The local Houston economy is improving far quicker than most of the country. With our moderate housing prices and fairly stable and growing economy from the recent recession, a lot of folks are moving to the area.
Some of these folks do want to buy....but quite a few want to lease a home. This does make a lot of sense because if you dont know the city too well than it is a lot easier to commit to a year lease than a 30 year mortgage. Now..they could always rent an apartment which has its advantages as well. If you rent an apartment its usually not difficult to get approved....most apartments usually have a couple of vacancies at any given time. And with apartment leasing the costs are lower as well. Even though the costs have gone up a bit since I last rented an apartment a decade ago...its still less expensive. You have first months rent and a deposit...the deposit is typcially about $150 and then some these days have an administrative fee of about the same. So about $1300 to move in to a nice apartment these days...maybe a bit less.
But of course even though its less expensive to go that route....you have to park where spots are available.....unless you move in to one that has a garage....and there are many like that. But even then you dont have a backyard for the kids...or pets. Some of the nicer complexes have a greenbelt to walk your dog...but its still not a backyard.
This is where leasing a home makes more sense. Sure it costs a bit more to get into initially. First months rent..plus a security deposit equal to that and a nominal application fee.....and a pet deposit similar to what most apartments charge. But with this you typicallly get a larger home than an apartment...you have your own driveway..and unless its a towhhouse you have a small to quite large backyard for your kids and or pets.
And the best part is that similar to working with a local Realtor like myself to represent you in a home purchase. We can do the same for a lease as well and neither costs the consumer a dime. Just like buying a home....in the case of leasing..the owner or landlord pays both agents a commission for finding a good tenant.
And we can make the process a lot easier as well. If you do it on your own you have to schedule seperate showings for each property with the broker listing it. If you work with a realtor he can take care of all that for you and you can just follow him or her on the tour and just enjoy viewing the different homes and deciding which one you prefer.
So the next time you or someone you know needs a new home to lease you know what to do..contact your local Realtor(hopefully me)
www.camerohomes.com
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