[coog]

Hi all, I'm relocating from out of state to Lansing in early Aug 2009. If anyone could help with a few questions I have, I'd be most appreciative.

1. In light of my Aug arrival, when is a good time to travel to Lansing to look for a house to rent? I'm preliminarily thinking about mid-June. Is this too early or too late to look for a rental? I'll be in Lansing for a few days and want to sign a lease before leaving.

2. Are there websites other than Craigslist that have large amounts of rental listings I can browse before I actually visit Lansing to sign a lease?

Any other suggestions/recommendations are also welcome. TYIA.

[coog]

More specifically in regard to #1, I'm particularly worried that waiting until June to find a house might be too late because of students grabbing up housing for the fall (I'm considering both Lansing and East Lansing). Is this as much of a concern as I think it is? Or am I unnecessarily worried?

[millere]

Originally Posted by coog

Hi all, I'm relocating from out of state to Lansing in early Aug 2009. If anyone could help with a few questions I have, I'd be most appreciative.

I used to live in Lansing and East Lansing. I will see what I can find.

[specficer]

1) I think Mid-May might be better to land a place. But there are usually lots of places open and you can always sublet if you need to.

2) DTNManagement owns a large portion of the apartments in the area. They have a decent website in which you can look at all there properties and choose which is best for you. You can also check out Michigan State University for the school's recommendations for off-campus housing. They may have a list somewhere of websites.

[Michigan Refugee]

With all of the communities around East Lansing having a housing surplus with so many students leaving and all of the foreclosures...I don't think that there will be that much of a shortage as compared to 3-4 years ago. There are many very nice communitie around East Lansing such as Williamston or DeWitt...if you can make the commute.

[michiganbob]

Just a couple of years ago you probably would have needed to lock a place for the Fall down by May. Now, I am not so sure. There are a lot of new apartments in East Lansing, north of Meijers on Lake Lansing Road that are actually cutting their rents for the fall. In my 20 years here in Lansing I am seeing a lot more "for rent" signs popping up before the school year is even out. If MSU's enrollment falls even a few hundred students it will be a glut of rentals on the market and--maybe--lower prices. IMHO East Lansing is overbuilt and will likely be so for the next few years . . . if that's where you are looking.

Having said that, unless you are a gambler, I would not wait too long. I think mid-to-late June is probably a good bet to move in early August. You might find a better deal later in the summer, but you don't know.

Here's a website that some interesting homes for rent: Lansing Area Home Rentals. The homes here are not cheap, but in your posting you did not indicate that you were a starving student, so I thought I would throw it out there.

I would also add a word of warning about some of the house rental ads I have seen recently on CraigsList: a couple times a week there is an ad (no street address given, of course) for what looks like a new or nearly new 3-4 bedroom home at a very low price. (Granite counter tops, wood floors, but no exterior pics) If you look in some other cities you will see the same ad with the same pictures, sometimes with the same description!

[Nedibes]

I think June is probably safe. I helped a friend relocate to the area last summer (I don't live there anymore, but my mom does) and she did her search at the end of June for a mid-August move. She ended up with a lovely house in Okemos. There was a large selection of homes for sale that weren't selling and were converting to rentals; I think that late June was a good time to find these, because that was about the time home-sellers started to decide that they wouldn't be able to sell that summer. I don't know if conditions have changed so much since then that the calculus would be different, but I suspect you will find a stock of homes anytime over the summer. My friend was specifically NOT competing with students--she was looking for a family home, in a non-studenty area.

The house she settled on she found on Craig's List, but we also used some area realtors' lists as well as listings in the classifieds (in the Lansing State Journal).

Good luck!

[coog]

Thanks everyone. Your responses are very helpful to me.

Just to clarify, I'm only interested in houses (not apartments) in the city limits of lansing or east lansing (must live close to work).

I've moved my visit up to the end of May. I've been looking at houses on craigslist, but its hard to tell whether a house is a good deal or not because I don't know the different areas of town very well (e.g., whats safe, not safe, etc.). My budget is $1200-$1600 a month; I'm hoping to find a decent 3br in a safe area for that price.

Any other recommendations/suggestions are certainly welcome.

[Marti191]

I live in a nice area 3 blocks south of Potter Park Zoo in Lansing. There are a TON of small houses to rent in my general neighborhood. They have been there a long time. I don't think you'll have a problem finding a rental house. I would watch out for the area it's in though, there are some pretty crappy areas in Lansing now.

[GalFriday]

I lived in Lansing for several years. I think East Lansing can be hit or miss with how your neighbors will be. You may get great college students, you may get party people.

West side of Lansing (Waverly/Creyts Rd area) is nice.
North and northwest of downtown was crummy.
Southeast of downtown (Kalamazoo/496/127 area) was decent - old, but the neighbors were good.