The scary part.....

[carolinadreamin]

We're weighing that carefully. It would be nice to have a home all ready for us to move to but what if our own house isn't selling fast enough? Personally for us the situation of owning two properties is something we have to avoid mainly because our FL home has with it extremely high $$ upkeep so it allows us nothing extra to support a second home in SC.
On the other hand, renting isn't hassle-free scenario either. We have 2 cats and see several rentals with NO CATS in the ad. That limits the rental market for us. What about folks with dogs?
Also, being the one who gets to do all the packing of a family of four the idea of packing and moving twice is a real headache. I'd probably have to keep most of our stuff in boxes the entire time we're renting and looking at homes. We've done that a couple times before and it's a bit demoralizing not having all your familiar things around, especially for the kids. And of course you can't personalize a rental property in many instances. It can be a bleak and stark environment.
So what I keep hoping we will be able to do is sell our house here with a 45-60 day closing period that allows us to come to SC, house hunt and hopefully find something that we can buy in that same time frame.
If that works out, great. If not, renting is our only option. And it's actually a good idea in terms of having time to explore an area before committing to a house.

[baylovers]

At least the rents in SC are usually pretty reasonable. And I have heard that you get accostomed to living with the bare necessities when all your stuff is in storage, but I can see how it can become difficult with kids.

[tony123]

Is that what you call it.........accustomed. I thought it was depression. I feel much better now. 80 days left!!!!!

We have two large dogs and found several options. Pets do limit your options, but they don't make it impossible.

[irrek]

Hi--I totally agree. Even though I don't want to have to move twice(rent and then buy and move again). If we go down and rent we can assure ourselves of the right area. We want to go down with the money from the sale of the house in our pockets, bank it while we rent, earn a little interest and save for about 6 months to a year--and then make the plunge and buy.

Take care to all

[mpaquette]

Anyone going through this?

Yes, our home in Michigan has been on the market since October 06. Lot's of foot traffic, but not 1 single offer yet. Already have lowered the price twice. We got sick of renting and made the decision to purchase another home in SC and carry 2 mortgages. I'm crossing my fingers with spring someone buys it.

[momix5]

I would rent first only because my house on Long Island the taxes keep going up. I would not want to have two mortages with escallating taxes. Hope to relocate next year when daughter graduates!!!

[mpaquette]

For anyone looking to rent, be careful and research, research, research. Our plan was to rent an apartment until our house sold. Our choices of apartments were a bit limited because we have a Labrador. To make a long story short, the apartment ended up being a dump with I-26 just outside our bedroom window. The best part was that it flooded 3 days after we moved in. Basically it flooded whenever it rained. Luckily we were able to get out of our lease and move on.

[estrogen]

Well I am building a home in Aiken that will be done in late September...so I am carrying my mortgage at this house, the construction loan in SC and just hoping my house here doesn't take a yr. to sell.

There is no way to do this and save money. If you don't build now , whose to say the cost of land won't be up in the future? If I waited I could have run into that. Market is terrible on resales, so when I list my home May 1st. I will be more realistic and ask what I think the market will bear. Cross your fingers. The only saving grace is that my mortgage payment here is not too much........however, it could be if I carried two houses a long time (lol)