Rent question

It's a pretty big price difference, but depending on your area and the landlord... it's not out of the question.

If you think you might leave sooner than a year, you might be able to negotiate a 6 mo lease instead of 12 or something.

In AZ, you don't have to offer it at all. I'm in the process of getting signed off my old lease after moving out. Bummer.

So sorry to hear about the miscarriage The majority of women I know have gone through it at some point. 

Have you talked to you landlord? Some are pretty flexible. If you say that you want to stay until there's a baby, you can give a few months notice, which will give the landlord plenty of time to plan to find another renter. You might be able to reach an agreement without forking over an extra $250/mo for that freedom.

Sorry to hear your sad news.  I hope you're able to conceive again with a healthy pregnancy.

Pretty much every place I've rented had a similar month to month increased pricing.  I'd say that's the standard, especially for a complex.  As a landlord of one property, I've allowed renters to go month to month with a 45 day notice of termination but I'm just dealing with one condo.

The options and prices available are very dependent on the rental market in your area and their vacancy rate.

For obvious reasons the property manager wants to have as much stability with the lowest vacancy rate they can get.  Having people with long term leases is the easiest way to do this.  When your lease comes due, if they have a very low vacancy rate and are feeling confident they may give you an ultimatum to renew a 1 year lease or go month to month and pay X amount per month higher.  They're essentially trying to push you into the lease through a negative incentive.  They're likely not too worried about you moving, or if you do they can easily fill the vacancy.

However, if the market is doing horrible and they have very high vacancy rate, the tables are turned.  You then have the power to negotiate the same or even possibly a lower rent with month to month terms because they'll do anything to keep you there.

With my office lease, I rented the space in early 2010 when the market was doing horrible.  They had so much vacancy they were desperate for anybody at any rate.  I came in and offered half of what they were asking with month to month terms and a guaranteed rate for 5 years.  They took it because it would have sat vacant for a year or more had they not.  If I were looking today this wouldn't be an option and I'd have to pay a much higher rate with at least a year lease.