Advice needed - Finding a short term furnished rental in Duham/Chapel Hill (Raleigh: extended stay, real estate)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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We are retired professionals who need to find a furnished short-term rental in the South Durham/Chapel Hill area for Jan. - Feb., 2017. We would prefer a house to an apartment. We've spent a lot of time on Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com as well as vacation rental sites and AirBnB with little luck.
Any suggestions? How does one identify real estate companies that would manage furnished short-term rentals?
You're going to be very, very limited for furnished and only 2 months.
I'm surprised that you haven't found something on VRBO or airbnb or homeaway. Are you being picky? Or are you bringing pets? Expand your search to other neighboring cities.
I would not expect to find ANY furnished rentals for 2 months listed on zillow, Trulia or realtor.com, and I think you're wasting your time with those searches.
Google 'corporate housing' and you'll get some options but it won't be what you've got in mind. But I suspect it's the best you're going to find given your specific requirements.
I've never heard of real estate companies that specialize in short term furnished rentals in this area. Many apartment complexes will arrange for rented furniture, but generally the minimum rental period for the apartment is 3 months.
Do you have a budget? There are several short term furnished rentals in Chapel Hill, but I'm not sure how much they run. I know there's a house in Southern Village that gets rented out, but it might be prohibitive for 2 months. Try googling sabbatical homes and that might get you something.
When I needed a furnished rental in the same area for February and March 2015, I finally gave up and stayed in an extended stay hotel. It served my purpose; I had dogs who were allowed; and was convenient and gave me sufficient space. FWIW I stayed at Staybridge Suites in Durham.
Friends tell me that there is a housing listserv for the Duke University community...Do you know anyone who might help you see sublets that might show up there? I'm guessing that there would be something similar for UNC peeps.
Also try Craigslist. I just saw several possibilities there in the sublease section searching for Chapel Hill including this one. I didn't search other cities, but you should.
Neighborhood listservs in Durham are your friend. Try durhamhoods.org for examples of them.
You will rarely to never find some of these arrangements on Craigslist but you might on lists. As a personal example, my wife and I have a garage-apartment at our house in Trinity Park; our last tenant just moved out and we will move in sometime in the next 6-8 months when a master bath renovation starts. We will likely provide it semi-furnished for short-term renting/Airbnb before we are ready to move in.
I see posts of this nature every few months on our listserv and others like it (and we'll post ours there when the time comes, e.g.); check out the core Durham neighborhoods that are zoned for and more likely to have in-law apartments, etc. Good luck!
A short term rental house will be difficult enough to find, and adding on the furnished requirement will make it even harder. I would suggest broadening your search to include unfurnished rentals and then rent the furniture.
Not sure about Durham but in Raleigh there are a few firms like ExecutiveStay, HomeSuiteHome, and one other I can't recall who will do this, but often sublet for a 3-month minimum. Furniture rental places like American Furniture Rentals or Cort have 3-month minimums for populating your apartment as well.
There are quite a few short term fully furnished houses in Chapel Hill. There's a website called "Sabbatical Homes" that has listings for several.
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