Homeless
Posted on May 11, 2012 9:51 am under Family
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Calico and Miss Muffin have returned from house hunting, but we don’t have a new residence.
We had done some preliminary online searches. It didn’t seem as though we were asking for a lot – three bedrooms, no carpeted floors and okay with pets. We created a list of contenders and Calico made one of those nifty Google maps. Pushpins mark house locations, so it is easy to plot a drive-by route. Clicking on a pin will bring up any information and pictures that Calico has added for that house.
The initial drive-bys yielded some winners and some losers. They stopped to peek in the windows of the most promising and eliminated a few more. Some properties are listed, as having hardwood floors, but the hardwood is limited to the foyer or a single room. Some wouldn’t be very friendly for me. Rough or hilly driveways and sidewalks were a common problem. A few possibilities remained at the end of their route and Calico began contacting the owners or property managers.
Some owners have yet to return her call. Others didn’t want pets, but had failed to include that in the listing. One of the major property management places doesn’t allow any pets and another allows three – no exceptions. We made some jokes about which of our four pets would have to be left behind, but that just isn’t happening.
Despite more eliminations, Calico and Miss Muffin’s favorite was still a contender. The property management firm gave them an access card and they toured the inside. They loved it and Calico snapped many pictures. I loved it too. They returned to the management office prepared to sign the paperwork. Unfortunately, that property was not owned by the management firm, just managed by them. While the management firm allows pets on their properties, the owner of this house didn’t want any pets at all. You’d think they would have known that. There are still a couple of prospects, but they won’t be available for a few weeks. The property manager is even willing to remove carpet to make them livable for us. We just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, we’ll continue online searches and packing. We are getting good at this. Yesterday, we weeded yarn, Chinese painting and rubber stamps from the craft supplies. Nobody has used them in years. The gemstone beads made the cut. Three out of four isn’t bad. Wish the odds had been that good for the house hunting.
