Okay, working on getting everything organized to relocate for the new job. Biggest issue for finding housing is finding a place that we can park our 4 cars at. So, those of you who rent, how do you manage it?
Do we just hold out for a house with a 2-car garage and driveway in our budget range to come up for rental?
Alternately, considered renting two places: a small studio or 1bed place that my fiance can use for her office (she works from home and needs a dedicated work space), and a second 2-bed place to actually live in. Then we can keep 2 cars at each place.
I lived in a dump in the crappy part of town. Half the property was empty at any given time, so I was never hassled over how many I had. Even had the landlord thank me once because it made the place look like more people were living there than really were. That plan may not be very popular with (the prospective? I can't recall whether you've done the deed yet 
) Ms. Baron, tho.
At the decent apartment, I rented one of their single car garages. For the house we rented, I found an independent landlord, instead of a place with a management company. "Can I park a car in the back yard?" "Sure, man..it's where I used to keep my boat."
This house, I own and there's no HOA so we do what we want.
If you have the money to rent two places, that actually sounds like a pretty good plan. Not much different than renting a place to live and paying for garage space somewhere else, IMO.
logdog
Reader
10/27/12 4:22 p.m.
I had a similar situation a few years ago. I was able to rent an open spot at a self storage place about a half mile from my apartment. It was about 30 bucks a month back then.
patgizz
UltraDork
10/27/12 5:23 p.m.
wow you're looking at small places eh?
one of my requirements was could i fit 8-10 cars plus a few trailers when we were shopping for houses.
Beer Baron wrote:
Alternately, considered renting two places: a small studio or 1bed place that my fiance can use for her office (she works from home and needs a dedicated work space), and a second 2-bed place to actually live in. Then we can keep 2 cars at each place.
Can you rent a 3 bedroom house with maybe a basement and and a garage?
One 3 bed place seems like it would cost less than a 2 bed place and another 1 bed place. Make the smallest bedroom the office.
I used to rent a house that only had a one car wide driveway but went about 5 cars deep. I put the two "rarely driven" cars all the way back then my wife's car up front.
I typically parked in the drug store's parking lot across the street. It was a full, strip mall style parking lot with ample space. They had no issue with me being there overnight but since it was my DD, it was typically moved every day.
The reason I parked across the street was so that I would not block in my wife's car and therefore didn't have to shuffle cars.
Maybe you can find similar.
JohnRW1621 wrote:
Can you rent a 3 bedroom house with maybe a basement and and a garage?
One 3 bed place seems like it would cost less than a 2 bed place and another 1 bed place. Make the smallest bedroom the office.
Most houses available are in "town" and only have street parking. One studio and one 2-bed apartment would be pretty comparable in price to a 3-bed w/ 2-car garage house.
I don't think there are too many HOA's, but finding a rental that will let me park in the back yard might be tough.
I am going to see if maybe the brewing company will accept being a sponsor of my race car in exchange for hooking me up with a place to store it.
One option is to rent a garage nearby. I own my house, but renting a garage in the neighborhood to keep the race car and storage for crap, like the billion wheels and tires.
SVreX
MegaDork
10/28/12 8:36 a.m.
Stack 'em?
Renting 2 places sounds like a big waste of money.
fast_eddie_72 wrote:
One option is to rent a garage nearby. I own my house, but renting a garage in the neighborhood to keep the race car and storage for crap, like the billion wheels and tires.
that's what I do.. I rent a space in a barn (all sectioned off and secure) that I could probably pack 4 cars tightly into.. at the moment it is full of saab
Can you section off a piece of the property with wood fencing to store stuff where the neighbors can't see it? You can buy a lot of wood fencing for a month or two of garage rent.
MrJoshua wrote:
Can you section off a piece of the property with wood fencing to store stuff where the neighbors can't see it? You can buy a lot of wood fencing for a month or two of garage rent.
Neighbors aren't a problem so much as landlords, since we'll be renting a property, not buying.
I rent a workshop with some other guys and we keep all our other cars there.
mguar wrote:
Don't have the down payment? Then find someone who's going to lose their house to foreclosure, make sure it's decent deal (ask) then offer to take over payments.. Go with him to the bank and see what can be done.. In some cases nothing..
In many cases the bank will jump on getting a loan current. (they lose a lot of money on a foreclosure)
Not having the down payment would be the biggest issue at the moment. Uncertainty of how long I'll stay is another one. I will be staying for more than just a few months. Likely staying for at least a few years. It all depends on how well things go with the job. I do think they'll go well, biggest question is if I'll have more opportunities to advance by staying, or by finding an opening somewhere else after getting 2-3 years practical experience.
If I might relocate again in 2-3 years, does buying make sense?
Beer Baron wrote:
mguar wrote:
Don't have the down payment? Then find someone who's going to lose their house to foreclosure, make sure it's decent deal (ask) then offer to take over payments.. Go with him to the bank and see what can be done.. In some cases nothing..
In many cases the bank will jump on getting a loan current. (they lose a lot of money on a foreclosure)
Not having the down payment would be the biggest issue at the moment. Uncertainty of how long I'll stay is another one. I will be staying for more than just a few months. Likely staying for at least a few years. It all depends on how well things go with the job. I do think they'll go well, biggest question is if I'll have more opportunities to advance by staying, or by finding an opening somewhere else after getting 2-3 years practical experience.
If I might relocate again in 2-3 years, does buying make sense?
Financially... MAYBE.
From a pain in the ass perspective, you couldn't pay me to do that.
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:
Beer Baron wrote:
If I might relocate again in 2-3 years, does buying make sense?
Financially... MAYBE.
From a pain in the ass perspective, you couldn't pay me to do that.
That's kind of what I'm thinking. I'll need to give it a couple years to be certain I intend to stay there really long term.
SVreX
MegaDork
10/29/12 11:13 a.m.
Financially probably if you include the capital gains exemption for sale of a primary residence.
Assuming you sell for more than you buy for. 
Doesn't change the PITA factor.
oldtin
SuperDork
10/29/12 11:31 a.m.
Used to be the case that buying - even for a fairly short time, would put you ahead most of the time. Not as true now, plus potentially complicating factors like business/tax expenses for the GF. Having a house takes the wind out of easily packing up and moving on - around here things are still slow selling - the things that have sold - basically folks had to give their equity away. I think things are turning around so it could be just fine, but as your first pro gig - I'd probably rent for 6-12 months (maybe a house or apt and offsite garage) and see how life goes and in the meantime find a good accountant.
i once had 5 cars when i lived in an apartment that only gave me one assigned parking spot.. i generally had one car parked in the spot next to mine that was supposed to be for the efficiency apartment where no one who ever lived there owned a car, and the rest were parked in the not-quite-a-cul-de-sac on one side of the building and in the street in front of the building. i just moved the cars around a lot..
Type Q
Dork
10/29/12 2:25 p.m.
You may have metioned this before, but where are moving to? I lived near Boston, then rural Oklahoma, then the SF Bay area. The strategy for parking extra cars was different for each.
Beer Baron wrote:
MrJoshua wrote:
Can you section off a piece of the property with wood fencing to store stuff where the neighbors can't see it? You can buy a lot of wood fencing for a month or two of garage rent.
Neighbors aren't a problem so much as landlords, since we'll be renting a property, not buying.
Wood fencing is moderately inexpensive and can be taken down and moved in the future. If you just want to put it up and leave it the landlord may be game.
Beer Baron wrote:
If I might relocate again in 2-3 years, does buying make sense?
The rule of thumb is that buying makes sense if you expect to stay in a place for 5 years+. Also, buying doesn't make any sense if you don't know the area in the first place, so renting for a year or two makes a lot of sense already.
Also keep in mind that the transaction costs for buying and selling a house are quite substantial so in order to even nominally break even, the house will have to increase in value enough to cover closing costs, 6% realtor commission and potential work you'll have to invest to make it salable again.
Unless houses in that market sell themselves already (and quickly to boot), I'd settle down in a rental before buying. By the time you can make the decision if you're going to stay there longer or not, you'll also be able to have a deposit saved up and know the area so you can figure where you want to live and where you don't want to live.
I like owning a house - which is why we bought one here recently - but you need to make sure it doesn't become an albatross around your neck.
Type Q wrote:
You may have metioned this before, but where are moving to? I lived near Boston, then rural Oklahoma, then the SF Bay area. The strategy for parking extra cars was different for each.
Fort Bragg, CA. Small town on the coast, about 3 hours north of SF, just a short hop up Hwy 1 from Mendocino. Aim is to get something on the edge of town that will have a 2-car garage and some extra space.
Actually just got a message about an hour ago from Century 21 that a house we were considering, but thought was taken off the market, is being offered to us to rent. We're going to go out tomorrow and check it out.
mndsm
PowerDork
10/29/12 4:35 p.m.
I have em all lined up neatly in front of my apt- they only know of 2 of the 5.
All I can add is that Fort Bragg should be a pretty nice place to live. I like it up there. I assume you've made it up to the Lost Coast brewery in Eureka?
