Moving On!
The time has come to move on or move out. I despise looking for a new place to live. I don't like the process and never have but this time I have a good reason not to look forward to it or like it very much. It is not the physical moving part. I can grin and bear that part, that is the easy part. The hard part is finding a place. It is hard because I am not looking for a place for a "traditional" family in the sense of a mother, father and couple of kids. If I was that might be easier. But, in my family there is a mom, grandmother, son, brother, and nephew. Not traditional at all in the eyes of the landlords out there.
I have been through this more times then I can count, renting. But, I haven't been through it with my non-traditional family until a few years ago. Before that my mom lived in a duplex owned by her sister and her brother-in-law for more years then she should have. So, for the last 20 plus years of her life she was content living there for reasons unclear to me. In 2004 my step grandfather died of cancer, lung cancer. Left behind was my grandmother who was sick also. She passed away a year later. The house was left to a combination of my mom and oldest nephew in a trust. That was a nightmare. A nightmare that became a nightmare because of greed. The greed of one family member. In the end the house was sold for a lot less then it was worth and that left 5 people, my non traditional family living in hotels for 4 months. The only semi-good part about that was that we had a roof over our heads and some of the hotels, well, one of the hotels had room service and two had a pool.
Over those 4 months I talked to a lot of people. I talked to so many I lost count in the first week of our hotel adventures. In my nice professional voice I would dial numbers from different lists I found online and from different signs we would see just driving around looking. It was all good until they asked how many I had with me. I would say 4 or 5, depending on if my nephew was there or not, at one point he was staying with his brother in Los Angeles. They would immediately say like a husband and a couple of kids and I would say no like a grandmother, son, brother and me. I would get what would become the standard answer for me a promise that they would call me back when the place was ready. Most of the time they would say it needed paint or the previous renters haven't moved out yet, or some other excuse that sounded like they made up off the top of their heads just to get me off the phone with false hope.
Money was running out fast and so was time. If we had to live in the hotel another two months we would have been totally broke and totally homeless. Then our luck changed. At the time I thought it was for the better and it was for the most part. We met a landlord who accepted our non-traditional family. That was the good part. So, we moved in with one suit case each in the middle of October in 2007. We lived in that place for a little over a year when the bad news came. The landlord said that he was going to try to convert the apartments that we lived in into condo's and sell them. Meaning in his way, he was telling us we had to move. The bad part. But, he said to us that he had another property, bigger, across town. Good news. We drove across town to this house in a so-so area on the border of two cities. He was right the house was bigger, room for everyone and more. As we got used to the idea of moving to a bigger place in a new neighborhood the bad news came again.
The landlord informed us that his partner wanted to sell the place not rent it. Our smiles of anticipation turned into frowns and disappointment sooner then you can say, "Have a good day."
We were back at square 0. But, that was a familiar place for us to be more times then not.
I was back on the phone a couple of hours later. We actually got one green light and looked at one place not far from here, a few blocks away. That didn't pan out and once again we were back to that square. We stayed at that square on for a few more weeks. Then the landlord got word that the student who was living here, where we live now, was moving back to Japan. Good news. We moved in here right after he moved out, right after the new year. We have been here for the past 4 years.
Now, the bad news again. The landlord has to make repairs. Not bad news to most people. Things happen and things need to be repaired every now and then. But, you can read him by his actions and his words, sort of reading in between what he says, in between the lines. He showed up at the door, no calls first, just a big knock on the door at 9am. He has a letter in his hand and said oh he needs to come and see what he needs to do. So, after a quick tour of the floor near the bathroom and the fan in the kitchen he was done as he was leaving he was mumbling that his repairs would cost about 2k. The hidden or not so hidden meaning to that is the rent is going to go up just like last year. Last year it was a $250 raise in the rent and this year I don't know how much he will want but I do know I can't afford to pay anymore. That extra $250 took more food off the table for us and that is in spite of people working with jobs in this house.
So, back to square 0 again. I printed off a list of available housing near by and I am going to have to put on my oh please rent to me and my untraditional family voice and try and try and try until someone says ok, you are family and that is all that matters. It doesn't matter what kind of family you are you are just family and that is good enough for us. And if the new place comes with a yard I for one, will be over the moon happy.
I have been through this more times then I can count, renting. But, I haven't been through it with my non-traditional family until a few years ago. Before that my mom lived in a duplex owned by her sister and her brother-in-law for more years then she should have. So, for the last 20 plus years of her life she was content living there for reasons unclear to me. In 2004 my step grandfather died of cancer, lung cancer. Left behind was my grandmother who was sick also. She passed away a year later. The house was left to a combination of my mom and oldest nephew in a trust. That was a nightmare. A nightmare that became a nightmare because of greed. The greed of one family member. In the end the house was sold for a lot less then it was worth and that left 5 people, my non traditional family living in hotels for 4 months. The only semi-good part about that was that we had a roof over our heads and some of the hotels, well, one of the hotels had room service and two had a pool.
Over those 4 months I talked to a lot of people. I talked to so many I lost count in the first week of our hotel adventures. In my nice professional voice I would dial numbers from different lists I found online and from different signs we would see just driving around looking. It was all good until they asked how many I had with me. I would say 4 or 5, depending on if my nephew was there or not, at one point he was staying with his brother in Los Angeles. They would immediately say like a husband and a couple of kids and I would say no like a grandmother, son, brother and me. I would get what would become the standard answer for me a promise that they would call me back when the place was ready. Most of the time they would say it needed paint or the previous renters haven't moved out yet, or some other excuse that sounded like they made up off the top of their heads just to get me off the phone with false hope.
Money was running out fast and so was time. If we had to live in the hotel another two months we would have been totally broke and totally homeless. Then our luck changed. At the time I thought it was for the better and it was for the most part. We met a landlord who accepted our non-traditional family. That was the good part. So, we moved in with one suit case each in the middle of October in 2007. We lived in that place for a little over a year when the bad news came. The landlord said that he was going to try to convert the apartments that we lived in into condo's and sell them. Meaning in his way, he was telling us we had to move. The bad part. But, he said to us that he had another property, bigger, across town. Good news. We drove across town to this house in a so-so area on the border of two cities. He was right the house was bigger, room for everyone and more. As we got used to the idea of moving to a bigger place in a new neighborhood the bad news came again.
The landlord informed us that his partner wanted to sell the place not rent it. Our smiles of anticipation turned into frowns and disappointment sooner then you can say, "Have a good day."
We were back at square 0. But, that was a familiar place for us to be more times then not.
I was back on the phone a couple of hours later. We actually got one green light and looked at one place not far from here, a few blocks away. That didn't pan out and once again we were back to that square. We stayed at that square on for a few more weeks. Then the landlord got word that the student who was living here, where we live now, was moving back to Japan. Good news. We moved in here right after he moved out, right after the new year. We have been here for the past 4 years.
Now, the bad news again. The landlord has to make repairs. Not bad news to most people. Things happen and things need to be repaired every now and then. But, you can read him by his actions and his words, sort of reading in between what he says, in between the lines. He showed up at the door, no calls first, just a big knock on the door at 9am. He has a letter in his hand and said oh he needs to come and see what he needs to do. So, after a quick tour of the floor near the bathroom and the fan in the kitchen he was done as he was leaving he was mumbling that his repairs would cost about 2k. The hidden or not so hidden meaning to that is the rent is going to go up just like last year. Last year it was a $250 raise in the rent and this year I don't know how much he will want but I do know I can't afford to pay anymore. That extra $250 took more food off the table for us and that is in spite of people working with jobs in this house.
So, back to square 0 again. I printed off a list of available housing near by and I am going to have to put on my oh please rent to me and my untraditional family voice and try and try and try until someone says ok, you are family and that is all that matters. It doesn't matter what kind of family you are you are just family and that is good enough for us. And if the new place comes with a yard I for one, will be over the moon happy.
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