preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

Hi
We are preparing our move to the US (received the petition approval but still need to go to the embassy) and although I know its far too early to find some places to live (since the H visa will take effect in October), hubby has to go to his new office for some meetings in August and Ill be going with him.
the idea is that we will discover the area by driving along and perhaps leave our details to some places that are managed (gated communities/flats)
I guess Im just looking for ideas on what to do, and find out how others did it. is it too naive to think we might find a place like that? We have been looking at some web ads (apartment finders, craigslist etc) but since we dont really know the area and everything is available "now" we thought it might be the best way..
thanks for any suggestions etc..

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

We hooked up with a realtor when we popped over to look at schools and told her the date we'd be moving over. She had a load of brand new homes that builders couldn't sell and were renting. We chose one but actually had a choice of two in the same neighbourhood when we arrived.

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

When hubby and I came over the company flew us in for a few days in order for us to take a look around. We arranged a rental within a couple of days.

There are lots of free booklets/magazines which list apartment/houses in all areas. Also local realtors may be able to help.

Another way to do it is to stay in an hotel for a couple of weeks when you get here and do the apartment searching then. Its much easier to arrange a rental when you are here since most rental management want to see you before they agree to rent to you - and you have to present evidence of identity/wages etc.

Where are you coming to in California?

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

My wife and I spent ages looking at various options and checked some of them earlier this year when we were there and I found Irvine Company had the best choices in terms of areas, etc. for Condos.

Check the following link and as you can see they have many places around Irvine, Tustin, etc.

http://www.rental-living.com/orange-...nt-search.aspx

Good luck!

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

wow thats great thanks! we are going to newport beach so close to Irvine
we got told that Irvine is good and we can get more for our money but to be honest we dont mind if we have a smaller place but close to the beach (we got told Corona del Mar is good as its close to shops/restaurants and beach)

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

All the places you have mentioned are within touching distance of one another so you will be fine where ever you end up living around there.

Good luck and I get back to you as promised after our interview next week regarding visits etc. before October!:)

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

Great thanks and once again good luck with the interview (although im sure it will be fine) :)

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

Thank you and fingers crossed!!

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

I'd recommend staying in some sort of 'extended stay' motel or hotel so you're not under immediate pressure to find something *right* *now*, then spend a little while looking and getting a feel for the area (and traffic, depending on where you are).

That's what we did when we moved here - my wife had rented from a company that manages holiday apartments before and they managed to find us an apartment for two months. We then hit craigslist looking for houses - didn't have much luck with the local realtors as apparently the skill of picking up the phone and calling people back hasn't really made it to the Carson Valley or Tahoe area yet :eek:.

The only downside with CL was that the owner of the first house we really liked and wanted turned out to be a bit of a fluke (to put it mildly) and was stringing us along for several weeks (pushing the move-in date further and further back but we could "move into the upstairs rooms" while he got his relationship with his wife sorted out...

That said, after looking at a few more houses we found something we really like with a cool landlord.

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

Ain't that the truth lol

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

Hi again!
re this subject, as we are going there next week I wanted to booked few viewings, so I had a look at "apartment finder.com" and crossed checked the "communities" I found with reviews on the web and OH MY GOD it was shocking!
Do you experience bad things with management companies in general? are those comments mostly fake or are the "customer services" that bad over there?
I tried this website http://www.rental-living.com/orange-...nt-search.aspx
and it look better in terms of reviews but unfortunately not much of choices.. Do you have any other websites you could recommend besides from craiglist?
Also, I found a few but we had to pay to get in touch with agencies, so I didnt, is this a normal thing to do?
sorry for all the questions, I guess I was naive to think it would be easy..
thank you!! :)

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

In addition to the Rental Living site I suggest droping an email to Lori details below providing your exact requirements and then she will setup a link for you with ALL suitable properties. Just let them know the areas, Min number of bedrooms, Baths etc.

Lori Edwards
Dominion Property Investments
Direct: 949-887-8402
[email protected]


Good luck and have fun next week!!

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

thanks Cyrus!! I knew I could count on you :D
ill email her right away!!!

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

Have fun next week and make sure to check out the couple of places I recommended for a bite/drink too!!

Re: preparing to move to CA.. how to find a place to live?
 

they are already on my list of things to do while there :) thanks again