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Thank you for the Realtor.com link. I was able to finding housing for rent for between $400 and $600 Winston Salem. It's most likely not in the best neighborhood, but I've lived in Cleveland Ohio most of my life, I doubt it would be that large of a culture shock.
This is a very good point, I think foreclosure has the worse effect on your credit, vs short sale, but I have to check with the realtor on that issue.
You are correct - the short sale will be somewhat less damaging than a foreclosure, but that's not your only worry. Your status as a self-employed person will also be a red flag to a landlord.
A suggestion if I may? Copy your tax returns that show your income as a self-employed person. Don't have one yet because you weren't self-employed last year? You have to come up with SOME way to prove to the landlord that you will have income to pay the rent each month, as well as your other bills. Contracts with current and on-going clients.
And be sure that the rest of your credit report is clean as a whistle and know what your FICO score is prior to giving anyone permission to pull your credit. Warn the landlord IN ADVANCE that they will see the short sale and your current FICO score. Ask if that will eliminate you as a potential tenant. If so, do not allow them to pull the credit. Repeated pulls will only damage it further.
Here is the site that allows you to pull your credit report, once per year, free of charge. You will have to pay a small fee (<$10) to get your FICO score. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
Thank you both for the quality responses, you are giving me much to think about.
I was able to talk to one of the property owners with a house for rent in WS, she said she would need to double my security deposit due to any credit issues and she would tack on an extra $350 to cover the dogs (because of their size).
Out of curiosity, what is the one time road tax? Taxes in my county for comparison: 7.75% sales tax, property taxes are $2250 a year for my house valued at $95,000, vehicle renewal is $35 a year. No road tax.
I had a small family pow-wow with my sister and mom today just to get extra opinions, but they are biased because they don't want me to go. They told me to keep "fighting" for the house, which is another issue entirely which I won't burden anyone with in this thread. I'm ready for a fresh start and I really do not want to resort to renting in a lower income neighborhood in Cleveland. I don't know how bad a lower income neighborhood is in WS, but in Cleveland, it's pretty damn horrible.
My ideal way to have executed this move was to first spend a few months making 3 or 4 trips to different cities in NC so I could have some first hand insight, as well as to put aside a decent amount of money to at least see me through 6 months of expenses while I get established. The housing situation is pushing me to make fast a decisions, which are not always the cleanest decisions.
Worst case decision is that I end up having to give up my dogs and share rent with someone.
Put an ad on CL to see if you can find someone who likes animals (or has some if you think yours might get along okay with others) and see if you can share a house.
That's my big suggestion, as everyone else who posted already said what I was going to say.
If you had more per month to spend on housing, I think you'd be fine. But, you don't have much.
You really might want to consider taking temporary, inexpensive housing there in Ohio (best neighborhood you can swing) until you save up some more money, though.
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When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
one-time 3% tax of the value of your car when you relocate, up to $150 max value
annual tax on your vehicle of 1% of the value (which i believe is taken from NADA book value)
sales taxes will vary from county to county & for particular goods (i.e., sales tax on merchandise may differ from sales tax on prepared/restaurant food items, depending on the county)
state income tax
you will likely want to research further to see how these taxes differe from what you pay in ohio. you may also wish to visit the city-data cost calculator to try to compare. many who come to NC are surprised that while houses may be cheaper, taxes / utilities / groceries / etc. may not be.
Could you elaborate some? Do you mean price wise, cost of living? Culturally, etc.
This tells me you really don't seem to know very muich about the state, and yet you have "wanted to move here" for a long time?
What is about that you do know about NC that makes you want to move here? What areas are you familiar with?
City-Data has "city capsules" on every city/town in the US; you might start by checking them out to learn about the cities you're thinking of. Here are the larger NC cities but they have them for everywhere.
$600 seems pretty low for around here, especially with dogs. NC is something like #5 in the US for unemployment right now, so finding work may be more difficult than you imagine once your current contracts expire.
Francois, Cleveland is like the 2nd poorest city in the nation, so unless I had plans to move to Detroit, I can't imagine the economic situation being any worse. In a previous post I outline briefly my reasons for wanting to move to NC, but realistically my ideal home might be somewhere else entirely, until you actually see a place first hand you never know for sure, and can only base the decision to move to an area on second hand data, and like stated before, proximity to other relatives and weather maps.
I found some houses in NC that are rented out by the day or week, I'm considering taking a two day trip down to at least look around at one of the prospective areas, but I'm also doing some more strategizing regarding costs. A friend sent me a list of housing that is outside of the Cleveland area and below $700 a month +allowing dogs, so some other options are available.
I appreciate every reply, I've printed out the pages and I'm doing some math based on what's been posted here. I haven't give a "yes" to the short sale yet, so there is still some time, but not much.
Francois, Cleveland is like the 2nd poorest city in the nation, so unless I had plans to move to Detroit, I can't imagine the economic situation being any worse. In a previous post I outline briefly my reasons for wanting to move to NC, but realistically my ideal home might be somewhere else entirely, until you actually see a place first hand you never know for sure, and can only base the decision to move to an area on second hand data, and like stated before, proximity to other relatives and weather maps.
Really, my point was: if you're moving simply "to get out of Cleveland", perfectly understandable, but might as well look for somewhere with a good job market over somewhere with a so-so one, given the choice. The good thing about a "Anywhere but _____" move is that your options are in a sense wide open. It is one thing if you've seen a place and fallen in love with it, or have family somewhere, or a job prospect, but (I could be wrong) I didn't have the impression that this was your sitationregarding anywhere specific in NC. Good luck to you! I would REALLY hate for you to have to relinquish your dogs
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