(no subject)

[telophase]

You know what's hard? Trying to work out if the rental on a house* is median or above median for the area when my zip code contains million-dollar houses, historic houses, student housing, and crack houses. This particular one is showing as 100% above median ... but that median includes the really awful housing next to the railroad tracks a mile away. University areas ftw. Aarg.** ETA: And the really awful housing is disproportionately rental, compared to the area this house is in. Hmmm.






* Considering moving to a house when my lease is up, as tired of apartments. Renting, not buying.


** The house is also pretty big. I think it's not too far off what it's worth, at any rate.

Comments

[awamiba.livejournal.com]

I have a realtor friend that used to work in the DFW area I could ask, if you're interested.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That might be nice, thanks! I'm not sure if the property is currently on the market or if I'm finding older listings - I'm going to talk myrialux into driving by it at lunchtime to see if it looks occupied. XD I've found listings over the course of three months for it, so it might be hard to rent out and I'm trying to figure out if that's because it's overpriced or not.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

The house I'm renting is really nice and was a good price for the neighborhood, but she hadn't had any calls about it for three or four months. I think this is a very weird market.

According to the community organizers I know, an area with fewer rentals is safer than one more rentals, even if the income range is the same. FWIW.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That bodes well, then. XD Although this particular one is a long shot anyway, being at the top of the budget *and* move-in wouldn't be until at least May (current lease up June 2nd). But if it looks good and is on the market, it doesn't hurt to try - certainly if it's been on the market a while, the landlord might jump at a definite rental a couple of months later on instead of potential rentals earlier.

(Er, I *think* it allows pets - that would need to be double-checked.)

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Pull up the property tax records - most counties have them online. That will get you what the property is appraised at. One year's rent should be approximately 1/10-1/15th of the total value of the property. If it's higher than 1/15th, either the rental market is saturated (driving demand) or they're gouging.

If it's in Tarrant county, you can get property tax info here:
http://www.tad.org/Datasearch/re_location_search.cfm?matches

If Dallas, http://www.dallascad.org/SearchAddr.aspx

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you. *calculates* Hm. $100/month over 1/15th of the value. *considers*.

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

That should have been "Higher than 1/10th", since 1/10 > 1/15.

Math, I don't speak it.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Neither do I. :D It's significantly less than 1/10th the value. (value $265,000, rent $1575.) I feel pretty good about that.

And finally tracked down the leasing agency's website. No pets. Aarg. Emailed them anyway, explaining I had two cats, and if there was any way we could discuss options, volunteering to pay a pet deposit. Can't hurt.