Because we have to leave our house to build the new house, we were in need of finding a rental. It’s been so long since we rented anything we’re a little out of the loop. We’ve been homeowners for over 15 years, so we’re a bit unusual and not your typical renters. I’m hoping this translates to ‘better’.

For awhile now, I had been keeping my eyes open for what the rental market looked like in our town. Most rentals in our community (both homes and apartments) cycle at the beginning of August due to the university schedule. That wasn’t going to work for us, as we were targeting an April move out so that demo could begin in May.

Starting February 1, I really got serious with daily checks on various online rental sites. I found a few homes available now, but many more available in June or later. Our requirements further narrowed our search.

We wanted:

• a house, not an apartment
• 3 bedrooms and at least 1.5 baths
• near our current home (so we’d be close to the ‘job site’)
• pet-friendly
• available around April 1st
• preferably with a month to month option after the initial lease period

So that’s not too bad, right? HA! It narrowed it down to only about 3 reasonable prospects. We looked at all three within a week.

The first home was available right away and was a month to month lease. It had been recently renovated, but it felt much smaller than it was advertised. It was the closest of the three.

The second home was a little further than we wanted to be, but had brand new floors and good flow throughout the house. Bonus for an ensuite- Mama wouldn’t have to share the bathroom with Daddy AND the kids!

The third home had lots of storage, but was fairly choppy in the floor plan. The kitchen was closed off from the rest of the house. But it was also close to the build site. In fun news, that family was looking for a sublease because they had bought a home- around the corner from our house! And they had a daughter Miss K’s age and a son Mr B’s age. Looks like we have some new friends moving into the neighborhood.

We ultimately selected the second home mainly due to the flow and the flexibility of the space. We will only see a 15 min impact to our various commutes around between “home,” school, and work. Of course Jim timed it all out using Google maps and Excel calculations.

Today we signed the lease and had the ‘reference’ on our cats (apparently they aren’t to be trusted). Next we just need to pack up 7 years of living in 1900 sq ft and move 5 mins away into a 1600 sq ft ranch with no basement. Easy peasy. You’ll all come and help us move, right?