Speaking as someone who's had to use genny's for all sorts of things, I wouldn't suggest it for home use. I would most definitely try to find a rental with sufficient electrical capacity.
However, if you "have" to use a genset, I would suggest a low-rpm diesel. Most gas-powered generators spin at 3600 rpm, there are diesels available that stick to 1800 rpm. Takes a little more HP per kw than a similar gas genny, but they last loads longer, and I generally find them to be quieter. Another issue to deal with when using gensets is the condition of the power being output. Depending on what you are trying to use off the genset, you might need current conditioners. I know for a fact that items with VFD's can have issues with "dirty" power. I believe most current production gensets have fairly decent voltage regulation nowadays, but the closer you get to capacity, the more likely it will be to get out of spec.
There's also the issue of the duty cycle of the genset you choose. Some systems aren't designed to run full-bore for days on end. Contractor friend of mine keeps playing genset roulette with a discount tool store. Nice gensets, work fine for the occasional thing here and there, even a week of use every so often. However, after 4-6 months of near-constant use, there are usually problems developing. His parents, on the other hand, are serious RV'ers and have an Onan quiet diesel in their RV that's going on 12 years of use.
I'm not too familiar with Honda gennys, outside of the little suitcase sets like the 2000i. Nice small genset and it produces clean power. That being said, it's way too small, even with the partnering cable and two of them.
For genny's under 20kw, I'm a big fan of Onan, which is now part of Cummins Commercial. Over 20kw, Cat, Cummins, Perkins, Generac... they're all good. Some nice Kubotas as well.
I think the biggest question is what sort of use are we talking about? Daily use, couple days a week, couple days a month? Then, on the days of use, what level of use are we talking about? Assuming the DuroMax at 75% load, you'd be going through 12 gallons of gas in a day. Push it up to 100% and we're talking 16 gallons daily. Not insurmountable, but it adds up.
Speaking of adding up, time for some Fuzzy math. Assume 100% use, $1200ish(you've got to buy CARB compliant, adds a few bucks over the standard model) spent on the aforementioned duromax. Assume the worst, only a year or two use out of it. One day a week, that's 64 gallons of gas a month. Not sure of gas price there, but here its' $3.639 right now, so $232.90 a month for gas. Amortize the genny; 12 months = $100 per mo, so we're up to $332.90 added expense monthly. Of course, these figures might vary for your actual usage, and I'm being pessimistic by assuming the genset is only going to survive a year or so.
I haven't really even touched on noise factor, but even a quiet generator makes a lot of noise. On par with a quiet lawnmower. We all hear lawnmowers in the summer, but for 8-10 hours straight? Going to have neighbor issues if you don't buy/build an enclosure or have quite a bit of space between you and the neighbors.
So after all that yakkin,
the TL;DR sums up to this.
Would you rather spend a couple hundred a month on fuel and the generator or just put that couple hundred into the rent budget and get a place that works from the start?
Heck, if you find places that work, but just don't have the electrical, as long as the house has decent electrical service, having a sub-panel run to the garage should run less than the cost of the generator. Might be a desirable thing to the landlord as well. They might do the upgrade and figure it in on rent(I know I would, if it let me charge $650 a month instead of $600 and they were signing a 2 year lease, per se, that means I'd want the cost to be around $800 to me, for that $1200 increase in rent.). Other landlords would let you have the upgrade done, as long as it was done to code, possibly making you use their preferred contractor, etc. Some won't, but I guess you wouldn't want to continue talking to them anyway.
