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So our home is under contract and we are moving down to the Triangle area beginning Dec. Is it too early to start looking at rental homes? We were looking to purchase but just haven't found anything so we have decided on the rental route until we get the lay of the land so to speak.
I was thinking of coming down this weekend to look at a few rentals, really only 3 are reasonable, but I probably shouldn't wait until the end of the month, right? Cutting it too close?
if you're looking for a Dec 1, it definitely is NOT too early. I believe that you have a Realtor, if so, then they should be happy to assist with this ....
a. are homes in your location/price range renting really quickly?
b. if yes, you might not want to wait until you get down there this weekend. Your Realtor should know what you want and know if any of the available suit your needs.
I know of several people that moved here to rent to begin - in the spring/summer admittedly - that got jammed up trying to find a rental.
How long a rental term are you looking for? When we moved here in June 2012, we wanted a 6-9 month lease. That pretty much eliminated renting a house because they all wanted at least 12 months. Our small dog also eliminated MANY rental homes.
We ended up with a large apartment. Was it great? No,but it was affordable, in the neighborhood we wanted, allowed us to get a shorter term lease and allowed our dog.
Don't exclude the apartment and townhouse communities here.
JKG, we are looking for a year or more. We want to make sure we have enough time to figure out where we would like to buy. We also have a small dog so as you mentioned, we have been excluded from many possible rentals. We are looking in Cary, Durham (certain areas) and Chapel Hill.
We are leasing a single family home and have small dogs and a cat. It can be done! I think we signed the lease about 5 weeks before we moved in, back in early 2011.
My only caution is that we feel too settled here now to actually bite the bullet and move. In some ways it is a blessing to love our rental so much! In other ways it is frustrating to not own the house... And we do not want to uproot the kids, new schools, friends, etc. because we really do feel so settled here. With that in mind, I would advise against a lease longer than 12 months. Our landord let us go month to month after our initial 15 month lease. We are still here
Voltige, that does make sense. We are looking to stay just until we can get a good sense of where we want to settle down. we are going to send our kids to private school so we just want to finish out the rest of the school year in the local public school until next spring/summer so we can get them into the right school. I am using this winter and next spring to figure which school.
We have done the rental for a year and then buy so hopefully we will be able to use the year or so wisely!
any thoughts on pros and cons of renting longer than a year? I do understand Voltige's concern of feeling too settled, but are there other pros and cons of staying longer, like until June of 2015 rather than Dec 2014?
any thoughts on pros and cons of renting longer than a year? I do understand Voltige's concern of feeling too settled, but are there other pros and cons of staying longer, like until June of 2015 rather than Dec 2014?
If you're going to send your kids to private school I can't see how it matters.
any thoughts on pros and cons of renting longer than a year? I do understand Voltige's concern of feeling too settled, but are there other pros and cons of staying longer, like until June of 2015 rather than Dec 2014?
Quote:
Originally Posted by twingles
If you're going to send your kids to private school I can't see how it matters.
Pretty much!
Renting indefinitely is a mixed bag. The biggest drawback is that the house *almost* feels like ours but not quite. I would love to remove several bushes and trees for various reasons but we can't. On the other hand, the place works so well for us and we really do love it here. We have the benefit of living in a house without the worry of major system repairs. There are not any big surprises like that. Ever. Also, given the nature of my husband's job it is possible, even likely, that we will relocate somewhat frequently anyway. Not having a house to sell is a huge advantage. It all balances out and ultimately we would not still be renting if we really, truly, were unhappy doing so.
It is really hard going into a lease not knowing if you will be happy with the situation. For that reason alone, I recommend a year to start. We have been very lucky though. We have leased two single family homes and each time we stayed around 3 years.... (Still counting with this one). We never had the same luck with apartments.
The private school angle certainly gives you more wiggle room, since your kids will be making friends aside from the ones on your street. So when a move eventually happens when you purchase, they will not be completely uprooted like my kids would be.
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