Durham rental scene, please help! (Raleigh, Trinity: apartments, rentals, houses)

[headeast2012]

I'm looking at relocating to N. Carolina in the next couple of months. From what I can gather from friends that have lived there, the city of Durham seems like a great fit for me. Here's what I'm looking for: No more than three miles to city center, a small house that allows dogs, in a semi-secure or better neighborhood. In my searching (craigslist mostly) I've found innumerable apartments for rent with taglines that mostly include exclamation points and all caps. But I'm hoping to find a house (or duplex at least) that falls somewhere under the $900/month point. Is this best found in Durham by driving around looking for, for rent signs (I'll be visiting in August) or is there a website/specific property manager that anyone can point me to? Or am I S.O.L.?

-Derek

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by headeast2012

is there a website/specific property manager that anyone can point me to? Or am I S.O.L.?

Try Realtor.com for rentals in your price range. You can filter it for houses, but you have to read the descriptions for whether they accept dogs. You can also use their search-by-map feature to drill down to places within 3 miles of the center. There is also hotpads.com, but they may be out of date.

[ncmickey]

Many rentals fit your description. Try riding around Old West Durham, Watts-Hillendale, Old North Durham, ect. All close to downtown. I messaged you a realtors name. I rented through them in Old West Durham.

[busydesk]

Derek,
There are several recent threads about Durham rentals...lots of folks looking for next year's rental ( Duke kids) and such. In them you will see the names of realtors who specialize in the neighborhoods mentioned previously. You will have no problem locating a house for under $900 that allows dogs in the Old West Durham, Watts, or Trinity area. You may have to settle for half a duplex, but they are out there. Lots of renovation going on in the OWD area right now so more houses may come available in the next few months.
Using Craig's List as a source here is very risky and I strongly DIScourage people from doing it. The experiences our son has had with that entity have been everything SHORT of positive....its an unfortunate truth that there are lots of scammers out there just dying to separate you from your money and they have made what started as a good idea into a really unreliable resource.
By the way, a shortcut to finding all those realty names is to use the Duke Housing Office's list of recommended purveyors of off-campus housing.

[Sunduri]

I moved here from PA a few months ago and located all my potential listings on Craigslist. After arranging to fly down to Raleigh for a weekend, I called the listing person and arranged an appt to view the house. I didn't send any money beforehand, so there wasn't any risk as far as that went. I decided on one of the homes on Sunday and flew back home on Monday with the rental contract signed and a check left behind for security deposit. Obviously, its probably best to leave a security deposit in check form rather than cash, for tracking purposes. I did feel a little twinge of uneasiness with doing this remotely, but had no choice since getting a realtor to work with me on a rental was next to impossible. I must have spoken to 4 or 5 realtors who himmed and hawed and just didn't want to "waste" the time for the little kick back they'd get on finding a tenant for a property. I think you just have to use your judgement as to whether or not the person listing the home for rent seems legit when you meet them in person.