At least that's what it feels like when I'm in my fourth housing search month.
For those who don't know, I'm a disabled veteran. With two kids. Finally have compensations. It's not a huge amount, but it's enough to live off of.
However, I'm in a long desperate search for a place to live. A place to give money to. And nobody wants to take it.
(Rants and reasons on the flip.)
I make enough money to live off of. Usually it's about twice the rent/mortgage I am trying to get. But that isn't enough for most landlords. The magic three times the rent shall NOT be violated. Because every landlord has gotten burned by somebody terrible, I understand. Apparently every former tenant of every landlord was a dope-peddling, child abusing, alcoholic, non-rent payer who stayed for months rent free and had to be evicted by local government who sat and waited for months before doing anything about it.
Or so the story goes.
I stayed for over two years at a corporate run apartment complex, until I couldn't afford it anymore. Considering I was paying over three quarters of my income in the rent, and my payments were often late, my rent was occasionally late. It was always paid of course, but that doesn't matter, since it is the fact that the rent was late which matters. Not the fact that I paid extra to be late, and made arrangements to be late beforehand. The computer says LATE, so therefore I was a terrible tenant.
My credit is lousy. I've been living on whatever I could for about five years, and now that I have an income, I'm trying to get my head above water again. Doesn't matter. Bad Credit? Go live on the street or in a shelter, because we CERTAINLY won't be taking a chance on somebody who has it, no matter what the circumstances are which led to it.
Got Kids? We want a single person.
Got Disability? We want somebody whose employer we can verify.
Offer a larger deposit? Clearly you're a drug dealer who is flush right now and will be looking to score later.
Offer a Co-signer? We don't do that.
But please, make sure to have your application fee ready. We'll take that, with no problems whatsoever. And no we won't take a copy of your credit report provided by you, the fee is for checking up on your references which you already provided. And running your credit of course.
I"m very bitter. But I keep plugging along, because this is like thermodynamics. You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't quit. Well, you CAN quit, but that just would result in my joining another block of statistics about veterans in this country.
So, Single Father, Veteran. Looking for a living situation in America. Would prefer to be near a VA clinic, but willing to commute if necessary. Two Kids. No Pets. Can pay up to 800 a month, with slight wiggle room. However, I need enough left over to pay utilities and food for 2 growing kids. Income is 1468.00 Mo, Disability, but will be looking for work wherever I settle.