I has a house to rent? - Rachael's Ramblings
Posted on Saturday 13 June 2009 at 6:30 pm
I has a house to rent?
The family left this morning. We had to get up at 3:00 to get to the airport so as soon as I got home, I went back to bed. Good plan. I'll do a proper post on the vacation soon (summary: Grandma is crazy and I'm tired), but I have more important news to share. I am 98% certain that come the end of the day Monday I will have a place to live. I think I need new roommates, though.
The two women with whom I've been looking at places are Christina and Maria. Maria is now out of town so Christina and I have been doing the looking for a while. We looked at a place on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, with my cousin tagging along. I really liked the house. It is set in the trees, is a few minutes walk from the main shopping center in town and in biking distance from the school, and looks little outside but has a lot more room inside than one would imagine. There were two decent sized bedrooms with small but not tiny closets, one large master bedroom with a separate bathroom and two closets, a hall bathroom, a living room, dining room, large kitchen, and two extra rooms. One of the extra rooms is a bit bigger than the living room and would make a fantastic library / study area and the other used to be a carport or something that was sealed in so no carpeting in there but fantastic storage space. There are a few things that could be positives or negatives, such as it has well water which is free but is also sulfury and goes out if the house loses power, but all-in-all I thought it was a good place and so did Christina.
Christina and I basically decided we should try to get the house so I started things in motion regarding getting the credit check application and arranging lease-start dates with the landlord. Then I got an email from Christina. She said she had emailed Maria information on the house and all Maria said was "I won't live someplace without a dishwasher." Christina told me she was rather confused by this and was going to try to talk to Maria but she really had no idea what was going on and was afraid I might be better off looking for something on my own (keep in mind this is just over 2 weeks before my lease ends and I'm out on the street). The people living there now have a full-size portable dishwasher with a counter top as an island in the middle of the large kitchen. I thought that looked like a good setup so I looked into it and such a dishwasher can be bought brand new for $500, give or take $100. I told Christina to tell Maria that if that is the only problem, I'll buy a bloody dishwasher myself. I don't know what all they said to each other but I never really got a response to that and instead they started sending group emails about checking out yet another house. This new house was $150 more a month than the one I want to take now and isn't actually available until August 1 but it would probably be possible for me to live there for a month with the current tenants because one person was moving out early and I could have that bedroom or some such nonsense.
I emailed Christina and I didn't even get into the details on the overlapping month; I just said that this place was $150 more a month, which was $1800 for a year which would buy three brand new dishwashers. I told her the offer still stands for me to buy a dishwasher, but I don't have the time to keep looking and I'm taking the house I want. If she and Maria, or she alone, want to take it with me, fine. If not, I'll sign it in just my name and find two new roommates. I'm a bit leary about signing a $1250 a month lease in just my name since I obviously can't cover it all myself, but I've got to make a decision and I'm extremely confident that I can find people so I'm not overly worried. I've discussed it all with my parents and with the landlord and they've all agreed to have my parents listed if necessary for extra income to assure the landlord he will get paid even if I can't find other people. My dad is as confident as I am that I can find people but my mom is more worried. She is willing to trust my judgment but she kind of thinks I should try to find a one bedroom place. I've already looked though and the cheapest of those in the area is $600. Even if I can only find one other person for this house, it is $1250 so that would be $625 each, plus all the other bills would be split two-ways rather than me covering it all so that would still be cheaper. I still think I can get two people, though. Christina just emailed me back and said she appreciates where I'm coming from and she'll let me know her decision ASAP. In my original email, I told her that I'm paying the deposit Monday and if they're not taking the house with me I have to start looking for new roommates then, so I guess I'll see what she says in the next day-and-a-half or so.
Listening: Birds outside
littlepixiechic at 1:00 am on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
It sounds like if they're pulling this kind of nonsense you might be better off with different roommates. Good luck either way! The place sounds very nice :)
bratty_jedi at 12:19 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
I told my mom something along those lines, that a voice in the back of my head was saying that if there is a hissy fit over lack of a dishwasher even when a dishwasher can be bought, it might not be a pleasant living environment.
It is a nice little house, especially considering the location and the cost.
bratty_jedi at 12:22 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
I lived by myself for two years when I was getting my MA in San Antonio. I loved it the first year and thought I'd stay without roommates anytime I could afford it. Then a few things changed in the rest of my life and the second year I lived alone I was miserable. I was lonely and bored and thought I was going to go crazy. I swore never to live alone again, as long as I can help it. Right now it is completely necessary money-wise, so I'll just have to keep hoping I can find good people.
mrstater at 2:10 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
I don't understand why they're being silly about a dishwasher when it's a problem easily solved! I hope they'll just sign the bloody lease with you, because it sounds like a great house, especially if there's room for a library/study area!
bratty_jedi at 7:20 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
It really is a great house. I haven't seen anything else this large, nice, and with as good of a location for this price and I've seen enough places in the past few weeks that I think I'm an expert by now.
I saw your post about the serious conversation with your mother. I'll send you a proper reply as soon as I have a chance to catch my breath and actually process my thoughts. For now, I'm sorry it didn't go as well as one might have hoped but glad it didn't go as poorly as it could have.
mrstater at 8:39 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
Serious conversation was serious. Things have gotten a bit worse since then, but I haven't decided if there's any merit to posting about it. :(
I has a house to rent? - Rachael's Ramblings
Posted on Saturday 13 June 2009 at 6:30 pm
I has a house to rent?
The family left this morning. We had to get up at 3:00 to get to the airport so as soon as I got home, I went back to bed. Good plan. I'll do a proper post on the vacation soon (summary: Grandma is crazy and I'm tired), but I have more important news to share. I am 98% certain that come the end of the day Monday I will have a place to live. I think I need new roommates, though.
The two women with whom I've been looking at places are Christina and Maria. Maria is now out of town so Christina and I have been doing the looking for a while. We looked at a place on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, with my cousin tagging along. I really liked the house. It is set in the trees, is a few minutes walk from the main shopping center in town and in biking distance from the school, and looks little outside but has a lot more room inside than one would imagine. There were two decent sized bedrooms with small but not tiny closets, one large master bedroom with a separate bathroom and two closets, a hall bathroom, a living room, dining room, large kitchen, and two extra rooms. One of the extra rooms is a bit bigger than the living room and would make a fantastic library / study area and the other used to be a carport or something that was sealed in so no carpeting in there but fantastic storage space. There are a few things that could be positives or negatives, such as it has well water which is free but is also sulfury and goes out if the house loses power, but all-in-all I thought it was a good place and so did Christina.
Christina and I basically decided we should try to get the house so I started things in motion regarding getting the credit check application and arranging lease-start dates with the landlord. Then I got an email from Christina. She said she had emailed Maria information on the house and all Maria said was "I won't live someplace without a dishwasher." Christina told me she was rather confused by this and was going to try to talk to Maria but she really had no idea what was going on and was afraid I might be better off looking for something on my own (keep in mind this is just over 2 weeks before my lease ends and I'm out on the street). The people living there now have a full-size portable dishwasher with a counter top as an island in the middle of the large kitchen. I thought that looked like a good setup so I looked into it and such a dishwasher can be bought brand new for $500, give or take $100. I told Christina to tell Maria that if that is the only problem, I'll buy a bloody dishwasher myself. I don't know what all they said to each other but I never really got a response to that and instead they started sending group emails about checking out yet another house. This new house was $150 more a month than the one I want to take now and isn't actually available until August 1 but it would probably be possible for me to live there for a month with the current tenants because one person was moving out early and I could have that bedroom or some such nonsense.
I emailed Christina and I didn't even get into the details on the overlapping month; I just said that this place was $150 more a month, which was $1800 for a year which would buy three brand new dishwashers. I told her the offer still stands for me to buy a dishwasher, but I don't have the time to keep looking and I'm taking the house I want. If she and Maria, or she alone, want to take it with me, fin
e. If not, I'll sign it in just my name and find two new roommates. I'm a bit leary about signing a $1250 a month lease in just my name since I obviously can't cover it all myself, but I've got to make a decision and I'm extremely confident that I can find people so I'm not overly worried. I've discussed it all with my parents and with the landlord and they've all agreed to have my parents listed if necessary for extra income to assure the landlord he will get paid even if I can't find other people. My dad is as confident as I am that I can find people but my mom is more worried. She is willing to trust my judgment but she kind of thinks I should try to find a one bedroom place. I've already looked though and the cheapest of those in the area is $600. Even if I can only find one other person for this house, it is $1250 so that would be $625 each, plus all the other bills would be split two-ways rather than me covering it all so that would still be cheaper. I still think I can get two people, though. Christina just emailed me back and said she appreciates where I'm coming from and she'll let me know her decision ASAP. In my original email, I told her that I'm paying the deposit Monday and if they're not taking the house with me I have to start looking for new roommates then, so I guess I'll see what she says in the next day-and-a-half or so.
Listening: Birds outside
littlepixiechic at 1:00 am on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
It sounds like if they're pulling this kind of nonsense you might be better off with different roommates. Good luck either way! The place sounds very nice :)
bratty_jedi at 12:19 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
I told my mom something along those lines, that a voice in the back of my head was saying that if there is a hissy fit over lack of a dishwasher even when a dishwasher can be bought, it might not be a pleasant living environment.
It is a nice little house, especially considering the location and the cost.
bratty_jedi at 12:22 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
I lived by myself for two years when I was getting my MA in San Antonio. I loved it the first year and thought I'd stay without roommates anytime I could afford it. Then a few things changed in the rest of my life and the second year I lived alone I was miserable. I was lonely and bored and thought I was going to go crazy. I swore never to live alone again, as long as I can help it. Right now it is completely necessary money-wise, so I'll just have to keep hoping I can find good people.
mrstater at 2:10 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
I don't understand why they're being silly about a dishwasher when it's a problem easily solved! I hope they'll just sign the bloody lease with you, because it sounds like a great house, especially if there's room for a library/study area!
bratty_jedi at 7:20 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
It really is a great house. I haven't seen anything else this large, nice, and with as good of a location for this price and I've seen enough places in the past few weeks that I think I'm an expert by now.
I saw your post about the serious conversation with your mother. I'll send you a proper reply as soon as I have a chance to catch my breath and actually process my thoughts. For now, I'm sorry it didn't go as well as one might have hoped but glad it didn't go as poorly as it could have.
mrstater at 8:39 pm on 14 June 2009 (UTC) (Link)
Serious conversation was serious. Things have gotten a bit worse since then, but I haven't decided if there's any merit to posting about it. :(