Did you rent in a new town before buying?

Optione

Wed, Aug 03 2016, 9:46 pm

We are looking to move to a different city (not near our current location.) We've only rented apartments/houses in the past but want to buy in the near future.

If you moved to a new city, did you rent in that city before buying? Why?

On one hand I feel like we should take our time and get to know the area before buying. On the other hand, to move to an apartment short term (let's say a year) is such a hassle and quite costly.

What are your experiences and thoughts?

Maya

Wed, Aug 03 2016, 9:53 pm

We rented for a month to try out the place before moving permanently, but then the move was also to a rental. We are buying now after six years, but only because we're so happy in our neighborhood that we literally had to wait for something to become available within the two blocks of our current home.

My opinion is that it's always smarter to rent first. Once you live in the new place, you can figure out which neighborhoods are best for you, what kind of homes you like, what kind of people you want to live near, etc. These things can be difficult to know before you're familiar with the new area, especially if you're going to a place like Monsey that has a huge variety of neighborhoods and you can't be sure beforehand where you'll be happy.

amother

Hotpink

Wed, Aug 03 2016, 10:00 pm

We moved to a new city 6 months ago and we bought. The selection of houses to buy was better than the selection of apartments to rent, especially for a large family. It also works out a lot cheaper per month. Now that we're here I have some mixed feelings, should we have bought closer to the shul? Or with a larger yard? Overall though for our budget and space that we needed I think we made a good choice.

Optione

Wed, Aug 03 2016, 10:03 pm

Thank you both for your replies.
Maya- did you know that you were only going to be in the first place for a month? I'm thinking how most places want at least a year lease... Also, did you move everything twice or was the temporary place furnished?
Hotpink- it's very much my style to have regret in rushing to buy. But I'm exhausted just thinking about renting again just to move!

Maya

Wed, Aug 03 2016, 10:07 pm

Optione wrote:

Thank you both for your replies.
Maya- did you know that you were only going to be in the first place for a month? I'm thinking how most places want at least a year lease. Also, did you move everything twice or was the temporary place furnished?

It was furnished, just rented for the month. It was more like a summer vacation in the potential future neighborhood, a time to try out the new place before the official move.

amother

Hotpink

Wed, Aug 03 2016, 10:11 pm

Optione wrote:

Hotpink- it's very much my style to have regret in rushing to buy. But I'm exhausted just thinking about renting again just to move!

That was one of my factors, not wanting to move twice.

Also, moving itself is a big expense, and once we were taking the plunge already might as well get all the big expenses over with at once.

If you're worried about rushing into the wrong choice, speak to as many people as you can in the neighborhood you want to move to. Find out from them which streets are desirable, etc. If a house seems like a steal find out why, it could have some undesirables that you wouldn't be aware of.

amother

Smokey

Thu, Aug 04 2016, 11:51 am

We moved to a new city and bought right away. We didn't even conisder renting, because one of our main reasons for moving was that we wanted to buy a home.
Both my Husband and I were already giving up our jobs so we felt that we already made the commitment to move to this new place. As someone else also said the housing choices were better than the renting choices for a family.

I should add that we were looking into this new community for a long time and came to visit for shabbosim to get a feel for location and other concerns. So I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to live.

Overall I am happy with my house and location, but if I were to buy again now, I would probably look for slightly different criteria. I am not sure if renting for a short time would have caused me to buy a different house. I do think that since we had to travel everytime that we wanted to see a house, it limited us. Others who were renting nearby, knew the ins and outs of what was going on in the local housing market. They heard talk of someone considering moving and would be able to see the house even before it officially went on the market. I personally was also desperate to move already so I feel like we slightly settled and overpaid.

Hatzlacha with the house/apartment search - whatever you decied.