patrick.net

Well of course it all depends on your location.

Yes, I've both rented and owned single family houses. If you find the right house and a decent landlord it's a good experience, renting. My family benefitted tremendously from the mobility that renting gave us when my spouse needed to move every few years for work. I never missed "ownership" and am only considering it again now because it's getting to the point where it may make more financial sense to buy at this time, or soon.

I've rented my current SFH house for years, and others before that. I definitely saved a ton of money that way, because renting is an especially good deal in Silicon Valley compared to owning the same thing.

Of course the rent is always negotiable, but usually the landlord knows the rent he can get pretty well, so he's not likely to accept less than asking unless you know the place has been for rent for a long time and has not rented.

For any address for rent, you can look here to see if it's been for rent before on Craigslist and for how much:

http://patrick.net/housing/history.php

That's a for-pay service though ($7 per week) so it's probably only worthwhile if you find specific addresses that I have a rent history for. Free to search for addresses.

FWIW I rent in an apartment complex with in unit laundry and multi-level garage that connects to the same floor as the apartment. It has worked well for us and we have a baby.

Babies don't need much space.

You most definitely do NOT need a house when you have a baby. In fact, I'd say it's a mistake to have any more space or reponsibilities than necessary, because you just don't have time to deal with anything beyond the minimum.

And then when your kids need to go to school, you can win again by renting in the very best school district. Way cheaper than owning, though you could be forced to move around a bit.

The big question to ask a landlord for me Is "when did you "buy"?" or "how long have you "owned"( hehe) this house." I like landlords who Have had renters before and have Borrowed no later than 2002-2003 earlier the better IMHO. And a real owner is the best (meaning no mortgage)
I stay away from first time landlords with a debt purchase in the last 10 years.

Katy Perry says

The big question to ask a landlord for me Is "when did you "buy"?" or "how long have you "owned"( hehe) this house." I like landlords who Have had renters before and have Borrowed no later than 2002-2003 earlier the better IMHO. And a real owner is the best (meaning no mortgage)

I stay away from first time landlords with a debt purchase in the last 10 years.

YES! That is exactly the info you need. I think every rental I had in the BA have always been houses that are long time family holdings. It is best to find someone that is not really a landlord and really cares for their home. They have plans to move back into it at some point is also a great plus. That makes your side of negotiation much stronger. Remember, you are in competition with the other possible renters. It is not at all like buying though where only the money talks. If a landlord feels you will keep the property in great shape or even improve the property, that can be a great plus when you are talking rent money.

I'm pretty sure that each time I meet my future landlord there was an offer on the table for more money. However, I won out with the lesser bid because I showed up with my wife, we chatted and laughed for a while and he realized that I am here to stay and want to keep the house in top shape better than he/she does. That is your angle.

Apartments "won't cut it"? I think we have a big spender here!
Incidentally, "home" refers to where you sleep. So, a home can be a tent, a cave, a condo, or a house.
If you mean a house, use the word.
I suppose anything and everything can be negotiated, but your only bargaining position is your superior reliability, employment, credit history, charm, references and whatnot compared to the other guy Mr. Mayhem who may destroy the place which will annoy the landord.

Thanks for the responses everyone. We're going with a house so we can have our own backyard, garage for cars and storage, space from neighbors...it's a lifestyle choice. Sadly I'm seeing that I will need to wade through a sea of overpriced rents in order to find some decently priced ones. It's not much different from buying in that aspect. Lot's of delusional sellers out there. At least it will be a way to save money while the homes where we intend to buy continue to come down in price. And the best part is that we won't need to put a huge sum of money into it as a down payment.

www.housingmaps.com

Katy Perry says

The big question to ask a landlord for me Is "when did you "buy"?" or "how long have you "owned"( hehe) this house." I like landlords who Have had renters before and have Borrowed no later than 2002-2003 earlier the better IMHO. And a real owner is the best (meaning no mortgage)
I stay away from first time landlords with a debt purchase in the last 10 years.

I rent a house which was bought in 2004 (underwater) with two previous renters and good experiences so far (a little bit more than a year.) My point is as long as the rent covers the mortgage, it's OK to rent an underwater and there is an advantage to that in which it's impossible to sell the house.

Babies don't need much space.

Hm. I gotta say our little one is crawling around the entire house and its awesome to have all that space for them to explore. Also, we set up a huge playpin (8 by 10) he can be inside and still move around. It's awesome.

Can you raise kids in a tent? Yes. Everything is possible and been done before.

I totally understand the dilemma. Been there myself for years. So frustrating. Good luck!!

Rents are high right now in the desirable areas. Just from what I've seen around, single-family home rents in Danville seem about 20% higher now than a couple of years ago. It's insane.

But I wouldn't focus on owners being greedy or worrying about their mortgages... everything has a market price. If their price is fair, they'll get it. If not, in time they will accept less. What their costs are has nothing to do with it.

Don't buy a home just because of new baby. I know it is emotional ( actually realtors exploit this sentiment very well). For the first year, baby needs just the space for a crib. You can always rent an apartment/condo/townhome/home where you have more privacy and space; you may have to look harder

That's exactly what we're going to do is rent. I refuse to make a long term purchase in a rush due to a baby.

I'm all fine for landlords making money. I'm just seeing a lot of high prices for dumps where the owner is most likely trying to cover the mortgage on their 2006 purchase. It makes for a lot of BS properties to look through.

nw888 says

It makes for a lot of BS properties to look through.

Do you know the area where you want to live? In San Francisco, that reduces the number of places drastically.

My wife and I have rented a house in San Francisco for years from the owner who bought in 1999 with a loan from a company that was then sold to a large pharmaceutical company. From what I can tell from insider trading information, the owner made quite a lot of money so I know my rent is a fairly measly sum. No rent raising in almost five years and quite cooperative with fixing and maintaining the house for us.

My wife and I had a baby in August. I don't think my wife thought she'd enjoy renting and parenthood. She, like many, just had a mental association with parenting and house owning(debt). Thankfully, she's agreed that we're best without the debt and now I'm working on her to make room in her thinking for having two kids in our, sort-of-three bedroom house.