Looking at homes.

[Adalen]

So, we have just sort of stumbled into home buying.  It's something we definitely planned to do "soon" but I didn't think it would happen this year.  We currently rent a home and had been told that there might be an option to buy after two years.  We have been here for two and half and decided to ask the property management about the previously mentioned option.

They did not respond to my original email but a few days later we received a lease renewal in the mail and an advisory that our rent went  up $50.  Slightly annoying.  I still haven't returned the lease because (1) they misspelled my name and (2) they want the lease to run from February 2013 until January 2014 because "they just noticed" that our lease expired.  (We moved in August 2010, the lease was up in August 2011 and we were under the impression that it was month-to-month after that.)

Anyway, we weren't going to actively look at that point, just inquire, but since they chose to respond that way, we have been looking for homes in our area and speaking with a realtor and LO.  I'm two points away from qualifying for FHA and my issue is high utilitization, which will be paid off soon, so they have been actively looking for homes for us.  I'm expecting (hoping) my scores get a jump from paying off the high utilization since I've pretty much peaked with regard to GWing things off of my report.

Soooo, I'm mostly here to share and grow and learn with everyone else.  There is a lot of very useful information here and I am enjoying reading the various journeys and successes of members here and hope to follow very soon.  My only ordeal right now is how to handle the lease issue.  I am thinking about writing the property management company and asking them to keep us month-to-month until August (or indefinitely) since we already surpassed our original lease and there was no mention of renewing at the end of the year..

Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the mortgage board. =)  It's a great place to hang out.  I check here pretty often and really just enjoy reading other peoples' stories while answering the occasional question myself.  I'm not finished with my mortgage endeavor yet though, so sometimes I have questions too.

In regards to your situation, I would definitely inquire about keeping month to month.  See if you can't get them to set you up on a month to month lease so that they have to at least give you some notice if they decide to try and find a new tenant. I would try to have it worded so that they have to give a 30-day notice to terminate just like you do.  Obviously someone willing to commit to a year or even six months is more attractive as a renter, but they will likely make up for that by raising your rent and taking into consideration that you have been a good tenant for years.  In my situation we pay an extra $100 per month because we're on a monthly basis, but we were able to time things so that we only did this for two months.  It was much cheaper than signing for another year or six months and then terminating early.

Outside of that:  take your time!  If the property management company decides to be difficult, you do have options.  In a worst case scenario you can find an apartment in most areas where the property manager will allow 30-day leases.  There's no need to feel like you have to beat some arbitrary timer in selecting a home.  My wife disagrees, but I genuinely enjoyed the several months we spent visiting homes whileshopping.  All told we viewed hundreds of listings, drove by at least a hundred and toured nearly fifty homes before getting into a contract on one.  The right place can take awhile to show up, but when it does it will be very much worth the wait.  Sometimes the allure of owning a home can be so strong that it's difficult to really evaluate one and decide whether or not it's right.

Best of luck!  I look forward to reading about your adventure into mortgage land.

[JM-AM]

Pull out your original lease agreement. Read it and look at the fine print. It generally has a clause if the lease expires and what to expect. As stated in post above maybe they can charge you additional rent, maybe when its time you want to move they need 30 days maybe 45 days, maybe 60 days notice.

Either way your original lease should have something stated in regards to lease expiration. Dont let them take advantage of forcing you into a lease, you have rights also.

[Adalen]

It's good to know that I'm probably not driving my realtor bonkers with the two houses that we have already turned down.  I was starting to feel bad about even that, but I certainly don't want to buy something "just because".  I'd like to wait for the right house to come along.  We are looking at older homes (20s/30s) in a mostly historic neighborhood that is near our current location, so we're also being picky about updated windows, appliances, flooring, etc.

I've been trying to unearth our original lease but might have to have them mail me a signed copy in the meantime.

[MovingForward_2012]

My lease did not have a month to month clause. Don't assume...be sure to check it. Because our lease has no clause, my landlord was able to give notice to vacate on 10 days notice!