Rental House Value for the Money (Charlotte, Raleigh: renter, condos, houses)

[RAV Industries]

My wife and 14 y.o. daughter are relocating from Rhode Island early in 2008. We've done some extensive research of the 3 major metro areas (CLT, Triangle, Triad). I'd like to get some clarification of my assumptions I've made so far. We are going to be renting a house for the first couple of years until we decide where we want to buy. We're looking for a 3+ bdrm in the $1200-$1400/mo range. So far these are my impressions, PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong or if you have any insights..

Charlotte appears to have the most houses available (by far) followed by Raleigh area and then Greensboro.

The majority of the houses appear to be in subdivisions and owned by property managers. (We've always owned a house and could use some clarification as how subdivisions may differ from privately owned houses. Are they similar to condos with fees/maintenance included, etc?)

The best source we've found is rentalhouses.com. Are there any other sites you'd recommend?

I'm in the car business and my wife has a home-based business so we aren't limited to which area we can move to, and I don't want to turn this into a Raleigh/Greensboro/Charlotte "which is better" thread, but narrowed down to "Rental House for the Money" aspect, any insight?

Thanks and I really love reading these threads!

Ryan

[NCgirl]

Hi again

I am an apt. renter so I don't have complete insight on the rental houses. However:

The majority of the houses appear to be in subdivisions and owned by property managers. (We've always owned a house and could use some clarification as how subdivisions may differ from privately owned houses. Are they similar to condos with fees/maintenance included, etc?)

Houses in a subdivision are privately owned and not managed by an outside company. Once all the homes are sold the builder moves on to a new project. The home owner/renter is responsible for all maintenance. Some neighborhoods have Home Owner Associations with regulations (example: fence type/height, house color).