You don’t mind me gouging you, do you ?

Where are my grrrs?  Can I borrow $7,000 from 4 of you?

If you’re a regular reader, you know we are purchasing a home in Oregon.  The builder won’t have the homes completed until Oct/Nov.  That presented a problem for us.  Do we stay where we are, and rent month-to-month, until our house is ready?  Or do we move and try to find something temporary so that the kids can start at their new schools, at the beginning of school year.

The issue was compounded further, because Bend, OR has very limited rentals available.  They have more people wanting to rent, than they do properties available, so they are next to impossible to get.  That’s why we decided to purchase a house immediately vs. trying to find a place to rent for a year first.

However, what to do now?  Our current lease is up August 23rd.  We need a place to live end of Aug., Sept., and maybe all of October.  We won’t know until closer to closing.  I really didn’t want to move kids a month after school started, especially since my daughter is transitioning into middle-school and changing of classes in OR – where here in CA, she’d still be in elementary school, 1 class, 1 teacher.  Also, I didn’t want to risk trying to move our things -drive 26 foot U-Haul – on possible icy-roads.  The decision was made, we have to move in the summer!

I hear you are looking for a place to live

But now – where are we going to live?  There’s the whole – no rentals available in OR – and even if we could find something, they’d want a year lease.  So, I contacted those VRBO home owners.  I in-boxed messages to about 10 home owners, see if they’d be willing to offer a short-term lease at a lesser “daily rate” cost.  Luckily, we are moving in “off-season,” as Bend is a big summer (river, bike riding) and winter (snow skiing) destination.

With Bend being a tourist spot, VRBOs can get daily rates of $250/$350 (sometimes higher) a night, with minimum of 2 or 3 days stay!  One guy said he’d give me a reduced rate of $6,000 for the month of September!

WHAT!  You’re high, dude…in price, and state of mind – whatcha smokin!  

It’s off-season!  You’re calendar indicates no one is renting your place AT ALL during Sept./Oct. months!  Don’t you want “some” money coming in vs. none? A couple of others indicated they’d be willing, but higher than the $2,400 I proposed.  However, one gal, saw reason.  She’s in realty and has various properties and immediately said YES.  She would be willing to do $2,400 for Sept. and prorate the extra days at $80.00/day.

We’ve already secured that spot and gave her 1/2 the money vs. typically, on VRBO, you have to pay it all up front.  Thank you , thank you!  But are we really doing it the right way? (Our realtor checked into her and gave us the green light – no scam)

So how do I know if we made the right decision?  Today, the apartment complex we are currently residing, dropped off our new lease rental offer.  Our lease is up August. 23rd.  If we choose to go month-to-month – $7,465.00 /month- something so ridiculous – you have to laugh!  These aren’t luxury apartments!  We don’t have a doorman.  Seriously, who can afford that?