Where to stay?

My wife and I are currently building a home. In the mean time we have sold our condo and will have about 3 months to live temporarily. Short term apartments in the area are few and far between and pricey. We knew this going in but I'm looking for alternatives.

Would buying a used RV now in the off season, and living in one for a few months, then selling in spring be a good idea? Problem also is this would be winter months so water tanks would be an issue. I'd also need to talk SWMBO into this one.

Other suggestions?

Family?

Is there an extended stay hotel near you? We had some family spend a few months in one after a house fire and i don't remember it being too bad price wise. I think it was run by Marriot.

Michigan, I doubt that an RV would be a good option at this time of the year. Rent a place in a trailer park?

Some of the nicer apartment complexes will let you out of a lease with one months rent as a penalty. So if you're staying three months it would essentially be four months rent. Approach a place you'd like to stay and ask them about it, see if they would do a three month lease with a higher rate.

Oh, and extended stay hotels are q good option. Some of them are essentially end runs around zoning and are really apartment complexes with flexible lease terms. That way they can be built in commercial zoned areas.

You might be able to rent a seasonal lake condo or cottage cheaply in the off season. They sit empty otherwise.

Join a gym to shower, eat dinner out every night get some nice cold weather sleeping bags and live out of the largest car. Use the savings to take a trip to the islands.

Huckleberry wrote: You might be able to rent a seasonal lake condo or cottage cheaply in the off season. They sit empty otherwise.

I did this when I was building my house in charleston sc. I stayed on the beach for little scratch.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote:

Huckleberry wrote: You might be able to rent a seasonal lake condo or cottage cheaply in the off season. They sit empty otherwise.

I did this when I was building my house in charleston sc. I stayed on the beach for little scratch.

An AirBNB, HomeAway or VBRO (HomeAway's vacation rentals) might be a decent option. Agreed that since it would be more of the "off" season, you might be able to get a good rate.

I would have recommended the RV route, but I'm not familiar with real winters.

Have you tried Craigslist just to see if there's anything that way? Might be able to find someone who's going overseas or traveling for several months and you could, effectively, house sit for them while they are gone.

-Rob

Keep an eye out on craigslist for subleases.

EDIT: http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/sub/5785905755.html
http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/sub/5797286112.html
http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/sub/5791410169.html

I also did the off season cottage rental. Most of them are empty after labor day. It also makes it nice when you have a delay in the building schedule.

I found a local realtor specializing in vacation rentals that was willing to beat vrbo Airbnb prices easy, but we shall see.

Friends here rented a cabin at an RV park for 6 months between houses. Of course, there's no off season or weather concerns in Georgia.

No family convenient near where we want to be (Clarkston/Rochester area) unfortunately. We'll check out subleases to see what is available.

Thanks for the tips. Keep 'em coming!

We've looked at extended stays. Way too much, i.e., over $2k/month. I need to call them to make sure though as that is their online booking rate. Trying to find some off season vacation rentals, but no luck on price yet. We'd like to stay under $900/month if at all possible.

In reply to PMRacing:

I'd call especially if you're planning on staying a couple months. I stayed at one for 3-4 months and my rate was like 30% less than advertised. That doesn't get you from 2k to 900 but it's something.

Find some vrbo' you like and message the people renting them.

Look at executive lodging, I have had to put people up someplace furnished for a few months until they bought a home.

Talk to apartment complexes, they may list 1 year leases but I have done a few 6 month and even shorter leases when occupancy was low in the area.

We found a place! I took today off and ended up pushing the easy button. We found a place about half way between our current condo and our new house. It was a bit more expensive than we wanted, but we only have to move our stuff into the apartment and don't need to get extra storage so we will save $ there. Bonus is the two car garage so at least we won't have to scrape cars this winter! Thanks for the advice folks!