New to Providence, RI

[Jennifer Huynh]

Dear All,

My son will come to study at RISD this fall. I am looking for renting a house first then buy a house for investment later. I want to find a safe place to live, preferable East side of Providence like Wayland or Blackstone, College Hill...and easy to get long term tenants if later on we move out of RI. I'm not sure when we can come to RI because of the pandemic uncertainty. It will take us 6 hours to flight to RI. I keep looking online every day on house for rent and sale. But online maybe very different from the reality.  Although it's hard to get a good house in the preferred neighborhood like Wayland and I may miss them at this time if there is a good one there, it's hard and almost impossible that we can buy a property in a short term while we just can see it online. In addition, I think the house price will come down so it maybe better I rent first and buy later. For rent (single/multi home, apartment,condo) I am not sure which one is best in term of safety, cost, location and convenience.  We need two bedroom one for rent. There are a lot of things I should know. When I rent a place in RI near RISD, what I should know and do? The winter there also scares me. Maybe we don't stay there during the winter break. Except Wayland having 0% crime, other places have high crime records that worry me. I appreciate all your feedback or comments. Thank you in advance!

Jennifer