Monday, June 14, 2010

We have begun the search.

I can't believe how sparse the Sunday Paper was for rentals. I mean there was barely anything we could afford and the ones that we could, were in a bad part of town. Searching through Craigslist for homes to rent has been a very interesting experience. We have come across a few houses where the owners are admitting to being in the process of foreclosure but if you just give them x amount of money you can stay until the bank makes you leave.  Who does that?  More importantly who would even consider "renting" a place with the impending doom looming just around the corner?  Quite honestly that made me mad as hell, given our current situation

We went and scoped out a few houses. We started out in the general area of where we would like to be, given that we want Katie to be kept in the same school she is in now for her special needs.  We liked a particular house that fit well below our budget (which is what we are striving for) but the street is very busy, even for a well kept neighborhood.  We saw at least 3 teenagers atv racing up and down the street.  I don't even think they are allowed to have them on public streets, but there they were zooming along like they didn't have a care in the world.  

There weren't too many houses that we looked at that we really jumped out at us. I know that beggars can't be choosers but I don't want to end up in some rat hole or undesirable neighborhood.  Been there and done that.  I don't think June is a very busy month for finding rentals anyway, but we will keep on looking because that is the only thing we can do at the moment. 

4 comments:

Audrey at Barking Mad! said...

So glad you updated and am glad that you're keeping your head up whilst you look around. Have been thinking about you all weekend since Adam posted about your situation.

I know that the waiting list for "housing" seems impossibly long, but were you able to talk to anyone at the housing authority that could give you any sort of breakdown on what the actual owner must do when giving notice to a tenant to vacate? Can he just give you 15 days, or less than 30? I'm hoping that you can stay longer, at least until you're able to secure another place. I also hope you're able to get some sort of definitive answer about just exactly how the law defines "Notice" in your area.

Hang in there!

Christine said...

Have you considered going through a realtor? I did when I found the place we're living in now, and it was the LANDLORD who paid the realtor's fees. This was a long time ago, and I have no idea how this works now, but it might be worth calling a few and asking if they handle rentals, and if so, who pays the fees?

Good luck, I hope you can find something decent!

Mindy said...

Christine: We will check that out. I know there are property management companies but the rent is too expensive even for the crappy houses.

Kareninaz said...

I found you through Kat and I just had a thought. It's been 3 years since I rented a house and I'm in Arizona, not FL, but I had bad credit at the time and I was afraid I'd have a hard time getting accepted.

I googled rentals in the cities and found a few managed by realtors. Maybe there would be some on there that aren't on CL, but I'm not sure of the prices.

Good luck!