We kind of flip flopped with the sleeping situation. DD dated someone for 2.5 years post college but they lived in separate cities 2 hours from each other (we live 6 hours from her). He came here twice and we put them in separate bedrooms (all of our spare rooms have twins, with one room having a trundle). That was our first experience with a BF/GF staying over so I think we just weren't ready for it yet or maybe because it was DD, not DS...I'm not quite sure. Later, youngest DS moved to Chicago after college and dated somone for a year, then they moved in together. When they came to visit, it seemed kind of dumb to have them in separate rooms since they were already living together. I set up the trundle but they ended up squishing into a twin....ah young love! I like your criteria MTN of working adults.

My concern is with trying to sell a home when occupied by a renter. They don't have the same vested interest in selling the home as the owner has (and in fact, having the home sell could be the last thing they want to happen). As the owner you don't have control on how the home shows and this could impact how long it stays on the market. I had a rental property and put it on the market before the tenant was leaving (the lease was ending and she was planning on buying her own place). She was neat, but it didn't sell until it was empty, so who knows.... I agree, clutter is clutter. Especially in most markets these days, you want to maximize your chances of selling and clutter is a turn-off to most buyers and could result in a lower offer.

This post is over a year old. I'm surprised the lake level in that area was so low -- they got more rain in the NE part of the state than in other parts of the state, but last year was the first year we started to get a break on the drought and at least some lakes started getting recharged. This year has been wetter and seems pretty normal, but they say we are still a bit low. I bet that lake is back near normal now, but the folks out west are still in dire straits. I suspect the guy was having a really hard time last year and reacting out of fear for his livelihood or that place at least. His upset is understandable -- it's a beautiful setting and he had no control over the weather, but he shouldn't have acted as he did. An apology for not letting you know what everyone in Texas knew 00 that the lakes were all way down and the heat was taking a toll on everything and an invite to return when the lakes was recharged would have been the more gentlemanly thing to do.

Thanks again, everyone, for all of the replies! To address some of things that have been mentioned... We will definitely talk to the landlord before making any final decisions. Our friends, the current tenants (who are wonderful people and a landlord's dream), are also planning to put in a good word for us. Our agreement would be contingent upon the rent remaining the same, the lease going month-to-month after one year, and the landlord not having any plans to sell the house. If any of those conditions are not met, we will not rent the house. The landlord does not know yet that the tenants plan to move out, so we have to wait for them to talk to him first. All of this is hinging on the deal for their new house, and they are currently still in negotiations. If their deal does not go through, which is certainly a possibility, then we will do nothing for now. I want to be ready with our decision as soon as they know for sure, though, which is why I am going through all the pros and cons now rather than waiting to see if the opportunity will actually materialize or not. If we do move into the rent house and put our current house on the market, we will not start looking for a new house until our house is sold and our lease is up or almost up, so there will be no issues with finding the perfect house and not being able to get out of our lease. Trust me, I remember how stressful house hunting was last summer, and I am not eager to begin the process again until we are completely ready. We were totally jumping the gun last summer (not even having our house ready to sell), and have learned a few lessons. Next time around, we plan to be ready to buy with no contingencies once we find a house we want. I'm prepared to be patient and just live in the rent house for at least a year while we get all of those things in order. We can't buy a new house now and just pay two mortgages until our current house sells because the monthly mortgage on a new house will most likely be higher than what we will be paying in rent. Also, we may need to dip into our savings to be able to pay for both rent and mortgage (especially if our house takes several months to sell), and if we bought a new house, we would deplete our savings for the down payment. Finally, we need to sell our house before we'll really know what we can afford and how much we'll have for a down payment. It may be that we need to save up for another couple of years, and I am OK with living in the rent house until then. Saving money will be pretty impossible while we're paying both rent and mortgage, but should be easy once our house sells and we're only paying rent. Thank you to those that suggested daily check-ins at our old house. If we do move, I'll make a checklist that my husband (or one of our neighbors) can quickly run through each day. That will be easy for us since the rent house is only a few minutes away from our current house. The more I think about this idea, and the more I talk with my husband about it, the more I like the idea. It would certainly not be right for everyone, but I think it might be the right decision for us. Of course, this all depends on whether or not our friends get their new house and whether or not the landlord agrees to rent the house to us at the same rate. We will see! We should know something next week. :)