How to rent a house from across the country?

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Don't worry about the school year, since you are not really competing with student tenants, as a family.

For me, there is a small window of time when I furiously try to fill apts with graduate students, especially law students, who I know will rent for several years. But, these are really tiny studios next to a university.

But, if your landlord doesn't like students, or you are looking outside of that small window when students are looking, then don't worry about it.

A landlord would prefer to rent to someone who will stay longer than 9 months, which is what most students are looking for. I look for first year law students, because they are usually too stressed and busy to move for several years, and all they do is study - making for perfect tenants.

But, I don't see your situation as being influenced by the student influx. And normally, a landlord would prefer you to students, anyway, because of noise, mess, short term lease, etc.

[Munichmom]

Thank you for your feedback NoMoreSnowForMe! I was really thinking that people moved before school started so their kids could start the school year in their new school (vs college students renting). I hadn't really thought of the other perspective, but, as you mentioned, college students and our family will likely not compete for the same types of homes.

On a related note, you mention that landlords look for longer-term tenants. Do you think that most landlords in the area are in that boat vs. unable to sell their house so they become landlords begrudgingly? (we had to do the latter for a few years when we couldn't sell our house in the US before we moved to Germany). That would be great news to us as I am not that inclined to buy a house unless we know we are there for the "long haul", which means we could easily want to rent for 3 - 4 years, and would prefer to stay in the same house the whole time.

[butercup]

Hi Munichmom - we are apparently living parallel lives (along with Wintermomma), so I'll keep replying to your posts

I am not sure about the supply in the summer vs school year for rentals, since I quit looking at CL when we found our house for fear of finding a better one that I missed..however, you will need to assume that you will need to sign a lease the second you find a house. If you have the funds, it would definitely be worth trying to secure a house before you get here, even if you pay an extra month of rent, just to decrease your stress level.

We ended up finding a house the first day we were in the hotel - it's 15 minutes away from where we wanted to be, but it's a lovely house in a nice neighborhood. In our case the landlords have lived here for 20 years and wanted to see if they were ready to move out and onward without selling - they were looking for a 2 year commitment (but settled for one). All that stress was for nothing - we are happy where we are - but we are nowhere near our goal neighborhood which would be a problem if we hadn't given up on the public school option. The funny thing is that the schools where we are renting are very good, we needn't have panicked - but we'd already enrolled the kids in private and taken them there - and since we're buying, we know they wouldn't stay in the same public down the road.

Since you are planning on staying in the same house the whole time you are here, I think you're in decent shape - you'll just not likely be able to zero in on one single school as a goal.

There is literally no one in Palo Alto/Los Altos right now that would be renting because they couldn't sell their house - this market is insane. You might find people renting that are planning to sell down the road, but I imagine you can't predict that.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by butercup

There is literally no one in Palo Alto/Los Altos right now that would be renting because they couldn't sell their house - this market is insane. You might find people renting that are planning to sell down the road, but I imagine you can't predict that.

Exactly true. There's no trouble selling homes right now here. So, odds are that you will find a place where the landlord wants to keep the place as a rental. Much better situation than living in a house that could go up for sale. Of course, there are no guarantees, but it's a better situation out there for renters now, in that regard.

I'm wondering if it might not be easier for you to focus on what school you want your daughter to go to. You've got so many variables that you're looking at, I'd lose my mind!

So, find the school, then find a rental in that district. That's my advice.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Oh, and as far as the market being affected by families moving before school - I really don't think so. People move here all year round, as the weather doesn't keep people from moving around. Also, companies hire and transfer people all year round. The only time of year when it can be hard to get a place rented, is during the holidays - from November to January.

But, last year things picked up so much for me here, that I didn't have trouble renting out my studios even during the holidays last year.

[Munichmom]

Thank you all very much! NoMoreSnowForMe, I think I will take the route of finding schools that are appealing to us AND that have space and then focus our search there. We will hear from the corporate relo people in a week, or so. I am hoping, we can find corporate housing in a similar neighborhood, so we possibly could enroll the kids quickly.

There were a lot of interesting options for rent about 10 days ago, but the pickings look a little slim now (for the areas we are interested in). I am hoping that turns around again in the next month!

[hubbard53]

I suggest you do corporate housing and then find a place to live. Don't do sight unseen b.c you'll be disappointed. In my search I found that they don't really keep homes, rentals, etc. up to date and clean.

We did corp housing in a new apartment complex and ended up signing a lee in the same complex after looking at A LOT of homes, condos, and apartments.