Used with permission from Ashley Campbell Photography
Master has been in California for three full days now. The countdown to moving day is on and the only thing that might keep us from moving out to Cali on time (March 11th) is finding a place to live that suits all our needs (and our budget!).
I’ve been browsing the rental homes on several different sites. It turns out that Master likes the feel of cities south of San Francisco more than he liked the feel of the Berkeley area. “Pick something between San Jose and San Francisco” he tells me on Friday evening. “It shouldn’t be too hard, there are a lot of great areas out here that seem to be what we’re looking for.”
Yeah. Right. Except when you add two dogs (one small and one large) and a cat, and the fact that we need GREAT schools for our kids, oh and don’t forget the budget… GAH! I feel like pulling my hair out already and I’ve only been looking for two days!
Yes, there are some REALLY nice homes, and some fairly good schools, but at the same time, I’m here, in Texas, miles and miles from the area we’re looking to move. Master doesn’t really have a lot of time to devote to house hunting (we’re going to rent for at least the first year or two, until we’re more comfortable with the area. This gives us plenty of time to find “the perfect house for us”).
Then there are some homes that have EVERYTHING we could possibly ask for…. and they come with about $5,000 OVER our housing budget. I’ve put out a few emails to Realtors in the area asking for help locating something, but with a 30 day window it’s starting to really stress me out.
I know next to NOTHING about the San Francisco area. I only know what the internet tells me and I’ve never been one to trust the internet too much. You can make any place SOUND perfect, but it’s different when you’re actually there and able to get a feel for it yourself, or when you have friends out there that can help out and give you pointers.
“Lost” does not even begin to describe the cold fear that has encircled my entire being lately. “Freaking the fuck out” is probably more accurate. I absolutely hate moving. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t WAIT to move, but I just want everything to be done already so that all I have to stress about is “do we want to keep this or toss it or give it away?” and “Damn, low on paper plates. Do I buy more or just hope that this bundle lasts another 35 days?”
Deep breath. In. Out. I feel totally frustrated. I keep wanting to snap at Master. “Do you know how hard it is to find a house that will take ALL our pets, is in a good neighborhood, has great schools, is close to Caltrain, and is in our budget?!” I want to shout at him. But of course he knows, he’s looking too (when he can). And it doesn’t help that I’m a very “hands on” kind of person.
Oh and side note (sort of): If you list a house on Craigslist, and you check the little boxes that say “Cats okay: meow” and “Dogs okay: woof” that means you’re accepting pets, so don’t put “NO PETS” in huge letters under the pictures. That or don’t check the damn boxes! GAH!!
I took some time off this past weekend to watch the Superbowl, take the kids to the park and the dogs to the dog park and try to just relax, but the countdown in my head is nearly impossible to ignore. We had a blast at the dog park on Sunday though (more on that tomorrow). We came home in time for me to get dinner started and to watch the Superbowl (well the second half of it anyway) and I got back on the computer to keep searching for a new place to live. I spent so much time looking at places online that I wound up burning the hell out of dinner (and it was a cheesy chicken and rice dish, so the whole house now smells like burned rubber. Melting, burned cheese puts of the most terrible smell, and it takes FOREVER to make that smell go away).
((Sigh)). I feel like I’m stressing over nothing, and yet I can’t seem to stop, slow down or allow myself to relax enough to do other important things like SLEEP. So here I am. 11PM and I’m still browsing rental homes, trying to convince myself to just give up and go to bed already. I need to be well rested or I’ll spend the next week in tears and snapping at everyone and ending it with a migraine headache.
That’s where you all come in. Out of 4,000+ readers (though only about 10% of you actually read my blog daily) I figure there has to be SOMEONE who knows someone who knows someone…. basically I’m looking for help.
Here’s what we’re looking for in a house:
- Pets allowed. (We have a small chihuahua mix, a medium sized Lab mix – he’s not even 40 pounds yet, and a cat who spends her days outside but sleeps inside at night).
- Great schools. Bella is in middle school and Star is in elementary school. Since we’re going to be renting, I know that we will be moving again in a year or two. Ideally, I’d like to find an area that is so “perfect” that we wind up buying a house in that same area (this way the kids don’t have to change schools AGAIN so soon)
- Close to the Caltrain. Master will probably be biking from the house to the Caltrain, so we need something within 5 miles of whatever you call the place that you get on the train at. (Station?)
- 4 bedrooms or more, and under $7,000 a month ($7,000 is our MAX amount that we can afford to pay easily. We can go up from there, but then it won’t be as easy to save up a down payment for a home in a year or two — unless Master gets a REALLY great raise but we can’t count on money that is only a possibility.)
- And it would be NICE if the house has a BIG kitchen. I can deal with a smaller kitchen for a year but if I don’t have to, I prefer not to.
If you know someone who is in the real estate business in that area, and is willing to help us find a rental home, feel free to email me their info. Or if you’re renting a house (or know someone who’s renting a house) that accommodates all our needs, contact me! My email address is:
ServingMasterBlog@gmail.com
(Yes it’s a real email address, no it’s not connected to any banks or anything so don’t go getting any crazy ideas. I have enough crazy in my life right now, so hah. Lol)
Thanks in advance! And I REALLY hope we can find a new home FAST! I don’t want to have to stay behind longer simply because we haven’t found anything yet :(
Until Next Time,
–Autumn
Tagged: Frustrations, Help!, House Hunting, Moving, San Francisco
The very best of luck to you. Be prepared, coming from Texas, for HUGE sticker shock on the price of many things — yeah, I am sorry to lay that on you. I live in the Seattle area, but I know the Bay area reasonably well and I have friends there. I assume some of your other readers are in the Bay area directly. Drop me an email if you want a brain dump of what I know.
Thanks, I know about the price gouging that goes on there, but it’s one thing to know about it and another entirely to see it when you’re grocery shopping or filling up the damn tank, lol. We were in Manhattan for a short time so I’m just assuming that prices out in SF will be similar to the prices there. I remember thinking “$6 for a gallon of milk?! What the hell?! Does the milk come with a down payment on the damn cow?!” Haha. This is part of the reason we set our renting max to $7,000 and not $10,000. We know there will be hidden costs on things we didn’t even think about and we’d rather not live paycheck to paycheck (been there, done that, no thank you!). $7,000 is LESS than 1/4 of what Master brings in monthly (and every good piece of advice that you see about renting rates says to spend no more than 1/4 of your monthly income on rent for that very reason).
Good — your Master is clearly doing very well financially, which will help a great deal. On prices, remember that state taxes (both on you and on the companies you buy from) are higher than in Texas.
Lol, if I can deal with New York state taxes, I should be able to handle California’s! And I think Texas is one of the lowest taxed states, but then their education system kind of proves that. I’d actually be willing to be taxed more if it meant the kids down here got a better education from it. Hell, I’d even be okay with higher taxes to help fix up the roads around here! San Antonio has some AWFUL roads!!
Best of luck with extra time on my hands currently if I come across anything ill send it you’re way.
Thanks, Bree! I appreciate it!
Best of luck on your move, dear. It is going to be quite stressful. We moved about 20 minutes from our old place and even though it was a small move and it was quite a different situation, it was stressful nevertheless because it was in a hurry and we were leaving a bad housing situation. This place will only be temporary, like yours, until we get a house. Hoping to have the money to either buy or rent a house, around the time we get married, which we are looking at August of 2015. It will take that long to get the money. Waiting on SSI. I am not able to work and my fiancee does not have the great of a job. But, I concur that the Bay area will be quite pricey and you will find a rise in prices of what you pay for. $6/gallon for milk is pretty much what you would pay for in NYC. Probably even standard in any large city really. My dad, he raises black Angus cattle, he jokes it is because the dairy cows go on struck, so the cost of milk goes up lol :D Just try to relax, don’t fry your brain over it, have some fun with it. But just think, you get to decorate your new place. That’s always exciting, right? And you get to buy some new stuff to decorate your new place up? The decorating of our new apartment and arranging was the incentive for me, at least. Have a very lovely day, dear! :) xo
Haha I was just tell Master that we’re going to have to hire a professional decorator because that is SO not my thing!
LOL Well, if you have the means to do so, why not? Then you know it is done right. But you would have to find one that matches your tastes…and your budget too LOL I am sure your home will look lovely anyway you will do it though.
Good luck! I am sending positive thoughts your way. :)
Just curious about this. I read every post you do, but I read it through my Google Reader rather than clicking over to here to read it. Would that show up on your statistics? Maybe you have more than 10% reading your blog every day and don’t know it?
Lol I have no clue. Probably not though because the statistics are based on “visits” to the page itself. Thanks for pointing that out, you’re probably right!
Miss Autumn, you are doing a fantastic job. You have it all mapped out, know your plan, instituting it is always the toughest part..kind of like a contract *giggles* One day at a time, you will get through this. Great job!! <3