Places to Live In Between Selling & Buying Homes – Part 2

Hotels, Short-Term Leases, and Temporary Stays

We continue making sure you aren’t a “homeless home-owner” in our series on finding places to live between selling and buying your home. If you find yourself in a pinch, make sure you have options.

Family and friends

This of course seems obvious, as you may have already considered this. If you don’t have the option, that is fine. But if it is an issue of ability for the person housing you, sometimes assistance with rent can smooth over any issues. Just something to consider, though remember without an official lease or written contract it is all going to only be secured via oral contract. For any law advice please contact a lawyer, as this is simply our opinion on the legal situation. However, an oral contract is technically considered a valid contract so it isn’t like they could just kick you out and keep your money and get away with it. Though, typically with family and friends you don’t want to get into a legal battle. So it’s better to stay with someone who you either don’t need to pay, or just someone who you can trust.

Long-term stay hotels

It would not be optimal for you to pay by the day if you did decide to choose a hotel. A hotel is probably the best option for anyone who is looking to move into a new area where they will not know anyone they can stay with, and only expecting a small amount of time between moving and the closing where they can move-in or someone who has to move to the area immediately. Find a place that does by the week payments to save money. Remember though, even when you pay by the week, a hotel is still more expensive than an apartment per month. The one advantage is that there is no lease stopping you from leaving at any time. Keep in mind though, most hotels are simple one bedrooms with 1 or 2 beds at most.

Short-term apartment lease

If your loan may take several months to get approved, you’re moving into a new area where you don’t know anyone, and do not want to pay for an expensive hotel, you might want to look into finding an apartment. We at Damron Group can refer you to someone who does residential leasing if needed, but any apartment locator can probably help. Something to consider is that 12 month leases are usually the norm. This means you will have to find a specific place that offers 3 or 6 month leases. Many complexes charge $30-50 more monthly for a 6 month lease, and $50+ for a 3 month lease. However, the best options will not charge extra. If you are having trouble finding a place that will do short term leases, you can always sublease your apartment by finding someone to take over the lease off of Craigslist or Facebook. Some places make you pay to sublease, so that is something you will want to ask upfront. Another advantage to getting an apartment is that if you have a family, you can get something more than the 1 bedrooms most hotels will have to offer. Of course, a 3 bedroom apartment will likely start costing more than a 1 bedroom hotel, but for a family of 4-6+ that is probably still better. As well, even if you have trouble finding a home, or find out you will not be staying long enough, you can always renew your lease.

Looking for a new home can be hard, and sometimes frustrating. Start making a plan ahead of time so that you aren’t caught off guard at the last minute and end up homeless waiting on your new place. If you are interested in more information on home buying, or you’d like some assistance with home buying in San Marcos or the surrounding areas, be sure to contact The Damron Group REALTORS® in San Marcos, TX… we’d love to help you find the perfect house!

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