Are all the rental listing sites the same?
March 15, 2022 8:49 PM Subscribe
Looking for, I think, a house with garden space in Durham/Chapel Hill. What's the best approach? The bulletin board at Weaver St. Market is gone :( Why can I still not search for "bathtub" and "landlord who values cleanliness"? Or even "minimal stairs, you clever thing!"
I can find the major house rental agencies (Louise Beck, Millhouse, et al), and I can find a number of sites that list rentals (Craigslist, Zillow, rent.com, etc.). What I can't do easily is differentiate among them. What's the _best_ way to find something surprising and lovely and solid but not pretentious?
No, I am not on Facebook. If you bring up Facebook I'll assume you're volunteering to search for me and send me all the listings, then contact the listings with my e-mail address :)
I can find the major house rental agencies (Louise Beck, Millhouse, et al), and I can find a number of sites that list rentals (Craigslist, Zillow, rent.com, etc.). What I can't do easily is differentiate among them. What's the _best_ way to find something surprising and lovely and solid but not pretentious?
No, I am not on Facebook. If you bring up Facebook I'll assume you're volunteering to search for me and send me all the listings, then contact the listings with my e-mail address :)
Response by poster: Fussy rules of Acorn and Oak? Like, no frogs or something?
posted by amtho at 9:20 PM on March 15, 2022
posted by amtho at 9:20 PM on March 15, 2022
Hah, no but both my partner and I had to take out what seemed like an absurd amount of liability insurance per person (if we were married, we could have gotten away with just one policy), we have to change the air filter every 3 or 4 months and they do a check on this, just little things like that, nothing major.
posted by coffeecat at 9:30 PM on March 15, 2022
posted by coffeecat at 9:30 PM on March 15, 2022
I was also going to suggest the local subreddits (e.g. r/bullcity, r/chapelhill, r/triangle), although many there will suggest Facebook (e.g. Housing for Lovely People Durham) in addition to some recommendations.
When we rented we had a good experience with Bev Roberts, but they seem to focus on Wake County properties with only the occasional South Durham one. Red Door seemed hit or miss with the types of properties they had, plus we were never able to get them to return our phone calls, but that was 5-6 years ago. I also remember driving through neighborhoods we were interested in looking for 'For Rent' signs. I'm just not seeing such signs in the Durham neighborhoods we drive through these days, though.
When we first moved to the area we got a realtor to look for rentals for us and that worked out pretty well, so that could be another option.
posted by research monkey at 4:47 AM on March 16, 2022
When we rented we had a good experience with Bev Roberts, but they seem to focus on Wake County properties with only the occasional South Durham one. Red Door seemed hit or miss with the types of properties they had, plus we were never able to get them to return our phone calls, but that was 5-6 years ago. I also remember driving through neighborhoods we were interested in looking for 'For Rent' signs. I'm just not seeing such signs in the Durham neighborhoods we drive through these days, though.
When we first moved to the area we got a realtor to look for rentals for us and that worked out pretty well, so that could be another option.
posted by research monkey at 4:47 AM on March 16, 2022
We get regular posts on our neighborhood listserv from people moving to Durham who are looking for garden space or a fenced yard. I think that it works out for a lot of them. Durham is very neighborhood-centric so I'd pick a few neighborhoods and send a nice email to the listserv. Here's a list of neighborhoods and email lists.
posted by JuliaKM at 5:52 AM on March 16, 2022
posted by JuliaKM at 5:52 AM on March 16, 2022
We rented from Apple in Durham. While I wouldn't say they were the most responsive landlords, but the properties were decently maintained and reasonably priced, and they had some real gems in terms of houses/duplexes with yards. We contacted them about a specific house we liked online, and they showed us several other similar properties. When the one we liked the most had hookups but not a washer dryer, they moved a washer dryer from another property for us. All around, not the best, but definitely not the worst landlords we have had.
(The prices are of course much higher now than they were 10 years ago, but our old place has had a full remodel (I think they actually gutted it and started over), and it has a lovely yard that we had a garden in. It definitely used to have a tub, but it might have a shower now? I can't tell from the pictures).
posted by hydropsyche at 5:18 AM on March 18, 2022
(The prices are of course much higher now than they were 10 years ago, but our old place has had a full remodel (I think they actually gutted it and started over), and it has a lovely yard that we had a garden in. It definitely used to have a tub, but it might have a shower now? I can't tell from the pictures).
posted by hydropsyche at 5:18 AM on March 18, 2022
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Personally I had luck with Acorn and Oak - they do have some fussy rules, but I'm happy with the property and they are relatively quick with service requests. I also remember Red Door Company having a range of properties.
You might get more answers posing this to the relevant subreddits.
posted by coffeecat at 9:14 PM on March 15, 2022