Recommend a good three month's stay place to stay in a nice part of Roanoke. (Salem: extended stay)

[NorthernSkysGuy]

My family is looking for the right three month lease down there while we look around for a place to actually settle.

I was told try Salem but I also don't want to let "fear of cities" keep me from a nice area of Roanoke. My wife likes walkability for errands over driving to places like the library and post office.

If anyone has stayed in Roanoke for a few months, can you steer me toward areas to consider or to avoid?
We're going to go to a motel for a few nights but I want to hit the ground running and rent an apartment asap.

I'm trying to find a decent place (safe) that will allow a dog and three months rent in advance since we don't have jobs yet. I'd like to pay no more than 1,000 all per month.

I'd like to avoid "pay by week" type sketchy places.

Maybe we'd be happier in Roanoke over Salem since most of the shopping seems to be in Roanoke.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[headnsouth]

There are extended stay corporate hotels near the airport, and corporate apartments that probably offer a short-term lease near the hospital, but I have never heard of a 3-month lease in general. Even less with pets. Even less for $1k max in a nice area. Maybe someone else will have ideas but that sounds like a huge ask to me.

In my observation, pay-by-the-hour is the skeezy stuff (don't book at the Ramada on Franklin Road). Pay-by-the-week is for corporate travelers -- although there's no guarantee they're not up to sketchy things too!

Walkability = cities. You might find that Roanoke is not your cup of tea, but it's not a place to be feared. PS Roanoke and Salem really are next door to each other. "Shopping" is no more than 10 minutes away regardless, unless you choose to be way out in the sticks.

[NorthernSkysGuy]

Okay, thanks for those ideas. Maybe a 6 months lease then.

[Watchful]

When we stayed here for two months we found a two-bedroom furnished apartment that would contract for a two-month stay. We picked Windy Hill Key but there were others as well. The corporate apartments would have been great but did not allow pets, and we had a cat.

They ran more like $1200-1300 if I recall correctly for a short-term lease furnished. This was eight years ago for a two bedroom - it seemed to me that the units cost about twice as much for a furnished month by month compared to an unfurnished long lease.

Most of the larger apartment complexes had a couple of units furnished for a situation like that, so you might do some telephone legwork to see what you can come up with.

Ultimately walkability might steer you to some place near Grandin Village (Google the Grandin Theatre) but this might not work for the short-term rental with a pet. The larger apartment complexes are not in the walkable part of town.

For your purposes I would suggest you consider Roanoke/Salem as one thing - the cities are adjacent and there are all kinds of neighborhoods in both - so driving across a border does not change the ambience all that much. Sometimes you have to check to figure out which city you are in.

Having said all that - downtown Salem near Roanoke College is also a great choice!

GOOD LUCK! (Now if you are bringing furniture, I doubt the corporate and short-term rentals will be what you want - you may just wanna spring for six-month lease and move out early if you find the right thing. Most of the larger complexes are in decent areas, but if you have specific questions about any particular place, feel free to message me off the board.)