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I am so discouraged

Mama Lynx
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Mama Lynx

Mama Lynx

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We move in four weeks. We've been actively looking for a rental in No. Virginia for three weeks. We've got nothing. Nada.

 

Tonight, DH found TWO places that he liked, would work, are in good areas and are priced right! Oh, joy! Oh, but! .... somehow, on both of those we overlooked that they say no pets. We have two cats.

 

So now we're back to ... nothing. More accurately, we could have our pick of things that are very small and old (some with mold and standing water!), or are in areas where the crime report is too long for my comfort. Or, if we only had $500 more a month to spend on rent ... :lol:

 

I just want to cry. I just want to rent a place to live. I've never had it be this hard before. I hate this. I want it to be over. I just want to know where we're going to live.

 

And, I'm lonely, stir crazy, and there's still so much to pack. :crying:

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Mama Lynx

Mama Lynx

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Awww. I'm sorry. I'd be stressed too. I don't know where you need to be when you say No. VA... that area seems to be creeping further south each year, but could he commute from MD or West VA?

 

Where is he going to be working?

 

Falls Church/Merrifield. And he really, really, really doesn't want more than an hour commute, and less if at all possible.

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JudoMom

JudoMom

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We move in four weeks. We've been actively looking for a rental in No. Virginia for three weeks. We've got nothing. Nada.

 

Tonight, DH found TWO places that he liked, would work, are in good areas and are priced right! Oh, joy! Oh, but! .... somehow, on both of those we overlooked that they say no pets. We have two cats.

 

So now we're back to ... nothing. More accurately, we could have our pick of things that are very small and old (some with mold and standing water!), or are in areas where the crime report is too long for my comfort. Or, if we only had $500 more a month to spend on rent ... :lol:

 

I just want to cry. I just want to rent a place to live. I've never had it be this hard before. I hate this. I want it to be over. I just want to know where we're going to live.

 

And, I'm lonely, stir crazy, and there's still so much to pack. :crying:

 

No words of advice, but :grouphug:. I hope you find something soon.

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camibami

camibami

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Oh, have I been there!

 

We live in NoVa-you might be having a problem due to the housing crunch- lots and lots of empty, foreclosed, for sale houses around here. A *lot*. I imagine everyone losing their house is looking to rent right now.

 

We have a dog, and have had 2 dogs and a cat while renting and moving, and been able to talk landlords with "no pets" policies into rentingto us. Here's how: we have stellar references. I'm a neat freak by nature, and we always leave the places pristine. And our pets have never damaged anything (kids are a different story!) SO maybe call landlords and tell them about your great references, your willingness to pay a pet deposit, etc. "N Pets" doesn't always mean no pets!

 

Good luck to you!

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Liz CA

Liz CA

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We move in four weeks. We've been actively looking for a rental in No. Virginia for three weeks. We've got nothing. Nada.

 

Tonight, DH found TWO places that he liked, would work, are in good areas and are priced right! Oh, joy! Oh, but! .... somehow, on both of those we overlooked that they say no pets. We have two cats.

 

So now we're back to ... nothing. More accurately, we could have our pick of things that are very small and old (some with mold and standing water!), or are in areas where the crime report is too long for my comfort. Or, if we only had $500 more a month to spend on rent ... :lol:

 

I just want to cry. I just want to rent a place to live. I've never had it be this hard before. I hate this. I want it to be over. I just want to know where we're going to live.

 

And, I'm lonely, stir crazy, and there's still so much to pack. :crying:

 

and ask politely if a one-time deposit over and above other cleaning deposits would make them more comfortable. Should they find any damage contributable to the cats they can keep the *pet deposit*. We have done this with a Rottweiler once and it worked nicely.

Are your cats indoor or outdoor or both?

Don't give up!

 

:)

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Julie in Monterey

Julie in Monterey

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For what it is worth, I've moved a lot and always with my dk (dear kitty). He is 16 this year and we've done a lot of moving (past military). Anyhoo, we've always rented places that initially said no pets. I've seen the damage a pet can do to a rental and it's not pretty or cheap. So.... a long time ago I put saved up an extra $500.00 that I offered up to each landlord as a special pet deposit letting them know that I fully understand the risk they are taking by renting from someone who has a pet. I've honestly never been turned down. It's worth thinking about and seeing what you could come up with to approach a landlord. Who knows, maybe they would change their minds. It opens up lots of possibilities.

 

Julie in Monterey

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DawnUK

DawnUK

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Will your husband be working in D.C.? When we lived there, my husband commuted from Calvert County Maryland. It's a great pennisula with the Patuxent River on one side and the Chesapeake Bay on the other. His commute was an hour but the rent is lower there. We lived in a great neighborhood carved out of the woods in an area called Lusby. It was very peaceful and homeschool friendly. Good luck.

 

--Dawn

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dragons in the flower bed

dragons in the flower bed

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I just want to cry. I just want to rent a place to live. I've never had it be this hard before. I hate this. I want it to be over. I just want to know where we're going to live.

 

And, I'm lonely, stir crazy, and there's still so much to pack. :crying:

 

{{{{Stephanie}}}} That is scary and sucky and three other types of upsetting and I'm very sorry you're going through it. I'm sending good thoughts your way, that it will be over with sooner than soon.

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Alice

Alice

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Couple of thoughts (I live in NOVA):

 

Check out these two churches. They both are very big and have housing boards. We have a condo we rent and the first time we rented it we only posted it on these boards and never advertised elsewhere. I'm guessing that the ads are probably more for small places for singles and such...but you never know. They are huge churches so draw people from all over.

 

McLean Bible Church: http://www.mcleanbible.org. They don't have online listings but do have a physical bulletin board. You could try calling their office and seeing if someone could look for you.

 

The other is The Falls Church. http://www.thefallschurch.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=31325. They have a ministry called Kairos that has a housing board. http://www.kairosonline.org/classifieds/index.php?page=1&t=h&s= Kairos is a "young adult" ministry and in scrolling down most of the postings are for roommates or rooms/apartments for rent. I only looked through page 2 but did see this posting for a house:

 

NOW AVAILABLE NOW AVAILABLE

4 BR, 3BA, house available in McLean for group or family. Brick rambler with screened porch off walk-out basement. Two car garage, large deck, 2 fireplaces. Recently updated kitchen. 1.6 miles to WFC Metro & 3 mi. to TFC. $2,400/mo. Available 6/1/08. Contact Chris at (703) 606-5426 after 4 pm

contact: Chris posted on: 05/20/08

 

Also, have you checked Craigslist? http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/. The second time we rented out our condo we didn't have a great response from the church boards so we listed on craigslist and found a great renter. I know we didn't post our ads anywhere that we had to pay :) so these sites might turn up some other places.

 

And, I would also agree with asking about your cats if you haven't already done that. We had a standard contract printed out that said no pets and we changed it to no cats. Then our current renter asked about having her dog and we said ok. We really needed to rent and were very happy with her otherwise and were ok with it. We actually didn't make her give an extra pet deposit, but other landlords might be swayed by that.

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Plaid Dad

Plaid Dad

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and ask politely if a one-time deposit over and above other cleaning deposits would make them more comfortable. Should they find any damage contributable to the cats they can keep the *pet deposit*.

 

We have had a lot of success with this.

 

The other thing we did (something we learned in San Francisco) was to write up a "family resume." We hit the highlights of what was so cool about our family that the landlords would of course want to rent to us. It included all our contact information so that we could just hand it to the person and often not have to fill out their forms. We described our furry roommates as "healthy, sedate adult cats." If you can get previous or current landlords to vouch for the fact that your cats are not destructive, that can help too.

 

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I can handle all kinds of unsettledness, but not with regard to housing. I'll be thinking of you!

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Tammyla

Tammyla

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Hang in there...Hoping you find just the right property.

 

We move in four weeks. We've been actively looking for a rental in No. Virginia for three weeks. We've got nothing. Nada.

 

Tonight, DH found TWO places that he liked, would work, are in good areas and are priced right! Oh, joy! Oh, but! .... somehow, on both of those we overlooked that they say no pets. We have two cats.

 

So now we're back to ... nothing. More accurately, we could have our pick of things that are very small and old (some with mold and standing water!), or are in areas where the crime report is too long for my comfort. Or, if we only had $500 more a month to spend on rent ... :lol:

 

I just want to cry. I just want to rent a place to live. I've never had it be this hard before. I hate this. I want it to be over. I just want to know where we're going to live.

 

And, I'm lonely, stir crazy, and there's still so much to pack. :crying:

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Brigitte

Brigitte

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Stephanie,

 

I'm bummed for you. I just know you'll find the perfect place. I'm sorry you're down. I wish I could come help you pack and make a margarita for you.

 

Hang in there - it'll all work out in the end!

 

I'll take a margarita while I pack, as long as you are offering. :D

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Brigitte

Brigitte

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Stephanie,

 

We were running up against a similar problem in that we were running short on time to find a new place. The contract we had on one fell through, we were out bid by very little on another, and our third choice had just gone under contract. We were beginning to think that we were going to have to move into my mother's basement.

 

We went to look at a place we "knew" would not work for us and it turned out to be even better for us that anything else, even our top three choices. The house had a contract on it and the contract fell through just a couple of days before.

 

So, I think the perfect place is out there for you, it just can't be seen right now. Or, perhaps it is one of the "no pets" places and you had to hear it from someone here that you should just ask. I truly believe that it will all work out for you.

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Pster

Pster

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Did you ask to be certain they wouldn't take pets - even with a deposit? We went to look at a rental property and I had missed the small print where it said "no pets". We loved the place and I was crushed when the property manager said they didn't want pets. (We have a very large tho pretty lethargic - lol - english mastiff.) Anyway - because of the housing market the landlord made a deal with us and after "checking out" our dog - he agreed to rent to us with a pet deposit. So *maybe* people will make a deal with you if they can rent a home asap..... kwim? Good luck - you will find the right place!

 

Have you checked rental homes in your area on craigslist? You can put in to narrow the search to homes that will take pets - and you can specify dog / cat.

 

:001_smile:

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