Our Homeless Woes

It's really not fair of me to keep saying we're "homeless" because there are many people across the world without a roof over their heads or warm food in their bellies. We, on the other hand" have wonderful family and a whole room and bathroom to ourselves. My aunt and cousin have been more than happy to watch Rylee so I can get things done or so we can go on a date.

But I really miss my doggy(she's with the in-laws for now) and I miss having our things, and I dislike living out of suitcases. And it's weird to not have our own place.

I LOATHE apartment hunting. It never seems like we have quite enough money to find something we really love(I couldn't justify spending $1200+ on a rental anyway) and it's always hard to tell what your actual unit is going to end up looking like.

I hate reading apartment reviews, because just as I find something I like, I read lots of terrible reviews about cockroaches, etc, and then I doubt our decision.

Let's not even begin on actually signing a lease. I feel so TRAPPED when we we sign that piece of paper! There's so many "what if's" and you're really limited when you sign a lease with a big complex.

I know many of you have little dogs that you love, but my dog is 42 pounds, and I do not appreciate places that advertise as being "pet friendly" and then only except cats or rat dogs. 

Or places that seem to have an awesome rent price and then you find out there's lots of additional fees(like $45 cable you have to pay for even if you don't want it? We watch netflix for a reason!)

For whatever reason, it seems harder and harder to find apartments that we can do our own laundry in our own unit. In San Antonio, it was hard to find anything that included a washer and dryer in the unit. Here in Houston, we've been lucky to even find connections in a one bedroom unit.

And the most annoying semi-illegal thing we've run into here? Lots of properties won't rent us a one bedroom because Rylee is 7 month old. From what I understand about fair housing rules and Texas laws according to the Keating Memorandum, we could sue these places for discrimination, but that requires time and an attorney. Here's an interesting article on new standards in Texas if you're interested. 

http://www.reiclub.com/articles/occupancy-standards-policy

A leasing agent, when I asked about rylee staying with us in a one bedroom, told me that they had a two bedroom for an additional $100 and that we were really going to want our own space and I wouldn't be nursing for that much longer anyway. Um excuse me??? One, how is that any of your business, and two, yes, I do plan on nursing her for sometime to come(following AAP & WHO recommendations which I'm sure she knew nothing about). 

I've looked at at least 15 different properties and called many more. I've been working with two apartment locators. I think we've narrowed it down to two, but we'll see!

I know this post seemed pretty whiney, but I've been under a lot of stress. And yes, I could go back to work full time and we would have some more options, but I'm not quite ready to leave my sweet baby. We have many, many things to be thankful for and I trust that this move to Houston was part of the Lord's plan for us and we'll find an apartment soon.