Renting a House in Dallas/Richardson/Plano

angelsong21

I'm hoping some of the OMHs will come out of the woodwork for this one, but any and all advice is appreciated!

We're looking to relocate preferably within NE Dallas by White Rock Lake / Greenville Avenue but we're also open to Richardson, Plano, N. Dallas, etc.  We're paying $950/month right now for a 890 sq ft 2-bed/2-bath apartment that is 32 years old and does not allow pets.  I've searched high and low for decent apartments in reasonably safe areas and am not coming up with  much else.  Either they price is far too high or the area is unsafe.  I'm really at a loss.

I've had a few people mention to us that for the price of 2-bed/2-bath in this area that we should really just be looking into renting a house.  Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea how to go about doing this.  I know that there are some property managers that really suck and there are a few that are really great -- get stuck with the wrong one and life can be pretty miserable if anything goes wrong.

If anyone has rented a house, could you please let me know how you started the process?  Or if you had a good locator/realtor that helped you, please drop a name! 

KHollyTX

We just rented a duplex in Richardson and the other half is available.  It's 2 bed 1 bath 1 car garage with a fenced back yard and hard woods.  The rent is amazing and the area is definitely safe.  If you're interested pm me and I'll give you more details.  Good luck!  Oh and we have 2 little dogs so it's definitely pet friendly.

angelsong21

KHolly, YGPM!

winechic25

This may sound weird, but when we were looking for a rental when we were moving to DC, and our realtor was no help, we went on craigslist and found our place there. We actually found WAY more options through that channel. Good luck!

fallbride1109

I know Marissa rents a duplex in the M streets. Hopefully she will drop by. Her place is sooo cute.

angelsong21

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_renting-house-dallasrichardsonplano?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:1ee3ff7a-004a-4a16-a8c7-b7d389284f9fPost:9788b725-e5f2-4ad6-840e-3cf5eacfd817">Re: Renting a House in Dallas/Richardson/Plano</a>:
[QUOTE]I know Marissa rents a duplex in the M streets. Hopefully she will drop by. Her place is sooo cute.
Posted by stephiehall[/QUOTE]

Oh, nice -  Love the M Streets area!

FebDallasBride

Have you tried realtor.com? I looked for rent houses there a few years back...

juliebug1997

There are some duplexes on NWHwy between the lake and Abrams and I love them!!!!  There are also some off of Garland Rd. and Old Town that are really great too. 
There are some other off of Garland Rd. between Jupiter and Easton in Lochwood.  They might not be in such great shape but the other houses in that area are still in good shape and it's a nice little neighborhood.  You may be able to find some houses for rent as well because we used to rent one over there many years ago.  I really love that area and would love to move back over there.  Sigh.

MarieSD

I'm no help with that area, but when we were looking for a new place to either rent or buy, my mom told me I should use www.hotpads.com to look for a rental house. She said that had way more rental places on that website than the home-buying sites I was using (zillow, yahoo real estate, etc).

GL! We rented a house the last two years, and overall I loved the experience. We had SO much more space than an apartment and it was nice getting to "play house" before actually buying one together.

And because my landlord wasn't always immediately available the way, say, I could just go to the apartment clubhouse to talk to someone, I did learn that sometimes it was quicker/easier to just pay a little to get a problem fixed rather than calling. Yes, it was money out of my pocket, but it made life easier to live there. And it put me in the right mindset now that we own and EVERYTHING will be out of our pocket.

angelsong21

MarieSD -  I understand completely about deciding to just pay a little to fix something simple instead of calling about it.  I already do that in our apartments, sadly.  LPC hasn't sent out an exterminator in over a year and a half, no one has changed our air filters in just about the same amount of time (air filters should be changed every 3 months, generally), etc.  So I spray our apartments for bugs myself, buy air filters and change them myself, caulk the gaps around the sink so bugs don't get in, caulk the area underneath the door where bugs were getting in, etc.  It's just easier to do it myself the right way versus calling maintenance to come out here and do it the crappy way (seriously, when these people painted the walls, they just painted over hair and bugs...)

Julie -- I knew someone who used to live in that area a long time ago in a REALLY nice rental house but she had 3 other roommates and they each still paid quite a bit.  From that point on, I always assumed that area was pretty expensive.  I will have to drive by there later and see what I can see.  Are the duplexes right off NW Hwy on the north side or south side?  I live very close to that area now. Thanks!

Wendi -- I've searched on realtor.com a bit but almost all I get are apartments and maybe 1-2 houses at best.  :-\

juliebug1997

They are to the right as you travel towards North Park away from the lake. 

We used to live off of Lippett and Easton and loved that neighborhood.  Our rent was $700 in the late 80s and I'm sure it's more expensive now but it was safe, it was quite, there are families there, there are nice big yards and there are nice big bedrooms for the other bedrooms (we have tiny bedrooms in our 10 year old house for the "kids"--ugh!).

AshJohnson30

Thanks for posting this!! FI and I are searching for a place (I live at home with my parents and he has a 1 bedroom apartment that's too small for two) and it's been extremely difficult to find a reasonably priced place that allows dogs. Keep me updated on how your search goes! I may need to use some of your strategies!!

roseofdeborah

I live next to the M streets and my area has so many duplexes and houses for rent its ridiculous. If you go down mockingbird east of 75 and then take a right at Matilda..between there and greenville avenue are the areas that really you just have to drive by to find them because they aren't advertised everywhere. 

btweety04

Little Forest Hills will have houses for rent every now and then. There are always tons of houses for sale over there though so maybe you could ask and see if they would be willing to rent. I love that neighborhood and wished I could buy a house there if it wasn't so far away from work.

juliebug1997

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_renting-house-dallasrichardsonplano?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:1ee3ff7a-004a-4a16-a8c7-b7d389284f9fPost:bebe3d85-1bc6-4dc4-bacc-716200cdb355">Re: Renting a House in Dallas/Richardson/Plano</a>:
[QUOTE]Little Forest Hills will have houses for rent every now and then. There are always tons of houses for sale over there though so maybe you could ask and see if they would be willing to rent. I love that neighborhood and wished I could buy a house there if it wasn't so far away from work.
Posted by btweety04[/QUOTE]

That's the neighborhood at Old Gate and Garland.

professorscience

We rented in an older neighborhood in Richardson and I'll just say don't go through Investor's Realty.  The guy was basically a liasion between us and the owner of our house, and he tried to bleed us completely dry -- charging us for every little thing, including repairs that were needed simply because the house was old, through no fault of our own.  He just wasn't a pleasant guy.

Also, I really hated dealing with the city of Richardson.  It seemed like every month they were coming out with new codes that we were suddenly violating.

sparklingdiamond

We are currently renting in Frisco and this will be our third year there. I know it's a different area then where you are looking at! I did a lot of online research and then used a realtor. I was super glad we used one because we found a great deal on a house ($1200/month for a 3 bedroom house that included the washer, dryer, and fridge) and we wouldn't have gotten it if we didn't have their help since there was so much interest in the house. Let me know if you need the name of a good realtor!

KHollyTX

Angelsong21 you've got PM

aeliza06

Love Little Forest Hills- We put in an offer on a cute house here. The seller backed out though We also looked at a townhome off Northwest Highway right before Lowther- there were a few in this division for rent, might be above your price range though.

When we bought our house, our realtor's website was really useful in searching for rental properties. You had to submit your info in order to gain access to the search results, but once you did, there was no charge (if they called, you could always say you were just researching). If you want their information, let me know. Their search engine was really one of the best I've seen and I loved my realtor. 

The Lochwood area is another area you might try looking for rental properties (west of Jupiter, South of NW highway, East of Buckner, N of Garland Rd.)

Have you thought about Addison? There are a few condos/townhouses for rent in the Addison/N Dallas area that would be in your price range. 

professorscience

There are also a lot of duplexes/townhomes off of Northwest Highway that I've always liked... the prices might be outrageous, though.

serlace

When we rented a house in Plano, we used Terri McCoy of The Real McCoy's (Keller Williams).  She was very helpful.  She created a portal for us and we could look through the portal and pick and choose what we wanted to see.

I now live close to Mockingbird and 75 and agree with PP about duplexes in that area.  Just keep in mind that a LOT of SMU college students live in that area.

Also, there are cute townhouses off of NW Hwy, but they are ridiculous.  We looked at a 2 bedroom 2.5 bath and it was around $2300/mo.  However, there are some houses just north of NW Hwy that are for rent.  I think they only advertise by putting up a For Rent sign, so you might drive through that area.  I have no idea what the rent is, though.

I used to live by White Rock Lake (yeah, I've lived everywhere) and I lived in apartments at The Reserve.  I lived in a 1/1 townhome, but I think they also had 2/2 townhomes.  They also have a mid-rise that has 2/2 units.  I really liked it there and I could walk out the back of the complex and be at the lake.

HTH.

jenngb

I sent a few PM's regarding rentals. I am looking to rent a home in the North Dallas area when my current lease expires.
Thanks girls

angelsong21

Serlace -- I will definitely check out the Reserve!  FI would love a townhome style but I don't know if most of them are within our budget.  I drove through some of the neighborhoods off NW Hwy (both on the north and south side) briefly yesterday and didn't see too much.  There was one townhome on the south side in Town North but it was already leased and I couldn't find out how much it originally went for.  I think FI and I will walk that area a bit over the weekend -- thanks for the tips!

Amanda -- Thanks for the head's up on Investor's Realty.  It's stuff like that that worries about renting a house.  My friend has rented several houses over the last 15 years and she said to make sure we rent through a great property management group and not necessarily an individual.  She had many of the same experiences with crappy property managers and whatnot.  Just freaks me out a little. :-/

Sparklingdiamond -- Yes, if you have the name of a great realtor I will absolutely take you up on that!  I'm willing to look at all avenues since I haven't had much luck at all browsing online.  I'm great with the Frisco area but I'd have to convince FI since he works in downtown Dallas and rides the DART.  He's from Lubbock so anything more than a 20 minutes commute for him is an eternity :::rolls eyes::: LOL.

roseofdeborah -- Thank you for the info!  We are in Lower Greenville on a weekly basis and I drive home that way several times a week.  We'll have to walk through some of it over the weekend and see what we see.  Is there any particular area we should focus on or just all the way from Ross up to Mockingbird on Matilda?

Thank you ALL for all of the helpful info -- I really appreciate everyones help as you have all given information that gives me something to think about.  It's awesome having people to ask about this stuff who have been there, done that.

Jen6862

I'm thinking about renting out my half duplex on the corner of marsh and walnut hill... on the nice side. Little dogs only and it has a very small yard.

If you're interested we still have work to do on it (needs new carpet) and my mom is living there now, but she's planning to move across the street and it should be in your price range. It's not luxury living, but it's a nice home. Private message me if anybody is interested.

2 larger size bedrooms/2 bath
large closets
galley kitchen
washer/dryer hookups
dishwasher
disposal
garage with storage
open dining/living area

We originally wanted to sell it by owner, but that isn't workign so well and we don't want to get a realtor.

fallbride1109

Angelsong, if you are still looking, Marissa actually posted her duplex for rent on FB today.  It's only a 1BR though, 1100 square feet.