We were in a similar situation about a year and a half ago. We decided
to pull up stakes on one coast and head for the other. I am a stay at
home mom, and the mister was going to be quitting his job and changing
careers and going back to school. So we were moving/renting with no jobs
waiting for us. The move was financed by my in-laws, and they were our
financial back-up for the transition, and down payment for the house we
intended to buy about a year after the move, assuming husband was indeed
employed. We were moving back to the area where I grew up, and where my
parents still lived.

We preferred to live *not* in an apartment complex, something owned
privately, a 4-plex or smaller. My mom found a nice duplex a few minutes
from them, owned by a couple who had a few properties here and there. We
had a good credit report, and my in-laws co-signed the lease. Turned out
she was also a real estate agent with a large, reputable local firm, and
acted as our buyer's agent through that process. That worked very well
for us, because they had a very positive attitude towards helping
tenants become homeowners, and with her being part of the process, she
knew the time frame involved in getting to closing and they were very
accommodating in allowing us to pay per diem in the last couple of weeks.

Anyway, my point is, I think there are people out there who will be
accepting of a non-usual situation and work with you. That's more likely
to happen with a privately owned situation rather than a complex or big
corporately owned situation run by managers and such - I think they
probably just don't have the leeway to bend and twist what are probably
some pretty strict guidelines.

Karen

dave xnet wrote:
Hello,
I find myself unemployed, and it's likely to be that way for
the next 3 - 6 months until I complete some training.

In the meantime, we've sold our house, and expect to clear
$250,000 + in profits when it closes in a couple of weeks.

We plan to rent for a year and then re-evauate things
at the end of the lease.

The problem we're having is that rentals, particularly those
that go thru a rental agency, are balking at renting to us
(myself, wife and two children)
even though our credit reports are good, and we're about to
get a big balance at the bank.

Anybody have any tips for improving our situation?

I came up with the idea of just offering the landlord
6 months rent in advance, even the full year,
but not sure of any legal implications of that.

TIA for any info.
Dave