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My fiance and I will be moving to another city several hours from where we live now in Arizona, and want to rent for up to a year before buying to ensure our financial stability. I've been trying to find house rentals online (about the same price as apartments actually in this area because we'd be willing to drive further out and want 2+ bedrooms and a garage), and have had a hard time finding anything that posts dates available in the future.
Will we need to wait until the month before we move to find something that will rent to us? Does anyone ever post a listing knowing their tenant will be out of the place a couple months in advance (now I haven't seen anything with an available on date past early March)? I'd like to drive over there in the next month or two as we have time now, and to start renting in May. We want to go with something managed by a company as we've had good experiences with ours, and have friends with horror stories from renting from an individual (many inexperienced landlords out there).
Any suggestions on finding something nice in an area with not a lot of rental inventory? From what I can tell it's because the area we want to live in is statistically 95% homeowners, and mostly newer-construction. We're thinking of renting in the same area we want to buy in to familiarize ourselves.
Any good websites you all like? I like Google's home rental search function best so far as you can limit it by the age of the home as well as the standard price/size.
Our fall back plan is just to wait until April and take a long weekend to drive around neighborhoods we like and call numbers on signs to see if we'd be able to see them. We are semi-familiar with the area, so this may be an ok plan, just not the most desirable as we'd count on people being available to show homes, and we could miss areas by mistake. Also, we may have to settle for a lesser house, or a higher price doing this. It's the type of area that the same size and year house could vary hundreds of dollars for seemingly no reason besides some nicer upgrades (and probably the landlord's mortgage payment).
What area are you looking to move? It sounds like you have a specific area in mind. I don't start advertising until 2 weeks before a move-out, and if an application is approved, I only hold it for 7-10 days with a substantial deposit.
I had a prospective resident look at one of my places last Feb. 2007 and wanted me to hold it until August. 6 months?? I don't think so.
We're moving to Tucson. Thanks for the info--we'll keep that in mind. I guess we're being good tenants by giving a few months notice that we're leaving here!
What area are you looking to move? It sounds like you have a specific area in mind. I don't start advertising until 2 weeks before a move-out, and if an application is approved, I only hold it for 7-10 days with a substantial deposit.
I had a prospective resident look at one of my places last Feb. 2007 and wanted me to hold it until August. 6 months?? I don't think so.
I agree. I can't see holding it for more than about 14 days or so. I advertise about three weeks before I anticipate the unit available for rent (2 weeks for the move-out and 1 week for any repairs/repainting).
I have been given a 6 week hold for apts by larger complexes. What about doing a month to month lease so you can live there and shop around without being stuck?
Or maybe look for an extended stay hotel type with a kitchen and have your items sent to storage while you look?
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