So Mr. I-Own-The-House-You-Live-In-So-I-Can-Sell-It-If-I-Want-To-And-I'm-Going-To can't get a single bite on his "home for sale". My landlord, and I shall call him Mushmouth because I can hardly understand him when he talks to me, owns the house I rent as well as several other properties in the area. I expressed my desire to re-sign our lease for a longer term than the typical 12-18 months lease, and he expressed his desire to sell the house.
Huh?
He told me that he had to unload some of his properties and he was going to list our house for sale. Hey, I don't own the house so technically I have no say in the matter. My current lease, by the way, isn't up until October 1st of this year.
He then came back to me several weeks later and said that due to the fact there were two other houses on my street that had been on the market for 6 or more months it made no sense to add a third. OK. Makes sense to me. He said he decided to sell one of his smaller properties in a different neighborhood. That was the last I'd heard of it for well over a month. At the beginning of this month he said that he had a buyer for the other property but the financing fell through, and now he's going to list this house after all because one of the other two houses that were for sale has sold and now there's only one house for sale on the street.
Huh?
His Realtor came by a few days later, took some photos and stuck a sign in the yard. Mushmouth was over last week to oversee the A/C guy fixing the busted A/C unit (it had to bust during the 98 degrees-but-it-feels-like-120-degrees weather, too). Mushmouth was telling me what they had done to the unit and then says "I can't believe this house has been on the market for two weeks and not even a phone call." I said, kind of point blank and... OK, yeah a little rude like "there are two other houses for sale on the next street over, and three or four others between (this street and that street)" He looked at me like I'd told him he had a huge booger on his face. He then said that if he didn't get a bite in the next few weeks that he'd take it off the market and we could re-sign the lease.
This was the point where I had to tell him that we've already started looking, and if I should find something that I like there's a very real possibility that I won't resign the lease. The look he gave me was like... I don't know - surprised the the only word I can think of. Very surprised. What did he think? That I'd wait until a week or two before my lease is up to find out that he sold the house and I'd have to find a new place? I started looking as soon as he mentioned the word "sell".
On the one hand, M and I don't want to move. The very thought of packing up an entire house full of crap exhausts me. I don't want to move the girls out of their schools. They'd be devastated if I moved them away from their friends. On the other hand, I want to stick Mushmouth with the mortgage payment and no rent coming in for putting the house on the market after telling me he wasn't. Yes. I realize it's not my house. I realize that he did give me ample time before the lease is up. I get all that. I still want him to eat it.
M and I go back and forth. We'd like to move but if we moved it would have to be further away than a town or two. We've seen houses online in areas like Poplar Creek, Algonquin, Huntley that seem to be really nice houses for a fraction of what we're paying now. But they're all 30+ minutes away from where we currently are. All houses in this area are WAY too expensive for what we want/need.
I did call my Realtor lady, Sue, who has helped us find the last two rentals. (I would desperately love to be able to BUY a house, but when your income barely exceeds your expenses it doesn't leave much room for savings, and our credit isn't good enough that we could get financing without a significant down payment.) I told Sue what we were looking for and what our budget was. She called me today and said there's a house that just went on the market two days ago. It's not in the same town, but it's closer than the ones in Poplar Creek and the such. It's more than we're paying now, but not by so much that we'd be in the poor house.
This house would put us in a different School District (L will KILL me but it is what it is), but it's a single family house, three bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a full finished basement and a large yard. And dogs are allowed. We're going to go see it this evening. I'm not sure what to expect. I saw the photos of the house online but it's hard to tell for sure what it looks like.
My dilemma is - do I keep my kids happy and resign the lease for a long term period even though I'm not happy with the house necessarily (like I said, lots of cosmetic things need to be fixed and lets face it. It's a rental. I'm not dropping dough to fix up a place that I don't own.) or do I move out into a house that I like (possibly - won't know until tonight) but risk getting my kids REALLY angry with me for making them leave their friends for no reason.
Hmmm....
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