If you are looking for a new rental with a bit more space than the apartment or condo that you are currently renting, it is a very good time to consider looking at a single family residence as an option. Many of the homes that were distressed during the housing market meltdown 10 years ago were purchased by professional home management companies. They remodeled and upgraded the homes and put them on the rental market, making the rental price of single family homes quite competitive in many metropolitan markets.
Here are some other good reasons to look at moving to a rental home when you make your next move:
Amenities have been upgraded:
For many people, the first experience with rental homes is when they are in college. Many of the homes are pretty bare and contain fixtures, woodworking, and carpeting that is either industrial or a few decades out of style.
With a larger number of rental homes to choose from, construction companies have focused on creating living environments that people will want to remain in. It isn’t uncommon, therefore, to find granite countertops and state of the art gourmet cooktops along with the latest appliances and modern storage.
In addition, because yard upkeep often comes with the home, several management companies have created yard space that you can entertain in without having to do that much to maintain it.
Ownership is a possibility:
Blackstone’s Invitation Homes, a privately held company that has almost 50,000 homes for rent nationwide has mentioned that it is likely that they will begin to offer incentives for renters that are interested in home ownership to start saving to purchase the home that they are renting.
That type of arrangement is designed to appeal to people that may not be ready to purchase a home yet, but are on track to put a down payment down within a few years. The nice thing about exercising a rent-to-own option with Invitation Homes or any other firm is that if you have rented from them for a while, the time that you have spent in the home will help qualify you to purchase the home when you go to get financing.
In some cases, financing is even available through the company that you lease from.
Security arrangements can be better:
A lot has changed in personal security over the past 10 years. Advances in radar and sonic systems have allowed people to sense through your apartment walls to detect movement. For thieves, that has made it easier to tell when someone is not in their apartment. The problem is that because your apartment is not your physical space completely, you have limited options when it comes to putting in a security system that can ensure that your valuables are safe.
Worse, although private cameras are not allowed in apartment buildings when they are pointed at public areas, some renters have installed cameras that do point at public areas and have networked them on the internet. In some respects, they are using the ‘Internet of things’ to make their location useful for anyone with access to their network to watch your hallway or building grounds. This has led to an increase in the number of instances where other renters actively track people who live in a building that has cameras that are part of the network.
And although your owner may be oblivious to this, it certainly isn’t the same type of solid living environment in some neighborhoods that you thought it would be.
When you have your own home, you can protect it with security cameras. If someone in your neighborhood has a camera pointed at your home illegally, you can ask them to remove it or call the police so that they can talk to them and let them know that it is not legal for them to stake out your home.
Moving up to a larger place as part of your next move is an exciting time. Because there are now quite a few rental homes that can compete with rental apartments and condominiums, it makes sense to include them in your comparison planning. You will likely find that they now represent a historic opportunity.
When you think about Southern California beaches come to mind, but there is so much more to see just a short drive from other destinations like Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. A highlight is Ojai and the destination, the all-inclusive resort the 
I took my first ever pool exercise class and loved the shade sail over the area. This allowed you to stay out of the sun or embrace it while working up an appetite and working out your muscles. I loved it for the variety of moves I learned that I now bring to my solo swims to get an extra burn and stretch. I also enjoyed sitting poolside and being close to nature under the flowering trees.
If you aren’t too tired from a full day and a possibly early morning walk, get out and see a bit of the town. The shops are great, no chains or franchises allowed in the Ojai city limits so everything is one of a kind. Two of my favorite stops to shop? 
Evenings are quiet, like a lot of small towns, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to do. Sunset is the perfect opportunity to enjoy an odd local custom. Instead of looking west when the sun goes down, in Ojai you look up and east. Why? Since the valley runs east to west there is a direct line from the last rays of light against the white rock face of the mount
In the cute and tiny town center of sits the historic hotel, originally the first in the valley and now home to the 
If the good living, excellent food, and engaging company is not enough to help you shrug off some years there is also a first rate spa at the Oaks. Massages, facials, and body treatments are all options you can embrace. A common sight at the 
Best of all perhaps is the results you walk away with internally. I have never had more energy and felt better than when I left. The next day when I walked down the isle of the grocery stores all I could think was, “Not healthy enough.” Sadly that only held true for so long, but almost everyone I saw checking out stretched those results a bit by taking home some of the frozen soups and goodies the Oaks sells. I took home their famous, healthy, chocolate bark… didn’t survive long as a gift to my dog sitter though. I can’t wait to try out a few of the recipes that I learned at their demonstration too!
