Our original plan was to get a year rental in the new school district, so the kids could start in September.

Then it changed to a short term apartment rental in the current school district, so we don't have to switch them midyear.

Then it was hopefully we can arrange settlements to coincide and then I will drive the kids to current school.

Now it is just someone please buy the freaking house, because we cannot walk away from the new build without costing us everything. (Current house is only 5 years old)

We put house on market 2/1/12. Entered contract to build 4/11/12, with settlement of new build in April 2013. That's enough time to sell the house.

Current house still not sold. One low ball offer that was countered, and they did not respond. No showings since Thanksgiving, when low ball came in. Have had multiple price drops, in total of 30k so far, with another 5k to come on Monday.

New build is almost at pre-drywall stage. Rough ins are being done now.

So, what I am trying to tell you, is to not make any plans, until you actually get an offer that is accepted, passed inspections, mortgate approval etc. Then you can figure it out. Just a little bit stressful.

Good luck!

Well. We got a year long lease that started last May. The house had rats that had gotten into the duct work and so when the air kicked on, the whole house smelled like rat pee. So the owner took out all the insulation under the house in the summer promising to put it back in time for winter. Winter came and owners have no money and refuse to put new insulation under the house. The house is freezing and the heating bill is totally insane. They also put it on the market in Oct so we are dealing with showings. Now, since our build might not be done till July...we might be homeless for a few months! So I have no idea what the right thing is except month to month, but like you there are not any in my town. :( I hate that my current living situation is adding additional stress on top of the stress of building.

If we had family that had room, I totally would have moved in with them to save money. But they all live in small houses :)

Thank you!

For our last build we put our house on the market as soon as we started the process to build our new home. The market was slow and we did not want to wait and worry about when or whether the house would sell any longer than we had to.

It took around four months to sell it and we decided to rent a small apartment and store all our belongs in a huge sea can. The apartment was right behind a rec center and we got the kids monthly passes so they could go swimming, play ball..... everyday. We lived in the apartment for eight months. We signed a six month lease and were month to month after that.

We also considered living in our RV on our land but since it was winter here in Alberta, it wouldn't have been practical for long.

With our first build, we sold our house very quickly and needed some place for 3 months or so while the new house was completed. We put an ad in the local paper seeking a home to rent on a month to month basis. All of the houses and apartments we saw were pretty nasty. We lucked out and got a call from a nice couple with a more than adequate house. They were trying to sell, had already moved out and into the next house and were paying two mortgages. We kept most everything boxed up in the basement there.

With our second build we controlled the closing date for house 1 and set it for after the new house would be complete with a little extra time. It was also the semester break for our young (at the time) kids so they started the new semester at the new school. We had looked into renting in our new area, but it seemed a bit sketchy and we could not see paying to move twice again.

We sold our home in just 3 days Oct. 2011. We had an offer on a short sale we planned to gut (which was taking too long in the end, so we pulled our offer March 2012). We finally decided in May 2012 we were going to build. We signed a 6 month lease initially with an option of going month-to-month after that. It is a small house with no yard, but it is in a great neighborhood near the kids' school. It doesn't require a lot of maintenance & our monthly bills are much lower, but we still have the privacy.

I did look at apartments, but I felt we would be too squished. We were very lucky to find this house on Craigslist for an excellent monthly rent amount. The homeowners live in a bigger home they built nearby, so they are flexible with our situation. We sign 3 month leases at a time since the initial lease ran out. If we want to go month-to-month (which we will do when it gets closer to our build being finished), we will pay an additional $50/month, per the terms of our lease. They allow us a 30 day notice in writing.

With the number of children you have (& pets) I would definitely try to find a situation like ours. I know friends who've gotten burned on CL rentals, but ours has been ideal. The kids have made friends for life while we've lived here. The neighbors are the best, & I will cry when we move into our new house, as I will miss these neighbors so much. The people we are renting from are lovely, too. They were initially going to rent the home to another family who could sign a 12-month lease. After we saw the rental for the first time, I told the homeowners we would take care of their home like it was our own. That sealed the deal! They called us 20 minutes later & said we had the house, as they trusted us more!

I think being in limbo for such a long time will be a nightmare with 4 kids. If I was in your shoes, I would go nutty. Kids thrive on routine & permanency (my social worker hat is on). It might be a fun adventure at first, but it will eventually get old. Also, building is stressful enough. I don't think it will help your marriage, either. Plus, do you really want to be out of town while your house is being built? I plan to stop by every day I can. Not being there is very risky.

Good luck with your decision & I hope you sell your home as quickly as we did.

I totally agree with "wish", so important!! Good Luck!

I know the anxiety you feel. We live in a college town and almost all the rentals require a 12 month lease. Plus, the landlords have managed to start them all in June of each year, which leaves virtually nothing in the other months. I have no idea what we are going to do when our house sells. We are a family with 7 kids so an apartment is out of the question too.

I'm a nervous wreck about it even though I'm not there yet. So much so that I'm watching the houses for sale because it would be so much easier to move right into something. We are relisting our house soon after switching realtors and doing some major changes. Very low inventory here so I'm hoping for a quick sale.

We are currently renting a 4 bedroom house, similar to the one we sold although slightly smaller. Our house took 16 months to sell - mainly due to it's location. We knew it might take a while and didn't want to start building until it had sold. 16 months was a lot longer than I had ever imagined though. We too, had whole months with no showings. We listed it in March 2011 and sold in July 2012. We expected our new build to take 9 months and figured signing a year lease would be ok by the time we actually got started and the new house was finished. Well, getting the final plans drawn has taken much longer than expected (due to various delays from the draftsman). We've been here 6 months and hopefully our plans will finally be done in the next 2 weeks. Then we need to get the final bid from the builder and apply for the loan. At this point, we'll be lucky to be in by Christmas. Our lease is up in July, but we can extend month by month although the landlord has the right to raise our rent for those months (I made sure any lease we signed had an option to extend by month).

Anyway, we didn't have a lot of choice in rentals. Our buyers wanted to close in 3 weeks so we had to move in a hurry. We only have 1 child, but have a 170 lb Mastiff and a 100 lb Lab, plus a cat. Our pets are all old, but I was worried about finding a rental due to their size. An apartment was not an option. The house we are renting is a builder spec house. He had been trying to sell it for 3 years and had just put it up for rent the week we got our offer. We are paying more than we would have liked, but I'm glad now that we are not crammed into something small or not as nice since we are going to end up being here for well over a year. Our son goes to a private school that is only 3 minutes from here (was almost 20 from the old house). We are now trying to decide what to do about next year. We will have to switch him to a school closer to our new house, but we will be moving half way thru the school year. We will likely go ahead and switch him this fall so I will have to drive there from here for the first half of the year until the new house is done.

We are staying in a rental house I found on Craigslist. Talking to realtors while I was looking for a place, I learned that if you are willing to sign a 6 month lease, many, many more landlords will consider working with you. I would recommend asking about a "short-term lease" instead of asking for month-to-month immediately.

Your anticipated timeline may make it harder for you to find a place-- we were able to get a 6 month lease for the home we have because we plan to move out over the summer. They do not want to have to fill a vacancy during the winter (and that's basically the only other season we have here).

Aside from craigslist, the other place I found that would take our family and our large dog with a short term lease were townhome-style condo communities. We didn't go that way because we wanted a little more space and a yard, but they were willing to consider a lease as short as 4 months.

Good luck!

We are a family with 7 kids so an apartment is out of the question too.

Yikes!

When we had four at home, we were turned down flat at one place for precisely that reason. They subsequently rented to a fake family that turned it into an uninhabitable grow op. Talk about schadenfreude!

Between houses, I rented apartments when I was single. Married, we rent homes. Funny business though. Don't look too rich. (Leave the Porsche at home!) Too rough. (Leave the Monster pickup there too.) Nor too, ah, how do I put this--"out of place".