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I just moved, and boy do I have some advice
Improvolone
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I just moved four times in two weeks. It was awful. I learned a lot though, and that advice is at the bottom. I typed this story to put it all in context.
Many weeks before our lease was up, we had submitted to a place we loved. I have a lot of money in savings (enough to pay any of the places we were looking at a full year up front), but my fiance and I don't have the provable income to back us up. She is a bartender (tips only, cash business), and I just graduated from college with an odd performance job here and there (also a cash business). My credit is okay, she doesn't really have any. Nothing bad on any of them, just not a whole lot there seeing as we're young. In the plus category however, we have perfect fucking rental history for the only two years we've been renting.
So we tell our first realtor all of this up front, including showing her exactly how much is in savings, and she says "Sure, we've worked with students in this situation before." She looses our paper work, returns calls at 11:00PM, and after almost a week of back and forth tells us we have to show her more. "I told you everything about our situation up front, you said it wouldn't be a problem." Didn't matter. Fuck her, we have to move on.
So we find a new place and again, explain our financial situation again, and again get a "All of that sounds fine." So we pay for another credit check, give the woman a lower offer on the rent and a request for a couple of improvements, and play the waiting game. Since our lease was ending we had to get packed regardless. So we get a Ryder truck, and because of my fiances work schedule my dad and I pretty much load the entire truck ourselves. Thank God her sister was able to watch our son, otherwise we never would have gotten out of there. This realtor is great about returning my calls, but the landlord isn't returning her calls. This means she can't draw up a lease because the landlord needs to approve of my requests. The truck is now fully packed and its 5:00pm, kinda fucking late. Still having not heard back from the landlord, and her knowing that my truck is now fully packed, we come to the understanding that if I sign the lease under the original circumstances, that they could do it without contacting the landlord. Whatever, my family needs a place to live. So we drive to the office. On the road, the realtor and I have a series of phone calls.
"I just heard back from the landlord's daughter. The reason they haven't answered yet is because they are working on refinancing the place with the bank."
"So what does that mean?"
"They don't know if they want people in here because they don't know what will happen."
"I don't care if I have to move out in a couple of months, we just need a place to live. I'll move in regardless as long as they take my lower offer of the rent."
"I don't see why that would be a problem, I'll call you back."
-
"Sure, they'll do it."
"Great"
-
When I'm a block away from the office where a lease is waiting for me, I get another phone call.
"I just heard back from the owner, they decided to return the property to the bank. They don't want anyone in there."
"Wouldn't the bank like someone in there?"
"Probably, but thats a process we don't handle. Come to the office though and we'll see what we can find you."
Of course this is the time my fiance calls me, and being the honest but not all the time smart guy I am I say, "we don't have a place to live right now, the owner is giving it back to the bank. I'll sign something else but it will have to be sight unseen." She then proceeded to freak out.
So I'm freaking out too and for good reason. They talk to me about two places that are not move in ready (gee, thanks guys), and then talk to me about one that they've managed for eight years and that everyone loves. It's more expensive than we can spend (I can afford it, but that doesn't mean I should be spending it), but fuck it. All my stuff is in a truck in the parking lot, I need keys to somewhere.
The new house was not move in ready. It was not cleaned as they said it was, toilets flooded immediatly, the vents were filthy, electrical wasn't all working, the stove gave off some bad fumes, etc. We get them over to the property and they agree with us on some things and they leave with a huge list of shit we say has to be fixed. They get back to us saying that the owner will not spend that much money (couple grand I guess) so they will let us out of the lease.
By this time the Ryder truck has gone back and so has my dad. Again, my fiances work schedule makes it hard to get some help moving, but since we just moved, most things were already packed. "Fuck it" said I, "I'm getting a POD". Well, I didn't get a POD brand pod, I went with a company called Pack Rat. It's smaller than the truck so I pack it super awesome Tetris kinds of tight.
We find a new place, explain our living and financial situation, and are told "We can get you in here within 48 hours." So we submit to another credit check (always at our expense) it and I am now staying at her parents smoky dusty home living out of a suitcase with my one year old. After two days we keep getting different answers over the phone, so we go there in person. The woman handling our papers tells us, "He shouldn't have said that. We are still waiting to hear back from the builders to see if they'll accept your situation." She doesn't know when they'll hear back. I then drive down to my dads three hours away to stay there. I'm sick of her parents place.
While I'm three hours away, my fiance is staying with friends and trying to find us a new place. After two days, I drive back up so that we can figure out what is happening with this last place and to look at a new place. Still nothing has happend so we demand our holding deposit back. We look at some shitty apartments but are told that without proving four times the rent as income, it would be hard to get in. Fine. Fuck you. Don't let me give you my money. The new place is awesome. Just rennovated, good price, great location my the highway. We give him money for a credit check and I drive back to my dads.
Having not heard back from him in two days, we call him. He decided to rent it to someone else. Awesome.
Two more days pass and she has found a place. It is the cottage behind an old womans house. She pays the water and electric (obviously an illegal residency, but hey, less costs for us), wants to be paid weekly (still willing to sign a lease), and doesn't care about running a credit check, but the place is filled with her stuff. I figure we can work around that, even to pay to put it in storage with what we'd be saving. I drive back up. I'm half way there and I get a call from my fiance.
"She just called me. Her grand daughter is going to stay there for spring break and then live with her when she graduates, so she isn't going to rent it to us."
"Fuck. Find another place, I'm almost there"
So she finds two more places. The first one is meh, but the guy we talk to is the landlord (not a realtor) and says that if everything we've told him about our finances/history comes back like I said, then he would rent to us. We don't really like the place, but it is a place. We give him the money for the credit check and consider it a place to fall back on. The next place is much better and cheaper too. We then give them money and play the waiting game. Again. At this point I hate the waiting game. A lot. I spend the night at her sisters place since we are supposed to hear back the next day about the properties, much better than her parents
In the morning, we hear back from the first not so nice place first. We're approved. An hour later we get approved at the second more desired place. Finally, someone will let me give them money for something besides a credit check. We now live across the street from the place that was given to someone else.
Here is where the advice comes in.
Consider getting a moving container from PODs or Pack Rat. Depending on your situation, their prices will differ.
Get a copy of your credit check when someone runs it. Some people might accept that and not ask you to pay for another.
Landlords are easier to deal with than realtors.
Take control of your own situation. I dealt with a lot of bullshit because my fiance was running things. A lot of time and money was wasted (not all her fault) that I could and should have prevented.
If you need to move, secure a place with a months buffer. Especially in this shitty economy I'd bet most landlords would be okaay with that.
If you want a rental truck instead of a storage container, get a Ryder truck. I've used U-Haul and Budget in the past and Ryder just blew them out of the water in price and equipment. They give the first 1,000 miles free (which is fucking awesome).
Advice from my lawyer uncle, "Don't stay at her parents for more than 48 hours." Something to do with them having more legal control over me and my son depending on what happend.
Convenient Location location location. This move was horrible, but we are in such a fuck awesome location it was worth it.
Many weeks before our lease was up, we had submitted to a place we loved. I have a lot of money in savings (enough to pay any of the places we were looking at a full year up front), but my fiance and I don't have the provable income to back us up. She is a bartender (tips only, cash business), and I just graduated from college with an odd performance job here and there (also a cash business). My credit is okay, she doesn't really have any. Nothing bad on any of them, just not a whole lot there seeing as we're young. In the plus category however, we have perfect fucking rental history for the only two years we've been renting.
So we tell our first realtor all of this up front, including showing her exactly how much is in savings, and she says "Sure, we've worked with students in this situation before." She looses our paper work, returns calls at 11:00PM, and after almost a week of back and forth tells us we have to show her more. "I told you everything about our situation up front, you said it wouldn't be a problem." Didn't matter. Fuck her, we have to move on.
So we find a new place and again, explain our financial situation again, and again get a "All of that sounds fine." So we pay for another credit check, give the woman a lower offer on the rent and a request for a couple of improvements, and play the waiting game. Since our lease was ending we had to get packed regardless. So we get a Ryder truck, and because of my fiances work schedule my dad and I pretty much load the entire truck ourselves. Thank God her sister was able to watch our son, otherwise we never would have gotten out of there. This realtor is great about returning my calls, but the landlord isn't returning her calls. This means she can't draw up a lease because the landlord needs to approve of my requests. The truck is now fully packed and its 5:00pm, kinda fucking late. Still having not heard back from the landlord, and her knowing that my truck is now fully packed, we come to the understanding that if I sign the lease under the original circumstances, that they could do it without contacting the landlord. Whatever, my family needs a place to live. So we drive to the office. On the road, the realtor and I have a series of phone calls.
"I just heard back from the landlord's daughter. The reason they haven't answered yet is because they are working on refinancing the place with the bank."
"So what does that mean?"
"They don't know if they want people in here because they don't know what will happen."
"I don't care if I have to move out in a couple of months, we just need a place to live. I'll move in regardless as long as they take my lower offer of the rent."
"I don't see why that would be a problem, I'll call you back."
-
"Sure, they'll do it."
"Great"
-
When I'm a block away from the office where a lease is waiting for me, I get another phone call.
"I just heard back from the owner, they decided to return the property to the bank. They don't want anyone in there."
"Wouldn't the bank like someone in there?"
"Probably, but thats a process we don't handle. Come to the office though and we'll see what we can find you."
Of course this is the time my fiance calls me, and being the honest but not all the time smart guy I am I say, "we don't have a place to live right now, the owner is giving it back to the bank. I'll sign something else but it will have to be sight unseen." She then proceeded to freak out.
So I'm freaking out too and for good reason. They talk to me about two places that are not move in ready (gee, thanks guys), and then talk to me about one that they've managed for eight years and that everyone loves. It's more expensive than we can spend (I can afford it, but that doesn't mean I should be spending it), but fuck it. All my stuff is in a truck in the parking lot, I need keys to somewhere.
The new house was not move in ready. It was not cleaned as they said it was, toilets flooded immediatly, the vents were filthy, electrical wasn't all working, the stove gave off some bad fumes, etc. We get them over to the property and they agree with us on some things and they leave with a huge list of shit we say has to be fixed. They get back to us saying that the owner will not spend that much money (couple grand I guess) so they will let us out of the lease.
By this time the Ryder truck has gone back and so has my dad. Again, my fiances work schedule makes it hard to get some help moving, but since we just moved, most things were already packed. "Fuck it" said I, "I'm getting a POD". Well, I didn't get a POD brand pod, I went with a company called Pack Rat. It's smaller than the truck so I pack it super awesome Tetris kinds of tight.
We find a new place, explain our living and financial situation, and are told "We can get you in here within 48 hours." So we submit to another credit check (always at our expense) it and I am now staying at her parents smoky dusty home living out of a suitcase with my one year old. After two days we keep getting different answers over the phone, so we go there in person. The woman handling our papers tells us, "He shouldn't have said that. We are still waiting to hear back from the builders to see if they'll accept your situation." She doesn't know when they'll hear back. I then drive down to my dads three hours away to stay there. I'm sick of her parents place.
While I'm three hours away, my fiance is staying with friends and trying to find us a new place. After two days, I drive back up so that we can figure out what is happening with this last place and to look at a new place. Still nothing has happend so we demand our holding deposit back. We look at some shitty apartments but are told that without proving four times the rent as income, it would be hard to get in. Fine. Fuck you. Don't let me give you my money. The new place is awesome. Just rennovated, good price, great location my the highway. We give him money for a credit check and I drive back to my dads.
Having not heard back from him in two days, we call him. He decided to rent it to someone else. Awesome.
Two more days pass and she has found a place. It is the cottage behind an old womans house. She pays the water and electric (obviously an illegal residency, but hey, less costs for us), wants to be paid weekly (still willing to sign a lease), and doesn't care about running a credit check, but the place is filled with her stuff. I figure we can work around that, even to pay to put it in storage with what we'd be saving. I drive back up. I'm half way there and I get a call from my fiance.
"She just called me. Her grand daughter is going to stay there for spring break and then live with her when she graduates, so she isn't going to rent it to us."
"Fuck. Find another place, I'm almost there"
So she finds two more places. The first one is meh, but the guy we talk to is the landlord (not a realtor) and says that if everything we've told him about our finances/history comes back like I said, then he would rent to us. We don't really like the place, but it is a place. We give him the money for the credit check and consider it a place to fall back on. The next place is much better and cheaper too. We then give them money and play the waiting game. Again. At this point I hate the waiting game. A lot. I spend the night at her sisters place since we are supposed to hear back the next day about the properties, much better than her parents
In the morning, we hear back from the first not so nice place first. We're approved. An hour later we get approved at the second more desired place. Finally, someone will let me give them money for something besides a credit check. We now live across the street from the place that was given to someone else.
Here is where the advice comes in.
Consider getting a moving container from PODs or Pack Rat. Depending on your situation, their prices will differ.
Get a copy of your credit check when someone runs it. Some people might accept that and not ask you to pay for another.
Landlords are easier to deal with than realtors.
Take control of your own situation. I dealt with a lot of bullshit because my fiance was running things. A lot of time and money was wasted (not all her fault) that I could and should have prevented.
If you need to move, secure a place with a months buffer. Especially in this shitty economy I'd bet most landlords would be okaay with that.
If you want a rental truck instead of a storage container, get a Ryder truck. I've used U-Haul and Budget in the past and Ryder just blew them out of the water in price and equipment. They give the first 1,000 miles free (which is fucking awesome).
Advice from my lawyer uncle, "Don't stay at her parents for more than 48 hours." Something to do with them having more legal control over me and my son depending on what happend.
Convenient Location location location. This move was horrible, but we are in such a fuck awesome location it was worth it.
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
Improvolone on
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