Well our six month lease expired last week. At the time we signed it, we figured that in six months we would have bought a place to call our own. However, once we leaned about the state of the market here in Sac, we have now thought better of that course of action.
Unfortunately, when we rented our current place, we had less than a week to secure a rental. Once we began the process of renting, our landlord, threw in another $150 for the outrageous Serrano HOA on top of our rent. We were in serious time crunch and figured it was only for 6 months, so we went ahead with it.
The dilemma is this, on the one hand, we can get a much cheaper place (15%-20%), we aren't planning to buy for at least another 6 months, and of course we could use the rent savings to boost our eventual down payment. On the other hand, I have two small children and hate going through all the change of address stuff, not to mention how much I despise actually moving.
Any words of wisdom?.......as I am very conflicted.
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9 comments:
I can't believe they make you pay the HOA fees. That's pretty low of them. The last place we were at had fees of $165 a month, but the owners paid them.
I feel your pain! When we sold back in May of last year, we did a 6 month lease as well, thinking we'd buy at the end of 2006. The place we rented was decent, but because we were in such a rush, we didn't have a lot of time to shop around for better rentals. We moved in December to Carmichael, and now our lease is a year. We're now starting to look at other areas to rent and planning ahead this time. Our family (wife and 3 kids) hates to move!
If you can get a decent amount of savings, I'd go for it. Try and pick a weekend where a lot of your friends are available and rent a big U-Hail trailer and do a BBQ for all the helpers.
Good luck to you.
rent rent rent :-)
there is nothing worst then buying under pressure.
Find a new place, save the extra bucks and take your time to find the right place at the right price.
We took a lease under similar circumstances, and will face the same decision in the fall.
It sounds like you are in a good position to re-negotiate for better terms: ask for a rent reduction. It would be a bold play, but remember, your landlord knows he will suffer a loss if you leave - lost rental income while he looks for another tenant, plus cleaning costs, advertising, credit checks, etc. He is probably dreading that.
Find out what he's willing to do to keep you, it might make your decision easier.
Very well put Giacomo. If the landlord conceeds between $125-$200, then I would stay. Otherwise there are some really good rental prices in EDH, Empire Ranch, Foothills, etc.
Keep us informed!
-FolsomRentFam
I'm in a similar situation. We have been long time renters and started looking at other properties last winter. After notifying our landlord of our intentions, they promised us that they'd keep the same rent as long as we stayed and work on the place (the husband is their handyman and I can drive a straighter nail) but we're happy to just sit and not deal with the hassle of moving.
Well they wrote to us asking if we wanted to buy the place (hell no) and to let us know they were most likely going to sell AND raise the rent. You can just hear me smacking myself around for not getting anything in writing can't you?
Dummy me assumed these folks were so clueless they'd just hang in there. I'm a top of the class graduate of the school of hard knocks. I know better but I got lazy. Life lesson #2 - never assume.
Now we're wondering if we move or stay. The chances of them pricing this place at an amount where it would actually sell is about 3 to 1000 so we could just hang tight. Or I could gloriously display my choicest finger and move. We're leaning towards moving.
On the plus side, if we hadn't looked into moving I'd never have noticed that the death rate for Davis homeowners which is apparently excelorating.
AB, in your case I'd move.
The chances of your landlord being reasonable are slim. Anyone stupid enough to purchase a rental in Serrano is not likely to realize how good they had it with you as tenants.
I say do your part for the advancement of financal darwinism and make them learn a nasty lesson. You'll be improving the species and getting a better deal at the same time.
I would say that if you plan to buy in the next 6 months to 1 year, it would be stupid and a waste of time/money to move. The amount of time you spending looking at new rentals (assume 10-20 hours) + cleaning and moving from current place (20-40 hours) + the cost of the moving truck, etc ($200 minimum w/ gas) is likely well over $2K (opportunity cost + cash out of pocket) not to mention the stress etc that goes with moving including address change, getting things set up for the kids, and the 'unknown' of getting a new place in a new neighborhood. My advice is to suck it up for 6 months to a year and save the time and hassle. Of course, if you don't own much (1 or 2 truckloads only), the savings could be less than I outlined and it may make sense to move. A lot is dependent on how much you value your and your family's time....
A good rule is not to move unless the same quality space is at least 10% cheaper or the new space is 10% better for the same rent. And there's not much point in moving at all unless you're going to stay for a year, as it takes a year at 10% savings to make up the cost of moving (deposit, rental truck, beer, pizza).
And the musing of someone who spent much time trying to imagine infinity as a child:
I wonder if this is why rents are so sticky going down -- most people actually realize that it doesn't make much sense to move if the rent isn't 10% lower.
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