by Oskar_Z28

I just rented my house in Spring Branch on 1 yr lease, but have an option on the lease to sell given 60 day notice - I want to keep my options open. Finding a renter was really easy for me.

I am not planning on selling anytime soon, but if this renting gets to be a hassle, I'll be putting up my home on the market. I like the monthly income that's coming in - it actually pays my mortgage on a bigger house . Will I continue past one year, maybe..... However I could sell my house for double what I paid for it 10 years ago, so this could be tempting.

Oskar, thank you for this perspective. I will be aware of the sell option when I begin looking for places in earnest.