studenteconomist, I know something about the rental market since I’ve volunteered to find a nice place for my younger bro and his gf to live.
1) Whatever you do don’t get “desperate” and sign a lease because you just have live someplace. Try to find alternate arrangement of sign or month-to-month or 6 month lease.
2) graigslist is a great place to start. post a rent wanted ad and see if you get any responses. I recently posted on another thread about a good 1800sf house at Aviara for rent at $2100/mo.
3) word of mouth is the best way to find a rental. Having a good agent helps.
4) Don’t rent in rental only apartment complexes. Those are relatively crappy places to live. Look for condo/townhouse/sfr developments.
5) Look at the development/neighborhoods you like; review some for-sale listings and contact the listing agents. Tell them you don’t want to buy yet, but you’re looking for a rental in that area. They’ll be happy to help you, or refer you to someone who will can. Once the agents find out that you’re a newly minted “doctor” they’ll be all over you. They may pressure you to buy, but don’t insist that you want to rent.
6) Use your “doctor” status as a bargaining chip. Landland want good tenants and PhDs make better tenants than high-school graduates. Last week I was selling a bookself on craigslist and a woman left a message for me saying that she worked at Scripps and she wanted me to hold the shelves for her. I called her back and she works in the billing department. I sold the bookself to another person who came first with cash. Anyway, people play up their “status” all the time. You worked hard for your PhD so use it to get a good deal. One hundred dollars off the rent perhaps?
6) If a project is not completed yet, talk to the onsite sales agents and tell them that you’re wanting to rent. They might know an owner who wants to rent.
9) If you’re feeling ambitious. Write to the sellers directly and ask if they are willing to rent their homes.
9) Tell everyone even the grocery store clerk that you want to rent. Ask them to call you if they hear of something.
10) Consider sharing a home with a housemate. You could rent at 4-bedroom house for $3000 and your lifestyle would be much better than if you rented an apartment for $1500. I know it’s not easy to find a compatible housemate. But if you know someone, then all the better.
11) You’ll have to do some work. Take your time and something nice will come up. Then you can relax in your nice rental home and laugh of the recent buyers who are scrapping by to pay their outsize mortgages.
I had fun looking for a place for my bro. It’s better than going shopping. I just did it on my wireless laptop while watching TV after dinner.
