What about renting in a town other than where you'd buy? (for rent, day care)

[jojoboulette]

I think we have (finally!!) found a place we can tolerate well enough to cough up a ridiculous amount of money in rent... and there's a good chance we won't buy in that area. It's fairly close to areas that we *would* buy in, however.

Is there something I'm not considering in doing this? Several agents seem to be urging us to rent where we would buy, but I'm not getting why that's a big deal. Our child is just over two years and I'm thinking it wouldn't be super hard on her to switch from day care/nursery school life/friends at around 4-5 years... am I being a clueless momma here?

[bmwguydc]

As long as you are in the same general vicinity, it should not be a problem. You could always enroll your daughter in the preschool closer to where you would buy, so that she could make some connections with those with whom she would attend school. However, many of the preschool friendships are fleeting, such that she would be fine starting out in kindergarten without knowing the other children in her class.

Congratulations on finding a place! I know that you've had an exhaustive search.

[streetsmart]

Here's the thing, how do you really know a this point where you'll buy? We narrowed down our search to a couple of towns when we moved, and here we are 2.5 years later, moving to a different town that we never considered in the beginning. It suits us much better, and you just can't know these things before you live here. So I think you're fine because ultimately you may not end up buying a house where you think you will at this moment.

[jojoboulette]

Thanks for confirming my instincts...

bmwguy - I unfortunately spoke too soon, we don't have our house yet. Sigh. I think we are zeroing in on where we want to be though, both for renting and long-term. And that is really good.

streetsmart - I think you make a good point. Even though I think we do have it figured out... it can change once you live in an area. There's just no way to really know until you've spent some time here.

Onward and sideways... gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!