For those who rented before they bought

how did you time everything?

We are going to have to be out by Nov 2007- and we were going to start looking in the spring of 07- offically-

did anyone building let them change to a month to month lease-

I feel pressure already

if anything I could pack up my life into one of those pods and stay in hotel or with my Grandma- but I would rather have the house a month or 2 early to do painting etc.

I would appericate your experinces
thanks
Beth

Re: For those who rented before they bought

Sometimes if you are in your apartment for more than a year you can ask the landlord if they will let you switch to a month to month lease. I think that most would let you do it as long as you give 60 days notice before you are moving out. Do you rent from an individual or a management company? An individual would probably be more flexible with this. I would talk to your landlord.

We had this concern when we were selling our condo's to buy a house - How to time everything just right - and so we asked our realtor. She said "dont worry, these things just have a way of working themselves out". this didnt sit well with me and i worried about it for months but in the end - it did all work out.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We rented a house in Long Beach before we bought. Our lease was up in November as well and we started looking last January. We found something faster than we expected so we just told our landlords about the situation. They were very understanding and we gave them two months notice. We had a month overlap.

If your building allows it, month-to-month might be the least stressful option; I was a nervous wreck before we went to talk to the landlords - afraid they'd tell us we would still be held responsible for the lease.

The upside is that Long Beach is a hot rental market.

Good luck!

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We had a private rental so my experience in that area won't help. I would inquire about a month to month lease.

I would also start looking earlier than the spring. Jmo -based on experience. I would rather have the house before my lease is up than the other way around.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

Re: For those who rented before they bought

I guess we will start in Feb or March-

since my DH is in the mortgage business-we could probably get the loan closed in under a month- provided the people we buy from are ok with that

I know it will all work out -

Re: For those who rented before they bought

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We'll I had to be out before April 1, 2006 and I started looking in November or soo and found what I wanted by like January and closed in March.. so it worked out perfectly for me, I was able to take my time and move in and not be rushed.. Hope this helps.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

we will be looking to buy a house this spring. When we moved into are complex it was important for us to be able to go month to month as an option if needed. Our lease is up May 2007 and we can then go month to month if needed. I want to be in a house by this time next year!!

Message edited 8/7/2006 4:10:01 PM.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We waiting until we had a definite closing date to send the landlords the last rent check.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

I have to be out by Nov 30th & we are looking now, but for a co-op, not a house.

I'm hoping to make a decision by the begining of September, but I know we are cutting it kind of close.

I don't think we would be allowed a month to month rent, b/c our building is run by a large PIA corporation.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We are looking now and our lease is up on Jan. 31st. I think if we haven't found something by then we will move in with my parents for a bit - it hopefully wouldn't be too much longer. I would get out of that apartment now if I could, I certainly don't want to stay there longer than I have to

Re: For those who rented before they bought

Message edited 8/7/2006 4:11:53 PM.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We rented in someone's house and our lease ended in April 2004. We started looking in November 03, went into contract in Dec 03, and since the seller wasn't in a rush to move, we were able to postpone the closing until the end of March 2004. It worked out perfectly. We moved into the house two weeks later.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We started looking before our lease was up.And when we found the house we only had 1month left on our lease so we moved in with my parents until we closed.Its was a long 2 months but it did help us save some more money.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

I'm in a rental community as opposed to a private residence rental.

I can break the lease and get 1 of my 2 months deposit back as long as I give them 60 days notice. otherwise, I get squat. unfortunately, there is no option for month to month.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

It worked out perfect for us but it was pure luck.
We unofficially started looking in October 05, then "officially" in January 06. Our lease was scheduled to be up Aug 31 06, but we knew if we broke it we would lose our security and have to pay rent until it got rented. If we needed to stay longer in our apt, our landlord (a management company) was willing to extend our lease for a limited period one time (i.e., if we extended it 3 months but then we needed another 2...we wouldn't be able to we would have to rent it for the remaining 9 months). We were willing to lose our security and take the risk so we looked in January with the hope we would find something in May. Well, we found a place and got an accepted offer in mid-May, closed at the end of July, are doing renovations through Aug and moving in Aug 25. It couldn't have worked out better!!!

If you plan ahead, know the market, and know the terms of your lease/renewing, then you set yourself to be in the best position for it to workout, but unfortunately you can't guarantee it!

Re: For those who rented before they bought

see there is another problem- we are moving from out current building- the parking is just out of control- my new truck has scratches, we would have to gargage Jake's car for the winter- and that is over $1000 for 4 months

so we are moving- I know they would let me go month to month here no problem

I am going to ask up front before I sign a new lease- and then if the timing doesn't work out- Hi Grandma- Beth and Jake are moving in-she would love it

but my plan is to find a house by the end of July next year- so that should give us more then enough time

Re: For those who rented before they bought

If you know what you want and are flexible with what's out there starting in July should be enough time. We had our apt. and house for 2 months. We couldn't get out of our lease (even for 2 months) so we had to pay our rent also. It acutally worked out great because we did a ton of work before we even moved in. Had the floors sanded, major demo work. Plus we started moving our stuff a little at a time so our official moving day wasn't so bad.

Message edited 8/7/2006 10:54:22 PM.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

I started looking late winter with hopes to find something by late spring/early summer and my lease was to be up in early fall. I found my house sooner than I planned and had to figure out how to get out of my lease. I was just hoping they would because they could get a lot more $$$ for my apartment...but then mystically the tub above me leaked and collapsed my ceiling about a week after signing my contract - well I used that to get out of my lease early!! lol The lady was even tough about it but under the circumstances - she had no choice. I just lived there with a broken ceiling covered in garbage bags for a month and half until we closed.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We told our landlord from day one that we will probably be in the apt for maybe a year, year and a half, so she was kind enough to do a six month at a time lease. After the first six months, she never even bothered to ask us to resign, but we were right on target and left after 18 months (DH was in there 6 months before I moved in).

Re: For those who rented before they bought

Our Landlords let us stay on month to month as we were looking for our house. We moved into the new one June 25 and rented until June 30.

Talk to your landlord, maybe they will be cool about it.

Re: For those who rented before they bought

We were in our apartment a year when we found the co-op. We knew it would be awhile before we actually moved since it's a co-op, so we told our landlord and we did a month to month. Worked out fine. She had 3 months to rent it knowing when it would be vacant.