Timing, inconvenience, and integrity
I’m angry.
There… I said it… I AM ANGRY. Monday night I got a call that over 53,000 renters in Arizona have received in the last year. In that call I learned that my landlord has somehow squandered away my rediculously high rent payments each month and is now in foreclosure on the house we are living in. That’s right…. 2 weeks before Christmas, and smack in the middle of the schoolyear I am househunting. It feels like hunting for a unicorn… I need a 3-4 bedroom house that’s willing to take a low deposit, 4 kids and 2 dogs all on just a 6 month lease. If it weren’t for wanting to make sure the kids finish the schoolyear then we’d just head back to Oklahoma now… but that wouldn’t be fair would it?
Anyhow, I may have found a house (we’ve narrowed it down to about 3 options) so now it’s just the stress and labor of packing everything up, transferring utilities, forwarding mail, and changing the household routine. I’m working hard to focus on the positive, but deep down the negative still stings.
Curses:
- This eliminates any Christmas spending we would have done (thank goodness for spoiling grandparents).
- This means spending Christmas vacation packing and early January moving, only to do it AGAIN in less than 6 months.
- This means re-training the dogs in a new space.
- This means trying to explain the whole situation to thick-headed family.
Blessings:
- Our original lease here would have expired in October, leaving us obligated to 4 additional months of rent (more than $6,000) as well as sacraficing our deposit for breaking the lease. Now we can enter into a new place with a 6mo lease that expires in July, leaving no financial obligation behind.
- We can move into a slightly smaller home and save on avg $400/month plus whatever discounts in utilities that a smaller house would provide.
- Whatever we put up as a deposit now will be paid back right when we’re ready to head to Oklahoma… kind of like sticking a few grand in a piggybank.
- We can purge our collection of crap down to JUST what we want to take to Oklahoma. (Trust me, this is a LOT easier to do in the winter than in the 115 degree heat during July!)
Overall, from both a financial standpoint, and a “in the long run” perspective, the landlord’s failure is our gain. I just wish I had another month.
View → tages / moving / landlord foreclosure / economy
