How to find Short term furnished rental while we look for a house
Hi everyone,
My husband, daughter and I arrived from NYC recently and are looking to buy a home in Berkeley. All our stuff is in storage. As it might take a few months to find the right place, we need a short term furnished rental that works as an office for me an my husband and is big enough to accommodate a nanny for our 21-month old and us coexisting. Airbnb has limited stuff and is expensive. Corporate housing websites are not geared towards families with children. I hear everyone talk about how people are leaving town for a few months and subletting their homes. Where can I access those listings? I checked Craigslist but there weren’t too many listings there either. Thank you for your help.
Nov 24, 2020
Parent Replies
Hi! I always check sabbatical homes website, most, if not all, are furnished.
we had the same situation recently and have found the current place through that site. https://www.sabbaticalhomes.com/ When were you planning to move?
Hi there,
We moved my in-laws here to care for my son and needed a similar arrangement for 9 months. Most airbnb prices are set up for short-term rentals. However, I had success by contacting the airbnb hosts directly and asking if they were willing to negotiate a longer-term rate. Most of them jumped at the opportunity. What was listed on airbnb for $3700 a month became $3000 a month when we arranged it directly with the hosts.
Note that you need to be quite savvy in your contact as airbnb will not allow you to share your email address or phone number. However, if you're in the area you can set up a time to meet at the cross streets near the home or if you send three subsequent messages with pieces of the phone number it will get through.
Good luck! We had lots of offers for long term furnished rentals since there are not as many tourists anymore, and most hosts prefer the lower-risk tenants who will stay for a while.
Our family used Sabbatical Homes when we first moved to Berkeley while looking to buy a house. We had a really good experience.
SabbaticalHomes.com - Academic Home Rental Exchange Sitting - est 2000
Check out the Sabbatical Homes web site. They seem to be better geared to long term stays.
Be warned that it took us two years to find a house we really loved enough to buy. I recommend Faye Keogh as an experienced, patient realtor (she never pressured us).
The good news is that we ended up with our dream home!
Have you tried Sabbaticalhomes.com? Also check on NextDoor.
I have a furnished house in North Berkeley that might be perfect for you (does nothing contain my personal belongings). Feel free to call me so I can tell you more, send you a detailed description and photos. Happy to do a distance showing. Best, Brenda
Sabbatical.com has homes in Berkeley and Oakland. We are looking ourselves for next summer. We are moving from the North Bay back to Berkeley or North Oakland next year.
Thanks everyone. I will check sabbatical homes. We are a little bit confused right now and wondering if we should do a year-long lease and bring our furniture out of storage. It seems risky buying a home without having lived here at all. Especially finding the perfect house can take a long time as some of you suggested. On the other hand throwing away money on rent is not great either. Has anyone been in a similar situation?
to the OP - I think taking your furniture out of storage and renting for a year is worth considering. There are some penalties, but you can always break a lease if you happen across the perfect home to purchase, and in the meantime you're testing out the neighborhood and have your own stuff around you so you feel at home and are in less of a rush. [My business deals with rentals and relocations, so I'm happy to answer any specific questions about lease breaks etc. if you have them, just message me.]