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Moving In Transition
Finding the best temporary
housing solution
by Wendy Dunham
So you’re moving to Atlanta! Relocating to a new
city is always exciting, but there’s a lot to think about, organize,
prioritize and plan, not the least of which is where you are going to
live. Finding temporary accommodation until you buy a house or until
your new house is ready will be your priority. Possibly your move comes
with little advance warning, and your family will join you later.
You’ll need to find a place to stay during this transition.
So, where do you start? If your company is moving
you, or if you’ve been hired by a company in Atlanta, your employer
will probably be helping. Following their advice is always a good idea
as they’ve done this process before and have built good
business-to-business relationships with preferred service providers in
the area. These relocation specialists know all the pitfalls and all
the best tips for making the move as seamless as possible. Individuals
moving without the assistance of an employer can use them too.
Kathy Connelly, Senior Vice President for Corporate
Services for Prudential Georgia Realty, is a 20-year veteran in the
relocation industry. Her company helps both corporations and
individuals. Local service providers such as Connelly and her team know
their areas inside and out, and can offer assistance with choosing
neighborhoods and schools, obtaining social security cards and driver’s
licenses (if applicable), and with general acclimation to a new
location.
“When a corporation transfers an employee to a new
city, it is investing time and money into the venture,” says Connelly.
“In order to maximize that investment they need their employees to have
the least stressful transition possible, with the least distractions to
the job and the family. It makes sense, therefore, to use a relocation
agent who is a specialist in the field. It’s like offering a package
deal where we take care of everything—it gives employers and employees
great peace of mind.”
One of the options Connelly has to offer movers is
that of corporate lodgings. They consist of fully furnished apartments
that come with all the basics, including linens, kitchenware, and
washer-dryers. Most of them have swimming pools, spas, fitness centers,
and business centers. Included in the lease price will be gas,
electric, water, sewer, telephone, and cable. Leases can be short- or
long-term. They make moving to a new city, or staying temporarily in
one, comfortable and easy.
With the motto “Why settle for a hotel room when you
can have a home,” TP Corporate Lodging, based in Lawrenceville, has
plenty to offer the business professional, but President Tim Miller
says that his accommodations are also popular with home buyers who need
short-term placement, relocating employees, temporarily misplaced
families, project workers, those seeking medical treatment, single
people who do not want to furnish an apartment, and families on the
move.
“We provide everything that our customers need,”
says Miller. “We truly specialize in the kind of finishing touches that
ensure our apartments do not have the look or feel of a hotel room—for
example, all the beds in each unit have different bedspreads and the
rooms have different color schemes. It makes a difference.”
TP Corporate Lodging even offers clients a choice in
furniture arrangements with styles that range from traditional to
contemporary. Optional services can include maid service, premium movie
channels, a larger TV, VCR, DVD player, stereo and more.
Miller also points out that location is very
important: “I am very picky when it comes to finding property,” he
says. “People who lease from us will not find themselves next to a
dumpster, or in a bad neighborhood.” TP Corporate Lodging apartments
are located throughout metropolitan Atlanta, including Gwinnett,
Duluth, Lawrenceville, Suwanee, Roswell, Dunwoody, Alpharetta,
Marietta, Norcross, Stockbridge, Peachtree City, Conyers, Buckhead,
Midtown, and Downtown.
Other corporate lodging specialists, like Wallace
Hitt at Post Corporate Properties and Fred Lemon at Fred Lemon and
Associates, also will work with companies to place newly relocated
employees in furnished apartments for the short-term, usually 30 to 90
days. They will have arrangements with certain properties to ensure
units are available to these corporate clients. They “cater
specifically to what the transferee is looking for from location to
size and quality and quantity of furnishings,”
according to Linda W. Allender, Vice President, Relocation
Operations for Prudential Georgia Realty.
When someone learns they will need temporary housing, such specialists
can work with them and/or their employer to determine the best
location, space needs, length of lease and budget and then match those
requirements with available units. Some, like Hitt, work with a single
apartment company, while others, like Lemon, build relationships with
multiple property owners, so you will want to be aware of the
capabilities of the specialist with whom you or your employer contract.
Such corporate lodging actually can mean a savings
over costs of staying in a hotel. For example, according to TP
Corporate Lodging, the daily rate for one of its apartments might run
$59 to $85, compared with $65 to more than $149 in a hotel. Monthly
rates could be $1,950 to over $5,250 for a hotel, vs. $1,769 to $2,550
in these apartments. And additional savings can be had by using your
own kitchen to prepare meals—as opposed to dining out or ordering room
service—and also by being able to use the washer and dryer in the
apartment rather than having to pay to do laundry elsewhere.
But what if you are relocating on your own, without
the help of an employer? Hiring a specialist to help you is a
possibility, contacting one of these lodging companies is something you
can look into and find lodging on your own, or another choice is to
move into an extended-stay hotel. These look like hotels or motels and
usually offer small, furnished suites where everything is done for you
except cooking. There will also usually be access to a pool, a spa, a
gym, and an office for faxing, copying, printing, etc. Some, such as
the Marriott TownePlace Suites, even let you accrue loyalty points for
being there.
A one-bedroom suite in Atlanta, for one person, in a
chain like ExtendedStay America, Homestead Studio Suites, or
ExtendedStay Deluxe, could begin as low as $24.99 to $57.99 per night.
Prices vary according to location, and you might qualify for discounts
depending on your employer.
If this sounds like a fit for you, Extended Stay
Hotels is a company with many resources for newcomers to cities all
over the country. The Web site www.extendedstayhotels.com has links for
extended-stay hotels, temporary housing, hotels for relocation,
weekly-rate hotels, and pet-friendly hotels to help break down your
specific needs even more.
As attractive as extended-stay living is, some are
just not suited to it. If you have three children and two dogs, you may
wish to consider simply renting someone’s house. This will have to be
organized well ahead of your move, but due to the economy there are a
lot to choose from and rental prices are down.
Renting a house will give a family all the space
they need and put them in a real neighborhood with other families and
local amenities. They can usually make the place their own and move all
their belongings in. Just remember there’s a down side to renting—you
have to sign a lease and that is not always convenient. Many owners do
not want to deal with continual turnover.
The best way to find a rental property is to go
online to a company such as Rentals.com. Just plug in everything you
want, in the area you want, and price range you want, and then start
scrolling through all the options until you find the best one for you.
Renters can search the comprehensive database of thousands of
properties for free until they find just what they need, even down to
things like a fenced-in yard for their dog or a two-car garage.
Atlanta-area homes listed on Rentals.com start at $449 per month for a
two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 784 sq ft. house, and the prices go up to
$5,000 per month. One drawback to a family eager to move into its
permanent new home is that this temporary option involves commitment to
a one-year lease.
Alternatively, you can contact realtors in the area
you want to be in and they can help you. In fact, the National
Association of Realtors® Web site lists a wide range of rental
properties, and many real estate companies have Web sites that offer
not only properties to buy, but also to rent. Note that the average
realtor will be able to share their market knowledge but may not have
an exhaustive knowledge of rental properties on the market beyond those
listed with their own company and information available to the general
public. They should be able to direct you to resources, but most likely
will not tour properties with you as they would if they were helping
you buy a house.
Whichever way you decide to go when you make that
move, if you plan ahead, do your homework, and follow the advice of
your employer, you will be successful. And once you’ve sorted out where
you are going to live, the hard part of your transition has been
accomplished. After that, everything else should fall right into place.
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Contact Information
Prudential Georgia Realty
678-352-3321
www.prudentialgeorgia.com
TP Corporate Lodging
678-442-9700
www.tpcorporatelodging.com
Post Corporate Apartments
770-434-6494
www.postproperties.com
Fred Lemon and Associates
770-888-6130
www.fredlemon.com
Marriott TownePlace Suites
www.marriott.com
Extended Stay Hotels
1-800-804-3724
www.extendedstayhotels.com
Rentals.com
1-888-501-7368
www.rentals.com
National Association of Realtors®
www.realtor.com
Tips for Choosing Temporary Housing
After 15 years in the
business, Tim Miller of TP Corporate Lodging has great advice for
people trying to decide where to live.
1) Avoid or be very wary about leasing accommodation
from individuals. Many people have investment property or condos that
they can’t sell in this market. They turn them into rental properties
and offer them for a very low price. Unfortunately some of them take
the lease money and don’t pay the mortgage—the next thing the tenant
knows is that they are being evicted!
2) Deal directly with a company based in the city you want to lease in.
Out-of-state companies don’t always know the areas of the city and
could send you to unsafe neighborhoods.
3) Extended-stay hotels are very often cheaper than
corporate lodgings but you usually have to sacrifice living space, the
clientele may not be as good, and you could be in neighborhoods you
don’t feel safe in.
4) Corporate lodgings will often perform criminal background checks on
their clientele. In this economy, extended-stays are turning into
permanent-stays and can result in less desirable tenants.
5) If you have a pet, before you commit to a lodging, find out if your
pet is welcome. Some places have weight limits or do not allow them at
all.
6) Find out how old the property is. Do you want to deal with a
20-year-old kitchen?
7) Find the deals—there are lots of them right now!
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