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  #1  
Old March 24th, 2008, 10:29 PM
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Gibbons Gibbons is offline
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Turning into a disaster

So, we're forced to move out of our current residence May 1st, as the landlord is selling the house. Since we heard about it, we've had nothing but problems.

First, we're like - "oh, okay, there are 5 of us. We can get a good house in a decent area with the amount we're all willing to pay!"

Roomie 1: totally reliable
Roomie 2: pretty good
Roomie 3: total flake

Roomie 2 decides he wants to live with a friend of his from school- no biggie, downgrade our budget for a bit and look at 3 bedroom houses instead of four.

My sister calls up: wants to live with us. OK- 4 bdrm hs again
Sister again: got a gov't job, not moving in with us. OK- downgrade search.

Roomie 2: he'll live with us

Roomie 3: doesn't get a gov't job that he thought he was going to get, and quit his other job already. Falls behind slightly on rent. REALLY wants to live with us.

Roomie 2: nope, living with his friend again..probably
Sister: not sure on the job, MIGHT want to move in.

Roomie 3: falling further behind in bills

Now we've decided: NO room mate 2 until he makes up his damn mind
NO sister until she can get us a definite answer
and roomie 3 now owes us almost $1200, works part time, spends all his money on booze So we're going to tell him to bugger off and go live with his mom again.

We've looked at a ton of houses, our budget and needs keep changing, nothing is any good or if it is, it's too expensive, or they don't allow pets at all. We're not even telling people about the foster dogs, but we mention cat and they're like "oh, no. Sorry."

I know we're allowed to have animals under the Ontario Landlord and Tenants act, I just don't want to get kicked out after the 1 yr lease expires and go through this insanity again.

It looks like we're looking into apartments now, as a last resort, which would be a huge hassle. We're just getting a bit frantic. This is getting really depressing though. We found our current house SO easily and quickly and it was perfect w/ a yard and the landlord likes pets so I thought it'd be easy this time around. I was apparently very wrong.
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  #2  
Old March 25th, 2008, 12:08 AM
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TeriM TeriM is offline
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Hope it works out for you .
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  #3  
Old March 25th, 2008, 07:29 AM
Jim Hall Jim Hall is offline
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good luck Ive been there and it's not a lot of fun i know

keep your head up and keep looking you will find something i am sure

Keep the boozehound far far away
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Old March 25th, 2008, 07:42 AM
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So you're saying "us" and that there are originally 5 of you in the current house? I'm assuming it's you, a bf or hubby, + 3 other roomies, right?
You should just get a place the tow of you, to hell with everyone else.
However, I don't know what your situation is like, but I DO know that rent is much higher in Ottawa than in London, so you maybe just don't have a choice. But don't give up on the yard! I'm sure you can find a one or two bdrm main floor or something for around 800?
Good luck! I can only imagine how frustrated you must be.
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Old March 25th, 2008, 08:51 AM
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I agree. Find a two bedroom townhouse or duplex at ground level with a yard. What you do with the second bedroom is up to you . Have you thought about asking your (old) landlord if he has any leads on animal-friendly places?
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Old March 25th, 2008, 10:14 AM
SARAH SARAH is offline
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Good luck I know Lewis looked high and wide for a pet-accepting place to rent, with a yard (albeit tiny) for Dani; and we ended up in the only one he found ... anything but ideal place txs to the landlord mainly, but not only.

Maybe if you could look in a less-popular area where the prices are lower (but you must have thought of that already), sometimes a longer commute is better than a higher rent, if it is a possibility for you.
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Old March 25th, 2008, 11:44 AM
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Frenchy Frenchy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SARAH View Post
Maybe if you could look in a less-popular area where the prices are lower (but you must have thought of that already), sometimes a longer commute is better than a higher rent, if it is a possibility for you.
I agree with Sarah , that's the only way I could buy a house

good luck !
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  #8  
Old March 25th, 2008, 03:20 PM
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We've definitely expanded our search area to less-desirable areas, just with the weird scheduling for my job and hubbies job, we need to be near transit OR we need to buy a second car, and the second car would kill any money we'd save from moving outside of town- plus, hubby works downtown so he'd be paying for parking downtown as well, which is crazy expensive.

We're in the situation where we either downgrade to a tiny 1 bedroom apartment or live with at least one room mate. We COULD manage a 2 bedroom apartment, but that would mean we wouldn't pay off any of my student debt or save for a house.

Ugh, stress makes me sick to my stomach. Stupid moving.
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  #9  
Old March 25th, 2008, 07:56 PM
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CyberKitten CyberKitten is offline
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Is there any way you can find a way to say invest in a home and rent to these so called "roomies" and sister? I say that as someone who always think of renting as throwing away money in a way. Admittedly, this idea only occurred to me after I rented for a while as a student but when I finally started to work full time, I bought a house and vowed (as God is my witness. to use what little I recall of Scarlett O'Hara), never to pay rent again. What about even renting to own? I mean, at least paying a mortgage means you will have something in the end. And if you can sell it when you need to move, you will not have lost the money.

I admittedly gave my brother the down payment on a house for his wedding present because I could not abide to see him paying rent. (Of course, I sold some stocks to pay for said down payment and before you knew it, they were divorced and I was still figuring out capital gains, lol). But he was able to sell the house and get a smaller one for him and then rent out rooms to two of his friends and that worked well. Could you guys do something like that?

Just a thought - looking at it like the financially frugal person I tend to be, too much sometimes.
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Old March 25th, 2008, 10:38 PM
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Gibbons Gibbons is offline
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We were approved for a mortgage- a 40 year, 0 down mortgage (since we have 0 to put down on it ) that would be just BARELY enough to buy a run-down town home in the shady part of town. The thing that scares me is that everyone is telling me NOT to do it, if I lose my job (possible, tech = India these days) or whatever then there is a good chance there could be some serious house trouble. Being that indebted to a bank makes me very nervous.

We're thinking of everything, and are even looking at buying if that means we at least have some where to live- only issue it's it's seriously getting down to the wire, so finding a house to buy in the next 6 weeks seems somewhat unlikely.
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Tango- beagle mix, 4 yrs old
Schroder- beagle mix, 11 yrs old
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  #11  
Old March 26th, 2008, 08:33 AM
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Not necessarily! Lots of real estate agents will jump through hoops for you. Check out mls.ca right now! While the process is going on, you could still look for a rental, I suppose, just in case, but don't sign anything!
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Old March 26th, 2008, 03:35 PM
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I agree. Real Estate is always an investment. And tech does not always equal India- it depends on what kind of tech you do. The IT industry is rebounding and there are all kinds of new ways of using it that are not what IT ppl traditionally think of as IT- like heath care (my field), govt databases, a plethora of new and exciting prospects. So, if you are fortunate enough to get a zero % dn payment, I would jump at the opportunity. If you liost your job and had a lease in an apt , you would still be in the same kind of situation after all. A house at least is equity.
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  #13  
Old March 26th, 2008, 03:51 PM
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danaekitty danaekitty is offline
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Better yet, buy a cheap house that has a second or third unit! You can live rent-free, basically, and the rent from the other units pay your mortgage. Eventually, in a year or two, you can move into a nicer place, and have more tenants paying your bills!
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