Stupid Bitch Update

If you read this post and this post, you're up to speed. If you haven't, well whatever.

So "Jeannie" got ahold of us yesterday and offered us the house after all. Of course she had to mention that the owner ripped her a new one because I called him directly. Awww really? Too freaking bad.

The woman obviously harbors some hostility against us. I can't blame her but honestly, mayhaps you shouldn't have pissed us off. Just sayin'

So the house was offered to us yesterday on the following conditions:

• Full rental price (which we were okay with to begin with)
• 1/2 month's rent for a pet deposit (yes, we could have Astrid)
• Any changes, work, fixing, anything has to be requested in writing and approved by the owner before starting.
• We are not allowed to ever contact the owner directly again.
• Six month lease needs to be signed.
• We are responsible for all the yardwork.
• Decision had to be made last night.

You know I did love this house. I just feel like "Jeannie" would make our lives a living hell for the six month lease. Also as much as I do really enjoy yardwork and we offered it (even though they provided it), that was the bargaining tool to have my dog, but now they want a pet deposit on top of getting free mowing, weeding, planting? And they're not lowering the rental price?

Something in my gut just screamed "You don't want this now." And I went with that. Hawks is of course disappointed because he really does love this house but even he agrees we both have to love it and want to live there.

So that's that. We sent her an email last night explaining that we were going to pass. That we got off on the wrong foot and we hate that because we really do try to be model tenants, etc etc. In my opinion, it boils down to: You're a bitch and I don't want to deal with you for the next 6 months, also the house needs some TLC and I don't want to always have to wait for permission to get anything done.

Stupid Bitch is Stupid

Haha Kimberlee - YOU WISH

I can't promise anything but I hope this is the last bloggity blog I write that has me bitching, venting & complaining about house hunting. I hope. I hope. I hope.

We're not looking to buy just yet. We need to rent for at least another year. Bunky has one more year left of high school and then she'll be enlisting in the Army. Even still we'd like to have a 4 bedroom so we still have a little bit more for an office, guest room or whatever.

In my last post about house hunting I mentioned a house that Hawks had found by accident. Well, we just can't seem to catch a break honestly and I'm not sure why.

The house was perfect. It had three bedrooms PLUS a finished attic which brings it up to the 4 bedroom minimum we need. You know math, I didn't need to tell ya. :p It had 1.5 bathrooms which is .5 short of what we'd like but it was in the country. The country and that there makes up for missing a half of bathroom really. Everything was great about this house, the size, the price, the location. *queue the scary music*

Then we find out that the perfect house was where this happened... Autopsy confirms savagery of slaying. Yuh, that happened. I've never really thought about it but I also never thought I'd be asking myself if I could ever live in a house where someone was brutally murdered. Not just brutally murdered but it was one of the most brutal murders in Douglas County history.

Think on that a second. Could you live there?

I really thought about it and came to the conclusion, only after reading every archive on the murder from discovery to conviction, that yes I could. On one condition, if we got the house, we'd have a memorial plaque made to put up in the livingroom that would say "Another Mom for Peace - In loving memory of Carmen Ross". I thought it was a weird idea but everyone I spoke to said it seemed like the right thing to do.

Our minds were made up, we wanted to rent this house. Too bad the land lady was a bitch. Yea, the actual owners live in California now and have "Jeannie" managing this house in their absence. Everything was great, love love love the house, no weird vibes, school district works for us, it put me just a smidge farther from work - I'd live, she said we could have a garden, chicken coop, and as many cats as we want to combat the "farm house mouse problem". However, NO DOGS!

Wait... what?

Cats galore - indoor - outdoor but NO DOGS!?!

Do I look destructive & unruly?

I have a small dog named Astrid. She is a black lab/basset hound mix. Probably weighs 32 lbs. She's adorable, crate trained, never unsupervised (if she can't be supervised, she's in her crate), potty trained and non destructive. My gosh, she's like 2.5 years old & past puppy problems.We explained this to "Jeannie". We even tried bargaining... "We'll mow the yard ourselves, we'll repaint the deck & under the awnings, we'll even remove all the debris by the outbuilding" where a huge brick chicken coop once stood (apparently). Just let us have our dog.

Bargaining turned out to be the wrong thing to do with "Jeannie". Everything we suggested did nothing to benefit her at all. Why should she let us mow the yard? "That would take money out of *my* pocket," she says. Her husband has a deal with the owner to come out and mow every other Saturday. Heaven forbid, they lose that change, right?

And of course we're not professionals so she'd prefer that we not try to add value to the house by painting, fixing or basically tending to anything. As for the debris, well that outbuilding it's next to is actually rented by the owner's brother who he doesn't exactly get along with. So us cleaning up the mess would benefit the brother, not the owner. Which would probably piss the owner off in the long run.

*SCREAM*

We still filled out the rental application and sent it on to "Jeannie" who assured us that she'd try to get the owner to approve the dog, which I highly doubted. She seemed more like a money hungry, fake & baked, fangy bitch to me than the nice landlady pulling for the family of five & their cute dog.

Almost a full day later she sends us an email: "Can't get him to budge on the dog. Sorry."

I think Hawks had more faith in her than I did but we were both pissed. He sent an email back to her: "Is it possible for us to have the owner's number so that we may plead our case?"

Her response: "Uh no... Sorry."

Fine "Jeannie", I'm not sure if you noticed on my application that I spend 40+ hours a week on the internet working for an internet company? Well, I know how to make Google my bitch. It took me all of 10 minutes to figure out where to go and boom! I had the owner's name, address & phone number in my grubby lil hands. If you can't go through, go over. That's what 14 years of being an Army wife taught me.

I called the owner tonight and felt I had some closure. He does not want a dog at the house and has no interest in selling since he plans on retiring in a few years and moving back into it. So even though it wasn't good news, I feel better knowing that I had a fair shot at pleading our case, expressing my love for his home and throwing "Jeannie" under the bus just a little bit.

Back to looking for a 4 bedroom again tomorrow because today, we're taking a break.