Hi Sal,
It depends on the landlord, but some houses you can rent on short term 'flexi' leases. Usually these flexi-leases can be anything from 1 week to a months notice.

As for cost of living, its taking some getting used to. In a way, it feels quite expensive to live here. Marked prices on products you can find in the UK are higher, but when converted back to UK pounds actually work out cheaper. On the other hand, some things have exactly the same or lower marked prices than UK, for example there is a real nice DVD player in a local store here, marked up for $79, which is about ?30. A digital camera I've just bought that I was looking at getting in the UK was ?299 in the UK, and $279 here, so about ?100! ?199 cheaper!!

So you see, some things are more expensive, some things SEEM more expensive, and some things are very cheap! Your weekly shop will be more dollars than it is pounds, but converted back will be much cheaper across the board.

Thats probably quite confusing, as its making me scratch my head! Hope something, somewhere in that lot helps!