We just got a notice from our leasing office that the renewal for our lease is coming up in September. They want us to let them know by the end of this month if we’re renewing for another year, staying on a month to month basis, or if we are planning on moving.
Our Three Options For Our Rental Lease
I’m pretty sure we will not be renewing our lease for another year, but never say never. Our rent would stay at its current price. To break the lease, we’d have to pay two months worth of rent.
I’m not crazy about that because if we do find something we want to move into, we’ll have a low emergency fund after making the down payment. Paying two months rent would deplete it further.
If we decide to do month to month, it’ll be $150/month more for rent. We would still have to give 60 day notice.
If we could find a place and move into it before the end of September, that would be ideal. If we could find something suitable and within our budget, and close by August, that would allow us to move more leisurely than our last move from Virginia.
Where We Are With Home Buying Process
We’re deciding to rent or buy. We ran the numbers to see if we could afford buying a home. Our goal is to keep our housing costs (mortgage, taxes, and insurance) no higher than 25% of our monthly income.
We went through the pre-approval process, giving them our financial information,and have gotten an amount from the mortgage broker. We have decide we are going to look for a townhouse or small house lower than the amount we’re approved for to keep our housing cost goals.
We drove around Friday night to some potential neighborhoods to get a feel for how busy it was. We’re whittling the list down to about 5 places, all townhouses and making appointments this week. I’ll update later on what happens.
What We’ll Do
We’ll give our answer right before the due date, so we have time to see how our situation turns out.
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Sounds like you’re taking the right approach. Your conservative home expenses should really pay off down the road. And of course the next 24 months are the best time to buy in our generation.
If you need to rent a little longer don’t feel like you have to take the only options above. Consider negotiating a shorter lease agreement with your current place. Let them know you know how expensive it is to market and screen new tenants. Offer to pay the current amount for a 3 month extension or something.
Good luck on the house hunting! It sounds exciting!
Thanks! We’ve been dipping our toes in the water. We looked around to get an idea of the area we want to live in. I really hope it works out, but if the numbers aren’t right, we’ll be patient and wait.
I was in the same situation a few months ago. I walked down to the managers’ office with a letter of intent to vacate in my hand, and told them that my wife and I had found a better deal elsewhere, but I would be willing to consider a deal if they had anything to offer. We were able to upgrade to a three-bedroom apartment for just $70/mo more than what we were paying for our two-bedroom apartment, $100/mo less than their current “special.”
I’ve read somewhere that all negotiations should start with “no,” and that seemed to work for us in this case.
If you try, you may be able to negotiate a lower rate this way. Good luck, whatever you decide to do!
Hey! I’m going to tell my husband about that. Maybe we can work out a deal with the leasing office if we don’t get a house.
One more thing: they didn’t get back to us right away with this offer. They started by offering us the current rate. I told them no thanks. The next day, they called back with the new offer.
Another thing to consider is whether your apartment is hard up for renters. Ours had many vacancies, which was obvious from all the empty rooms visible through uncovered sliding glass doors. If your place is filled up, the managers will be more likely to pass you up for someone willing to pay full price.