You know which one I'm talking about, right? The Scream.
Talk about having a "theme painting!"About now, that's me. Because I'm absolutely certain that by this time in November we will be homeless.
Back in June, hubby and I thought we had five weeks to move to Washington, DC.
I slept a total of three hours in three weeks and packed and cleaned my entire house. Then orders were not signed on time. You don't want to hear what I have to say about that. It involved words that would have me excommunicated from my church.
Now we're looking at November, and trying to plan ahead for a place to live. To this end, we made a one day trip to the area to scope out homes.
This is why my inner airforcewife is channeling "The Scream".
First - prices. YUCK! They make even my California bred hair stand on end!
Next - tight market. The market in the DC area is actually letting loose right now - houses are sitting on the market and not selling, so people are rolling them over into the rental market causing a momentary glut. But some landlords have not heard the news yet.
Third - I desperately want to buy, but we won't be in the area long enough to make a dent in the equity and couldn't sustain a house payment without a tenant. Nothing makes a person irritable more than seeing houses for sale and thinking, "Well, I'd LOVE to, but not at the moment." Or, at least, it makes ME very irritable.
Luckily, hubby and I found something that seems fairly unique to the DC and other huge city areas - our own real estate agent for rentals. Really! And my eyes have opened. Somehow, when you have someone working for you who is honest and knows the area, the process becomes far less painful.
My real estate agent is named Larry, and I stumbled on him in one of those coincidences that happen so often to military families and make you think there is no such thing as coincidences. Larry and his wife Madeline ** had a property they were managing that I called for information on. It had rented just hours before I called, but Larry must have heard something on the verge of insanity in my voice, because he spent the next FOUR HOURS looking up homes in our price range, advising me on commutes, relating local information, and calming me down.
Then, after hubby and I chose several rental listings, Larry's wife Madeline actually drove out to each home we were considering and scoped it out, taking pictures and getting additional information for us since we did not think we would be able to see the house before renting it.
Then, when we settled on a house, they actually got the rent offered reduced by 100$ a month! And finally, when our orders didn't come through in time, they waved aside my apologies saying, "Oh, we're used to the military. These things happen."
So, now Larry and his wonderful wife are working on getting us deals on the four homes we liked that we were able to view while we were in DC. And, if you're the praying type, please put in a word with The Man Upstairs that hubby and I get that awesome townhouse right next to the clean park in Sterling that we are salivating over.
So, maybe we won't be homeless. But I've got to tell you, it never fails that I hit major depression right before we move. Every time. There's just something about not having a house for a few weeks or so that makes me as uneasy as the person wearing the body armor during live ammunition testing.
**In the interest of recommending companies that are very military friendly and go out of their way to help military customers, I've linked LarMad Homes, which serves the Northern Virginia/DC Metro area and is located in Stafford Virginia. They are awesome, amazing people who work as hard for someone looking for a rental as for someone looking to buy. If you or someone you know contacts them, please be sure to mention SpouseBUZZ so we can show just how powerful (and grateful) the military market can be.
