Finding a house to rent is a pain

poopshovel wrote:

mtn wrote: If/when I get on full time here, I'm gonna give it a year and I'm going to be looking at buying a house. No reason not to, the payment will be lower than rent.

Assuming you've got decent credit and 10-20% for a down payment, as it should be.

I'd actually have to have my dad cosign with me. I have no credit (I should probably get a credit card and fix that, a year should be enough to build it up, right?)

If I don't have enough saved up by then for a down payment (I should have enough, but nothing in life is certain), our deal is that I'm going to pawn my guitars to Dad for the amount of the down payment. Except I'll actually hold onto the guitars. And he won't charge interest. And the value of the guitars isn't as much as a down payment would be. But whatever.

The other idea that we've thrown around is he takes buys the house and I rent it from him at half the interest rate the bank is offering over 10-15 years. He'd either pay cash or if the mortgage rate is low enough, take on the loan if he thinks he can do better in the market.

Having family who is willing and able to help out is absolutely irreplaceable.

Not to brag, but I've been living month to month for 550. No contract, no lease, no promise to stay. Ice been there three years now with two cats and a 100 lb dog. I can even park unlicensed vehicles on the landlords commercial lot.

There are opportunities out there. Gotta grab um. I am looking at buying though...

Mtn, a year should be fine. I believe anything over 720 is considered excellent. Just keep up on payments and you'll be fine. Thats all I did.

mguar wrote: In reply to friedgreencorrado: you do understand that the statement "Good fences make good neighbors" comment was said in irony don't you? In other words good fences don't make good neighbors..

You should build a fence around your keyboard.

Great thread. I have rental houses. They are older but they are what I call real houses, not what I call "drywall houses". They have plaster walls and hardwood floors, big fenced yards, old plumbing fixtures in some rooms and no dishwashers which seem to have become a requirement for life at some point, and attached garages. One has a gas lamp in the front yard. I just refinished it last weekend.

I wish people on this board looking for rental houses were looking in my area. . Its hard to find good tenants.

In reply to mattmacklind:

See our first apartment was like that. It was built in 1948 and it was great. Like I said in the beginning, the problem with a lot of older places (at least all that I have looked at) have mold issues in the basement/crawlspace and my wife is allergic. That's what happened with the old apartment that we loved. We had to move out.

Unfortunately, I have to look for newer places, because there is a lesser chance of the mold issue. My wife also wants to make sure we have things like 2 bathrooms and a dishwasher, because she was unfortunately spoiled by the condo we're at now.

Dishwasher is a cheap fix. $400 gets you a full sized portable one (assuming you have room for it).

I completely lucked out this week!

Been looking for a house for rent since the little girl that was killed in the apartment complex last year has made me turn away from apartments.

My ex-co-worker recently bought a house last year in a cheap foreclosure deal for something like $60k! Since then, the company he works for, and I previously worked for, has been merged in with another company. Now he needs to relocate to West Virginia and needs to dump this house.

His terms to me is $800 for EVERYTHING! Rent, water, trash, gas, electric. No deposit, no background checks. Just needs someone in. He is also extending an offer for me to "rent to own" since there is nothing tying him down to Atlanta anymore. 3 bed, 3 bath, big porch with ceiling fans, fenced in backyard, 2 car garage, a sunroom that connects the house to the garage, looooong driveway, located at the end of the street!

Move in date is my birthday!

the looooong driveway

In reply to DukeOfUndersteer:

Thanks for rubbing it in.

In reply to DukeOfUndersteer: So that means I can come over and work on my car in your nice garage when it gets cold, right?

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Apologies. Move down to Georgia! It's warmer and no rusty cars!

In reply to Matt B:

Bring the tools, I'll get a space heater

I stumbled upon something like that earlier this week.

Found a 3 bedroom house for rent for $55 more a month than I'm paying for a 2 bedroom apt in a complex. We weren't looking to move, but that deal would be perfect for my girlfriend, myself and our 2 kids.

Duke,
Sweet Deal!
In fine GRM fashion, thank you for including more pictures of the garage than anything else.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

I will find myself spending more time in there than the actual house. For when I am working on my cars, and for sleeping in when I get in trouble for buying more cars

In reply to DukeOfUndersteer:

SCHWEET! Congrats, dude!

Congrats. Where is that?

Bumping this thread to pat myself on the back--found a place to live for the next 6 months!

No pictures of it, but it is a 2 bedroom place with a washer, dryer, and dishwasher, it comes fully furnished (including a flat-screen tv!!), [super basic] cable and internet included, the only utility I have to pay is electric... And, the best part is, that there is a controlled access garage!

All of that for $600 a month, right above a CVS, right down the street from all the bars, right across the street from my college campus, and a 4 minute drive from work. The building is only 1 year old as well. I'm pretty psyched. I guess that the guy had been trying to sublease it for 2 months (he bought a house). I lowballed him so bad that I thought he would never even respond to me, but he accepted. Woo!

That's awesome for you good deal, glad it worked out.

I am still trying to get renters in my house hope something turns around soon it has been empty for almost 4 months now.

mtn wrote: I'd actually have to have my dad cosign with me. I have no credit (I should probably get a credit card and fix that, a year should be enough to build it up, right?)

Nope, not enough. You'll need at least 3-4 years of good credit history for the best rates. Had a friend get himself a bit screwed over that way - his number score was great, but he just didn't have enough history. That said, if your landlord reports to the credit bureaus, you'll be ok.

Matt
Buckhead Zillow link