It Will Probably Come Down to the Snake This Time Too

So last year I helped this really awesome couple find a rental home (you can read about it here, if you are so inclined). Though completely and utterly wonderful, they had very poor planning skills. They also had a snake. Did I mention that?

While the wife was packing all their worldly possessions in somewhere New Mexico, I went out with the husband, who was currently couch surfing on a friend's sofa. The reason for this was because Mrs. thought it would be easy to send her husband over and he could pick and choose from all of the available rental home options. What she found was there was no such thing, especially given they needed a place for the entire family a week earlier. Anyway, the husband and I went searching for the perfect rental home (that is, one where they where their application was accepted). We went searching twice. He put in two applications and was approved for one property.

By the way, other than the snake, they would be ideal renters. So, it wasn't that there were other mitigating reasons for a landlord not to approve them. It simply came down to income. It probably came down to the snake too, but that's just my take.

Anyway, once settled, I had a quick pep-talk with the Mrs. If they chose to move next year, let's not wait until the last minute? M'k? I am pleased to report she took my advice. Their lease is up at the end of June and the Mrs. is on a hunt right now to find a place. This time is slightly different. I have explained a landlord is not going to hold a home for six weeks and if they are chosen, consider it a gift and expect to move in right now.

Yesterday I drove to North Phoenix during rush hour to show her four homes. All of them had been on the market for more than four days, which made me suspicious. The first home is in a gated infill lot. There is no parking. And worse, there was a nosy neighbor who didn't like me by the time all was said and done (I parked somewhere--quasi legally--that offended him as I refused to move my car). He was such an ass that my client said no to the home. It probably didn't help that the folks living in the place we looked at also gave my client an earful about how he is constantly leaving sticky notes on their door with such things as "I noticed when your garage was open that you still haven't moved your trash can to the other side of the garage," and other loving missives. Too bad. It was the nicest home we saw.

The other three were in neighborhoods that could euphemistically be labeled as ghetto or ghetto-light. Which is kinda too bad, because the best of those three homes was located a couple of blocks from where I grew up. But yeah, that neighborhood isn't what it used to be.

My client has realistic expectations, great credit, no evictions or convictions. She is looking much sooner than she needs to, which means we will probably go looking more often than necessary. If all goes well for her, she will find some other landlord who will approve the snake.