What to look for in a home (rental)?

[milkmommy]

Were starting to look at rentals with in the price range of what we will be looking at once DH job starts. While its too early to commit at this time it gives us an idea of what will be out there were learning what companies to consider and well its fun :giggle.. Today we saw three all has ups and downs so want some feed back to what YOU would consider more important...
House #1
pros - Location its close to where we are now which is actually a great location and a quick hop to a main road for DH to get to work about 20 mintues for him but with in a few miles of DD school our church groccery ect..
cost $775 a month which will actually be on the low end of our budget
home lay out decent 3 bedroom 1 bath all tile a plus nice large back yard with a good combo of hardscape (bikes) and "grass" (gardening)
good features the tile indoor laundry area nice large living area nice clean kitchen overall nice clean rooms updated though small bathroom..
concerns- 1 bathroom and its small, no master bedroom and the rooms are tiny no real "master" closet space

House #2
location perfect
cost $875 on the higher end of what we are hoping to pay but still with in budget
Home lay out 3 bedroom 2 bath 2 car garage (laundry here)
Good features nice large rooms decent closet space small bathroom off master large living dining area nice large backyard
concerns lots of things need fixing the bathrooms are pretty bad the back doors need replacing "security" bars on back windows (unnecessary for the neighborhood) and thats a safety concern

House #3
location a bit too far the wrong way :giggle but not totally out of reality
cost $900 really the max we'd like to pay (we are figuring the rent may go up in the future)
I don't know a lot past this as we haven't seen the inside yet from window views its alsoa 3 bedroom 2 bath it looks more up to date than the 2nd but I don't know room size and such..

SO far we've seen several in great locations and honestly I'll betting when we really look this will still be possible but it also seems that we can pay less but still get a nice clean home with a nice yard but will have tiny rooms and like zero closet space (we only have two in this place but the "mater" is not too bad a size) adding furniture wont be happening anytime soon... and we do havea king we'd like to keep but wont fit in the smaller homes. We can pay a bit more gain space but then compromise on "style" end up with a place where some big time work is needed especially with bathrooms and such or the possibility of just needing to consider the max and getting closer to what we really want but already being at the upper end of what we want to spend..

Thoughts?

Deanna

[Happygrl]

Is this going to be a long-term rental, likely? If so, space to grow would be a primary concern of mine. If you anticipate only being in it for a few years before moving on, as long as space is decent, I wouldn't put that as a top factor, esp. since you've been managing in a smaller locale.

[Lantern Light Mama]

Usually I look at:

Location
Safety of the neighborhood (but I am at home alone with the kids all of the time)
Who the landlord's are, what kind of vibes they give, reviews if its an agency
condition of the home
amount of space (sometimes I am willing to sacrifice space to meet other needs)
Preferably 3 bedrooms
outside area for the kids (but this depends on the climate of where I am moving and sometimes if we are in a cold climate I'd rather have indoor space than outdoor space)

[milkmommy]

Is this going to be a long-term rental, likely? If so, space to grow would be a primary concern of mine. If you anticipate only being in it for a few years before moving on, as long as space is decent, I wouldn't put that as a top factor, esp. since you've been managing in a smaller locale.


It could be for a while but really not sure. We will be here (in this town) maybe "forever" but we will need to save and such in order to be considering a home not sure how soon that may be. All the homes were "bigger' than what we have now but then some things weren't here we have a "larger" master with a walk in closet not huge but enough DH and I can share it with out being on top of each other constantly and we can actually fit our bed in it (though no other room :giggle) i the first house I doubt there was even 3 feet across of closet space for the "master". but it was clean and pretty...

Deanna

[milkmommy]

Usually I look at:

Location
Safety of the neighborhood (but I am at home alone with the kids all of the time)
Who the landlord's are, what kind of vibes they give, reviews if its an agency
condition of the home
amount of space (sometimes I am willing to sacrifice space to meet other needs)
Preferably 3 bedrooms
outside area for the kids (but this depends on the climate of where I am moving and sometimes if we are in a cold climate I'd rather have indoor space than outdoor space)

That seems to fit us well as well. Were in a warm weather area and DH LOVES to garden so outdoor space is key.

Deanna

[HummusDip]

I might wait and find something that would be a better fit. But from the 3, I'd pick the first from your description.

To us, the outdoors is more important than the indoor features. Location is huge too. Cheaper the better. I wouldn't want something that's not in good shape personally, I'd rather not have a headache thank you! :giggle Safe neighborhood...or for us, safe country... (we don't like neighborhoods)

Good luck looking!

[klpmommy]

#1 for us is location. The home we are in is 1.5 miles from dh's work & that is so helpful. We save money in gas, he is able to spend more time at home & he can often come home at lunch. And if he forgets something important it is not that hard for us to get it to him or for him to run home. Esp when gas prices approached $5/gallon the higher amount we pay on our mortgage was well worth it b/c that is money already budgeted & does not change like gas prices or wear & tear on a car.

Combined with that, it has to be a safe neighborhood.

One thing I wish about our house & I would have been willing to go a little further away from work if I had realized this before buying here, I want to be in walking distance of *something*. Our house is only in walking distance of the fire station. The trade off is that we have easy access to major roads & a freeway, which makes driving so much easier, but I really wish we didn't *have* to drive to the library, the parks, etc.

The other things I look at are things that *can't* be changed. You can't change room size or closet space, although you can fudge on the closets by using dressers, etc, as space allows. You can't change the size of your yard, although you can change the contents of the yard (well, it is a rental, that will depend on your rental contract).

As for cosmetic things, I would talk to & negotiate with the landlord. Can things be updated, blackened windows cleaned/replaced? etc

[MudPies]

another thing to consider (that might raise a red flag about #2) is how the house has been kept up. A good landlord will care about his property and it will show. If he doesn't care about his property chances are he won't care about you as a renter nad things like future upgrades or paint or carpet or whatever would be harder to get out of a person that doesn't care to begin with. does that make sense? I would go with a smaller house with less closets that is updated before I would get another with a potential landlord headache!

[milkmommy]

I wouldn't want something that's not in good shape personally, I'd rather not have a headache thank you!
Very true

Deanna

[milkmommy]

another thing to consider (that might raise a red flag about #2) is how the house has been kept up. A good landlord will care about his property and it will show. If he doesn't care about his property chances are he won't care about you as a renter nad things like future upgrades or paint or carpet or whatever would be harder to get out of a person that doesn't care to begin with. does that make sense? I would go with a smaller house with less closets that is updated before I would get another with a potential landlord headache!

Actually all these homes were under the same managment company we've done our research and so far there stuff has overall been the best the homes we saw were going through some repairs and such so improvments were possible..

Deanna

[milkmommy]

One thing I wish about our house & I would have been willing to go a little further away from work if I had realized this before buying here, I want to be in walking distance of *something*. Our house is only in walking distance of the fire station. The trade off is that we have easy access to major roads & a freeway, which makes driving so much easier, but I really wish we didn't *have* to drive to the library, the parks, etc.

Thats us as well except kinda the opposite. DH work is on the "other part" of town between 2040 mintue drive depending on time of year and traffic we could get a home VERY close to his work which would be nice for him and save on gas to get to work... However there is NOTHING for us over there it would mean a 20-40 minute drive twice a day to get DD to school longer if we decide to put her in the Catholic school which we are planning by the 2nd grade. Far from our Church far from groccery parks recs ect. Where we are now I can walk to several neighbors and friends to a groccery store at least 2 parks even DD school if I had to and its just a few miles by car.. So We'd rather stay around the area we are now.


Deanna

[milkmommy]

I might wait and find something that would be a better fit.

Yea none said lets move NOW were just starting to realize when we are ready something may need to give...

Deanna

[Drew]

We always rented apartments so I can't speak to yard issues. I'm not a person that spends a lot of time outside, so even when buying a house inside has always been more important to me than outside. That being said, when looking at rentals our top concerns were:

safety of the building/neighborhood
condition/upkeep
location
# of bathrooms.
closet space

Of course rent plays into the decision as well but we never looked at places outside of our budget.

[expatmom]

I'd consider:

1. Location (both proximity to things & quality of the neighbourhood)
2. Layout & condition
3. At home laundry
4. Outdoor space - I know this is a priority for you guys.
5. Covered area for parking/playing or whatever you'd need to make living in a hot desert more bearable.

With 3 people, I could probably live with one bathroom but I still would want good storage space. :think