Is it supposed to be this difficult?

Friday afternoon, Josh and I loaded up the kids and the car and we headed off to Spokane. The goal? Find a place to live beginning in June. I had done a lot of research, mostly on craigslist. I had contacted five landlords and had scheduled viewings of their rentals. Online these places looked great. Their listings said wonderful things about the rentals! Words like "charming" and "quaint" and "relaxing evenings" often were used to describe the homes. Ever the control freak, I was adamant about staying within a reasonable budget. 

Once we got to the address, we soon discovered why such great prices corresponded to such vague words. 

We stayed the weekend at our friends house, the parents of Will and Luke. We arrived shortly before 9pm, and we knew we had the right house because all we could see in the twilight night was two little boy faces and four little boy hands plastered against the large living room window that overlooked the street. It was so adorable when these four friends reunited! They played until almost 11 that night! 

W & L's daddy, who just passed the bar by the way, has lived in Spokane his entire life. Not only is he a true Spokanian, he also delivered pizza's in his early college years, so he knows the layout of Spokane like the palm of his hand. It was seriously the most amazing thing I have seen! He took one look at my list of five and within seconds told me which places would be okay, and which ones I should abandon all hope for. Not trusting W&L's dad, I insisted I see all the houses my self. 

I should have listened. Three of the five were terrible. One was okay, but super small and the last one? Well, the current tenants never got back to the landlord, so we were not able to go inside. As luck would have it, that last house was awesome. At least on the outside. 

W & L's dad scoured the paper and craigslist for us and found us some decent places in some great neighborhoods. We drive and looked. Several ended up being rented, some looked fabulous on craigslist, not so great in person, and a couple ended up being very promising, just not available till July, and we need to move in June. 

We did so much house hunting on the weekend, we were totally burned out by Sunday afternoon. Then we found a house 5 blocks away from Will and Luke. The pictures looked amazing. The yard was fenced in. There was a two-car garage. It was totally out of our price range. But we walked by anyway and I fell in love with it. 

We set up a walk-through and I just fell in love with it more. This home was almost completely destroyed by a fire a couple years ago. The couple that bought it, is a contractor, so he totally remodeled the entire house. There are dark and beautiful hardwood floors on the main level, stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, bay windows, two lovely bathrooms, new carpet in the bedrooms, a very large family room and attractive paint in all rooms. This is totally not a rental that I am used to! 

My step-father taught me early in life that you can bargain anything. And really, you can. What is the worst that can happen? You will hear "no." You just have to be prepared for the "no" when it comes. 

Now, this house was being offered at $1295/month. As a bonus for signing a year-lease, the renters would get May for free. Because we were there on May 10th and the home was obviously not rented, I assumed that the advertisement for May's rent free, would transfer over to June if the home was not rented in May. So I called up the landlord after the tour and offered them this: instead of a month free, we would pay $1150/month. She did not like that, so I then offered her $1200/month. That is when I discovered that the "rent special" they are offering is NOT going to be carried over to the next month if the home is not rented. In other words, they are only offering MAY for free, not the first month. 

Mathematically my way is financially beneficial to the landlords. Assuming they don't rent in May. IF they rent in May, they will make $14,245 for one year, May to May. If they took my offer of $1200/month, they would make $14,400 for one year, June to June. She said she would talk to her husband and get back to me. She did, very fast. They counter offered $1250/month. 

Taking a risk, I stuck to my original offer of $1200. Several reason really. One, the house, while not in a bad neighborhood, it is also not in the best. If renters in Spokane can afford $1300/month, they will look to the South Hill, where the super fancy and very nice neighborhoods are. Another reason, it is a corner lot. We will hear two ways of cross traffic. The house is definitely the nicest on the block. And I took a gamble that since it has been on the market for almost two months, it was not going to rent at that higher price, especially since the offer is only good in May, and May is quickly approaching it's halfway mark. 

I gambled and I lost. Thinking on the long drive home, Josh and I reviewed our finances. We asked friends and family for advice. Making a long story short, we decided that we would call them up and accept their offer. Right when we got home, I reviewed Josh's salary information from Sacred Heart. Turns out he is making more then I thought. Turns out we should have accepted the house in Spokane. Then I looked up the ad again to get the landlords phone number. That is when I saw it. In large letters "utilities included." That is right. The price of $1250/month includes water, sewer and garbage. Wow. Great deal. 

I called right away. She did not answer. I left a message. She has not returned my call. This morning when I looked up houses in craigslist, I saw that she re-posted the home, using even better description words and nicer pictures. So, there is my answer. She is taking a gamble that they will rent the house this month. I was betting that it would not. I am going to keep watch to find out who wins. 

I guess the only good of this, is that I know that we can afford more than we originally thought. So, now I have some more prospects and places that we are interested in. Wish us luck. This is much harder than we thought!