My apartment hunt....lordy geez....
So...this past weekend, Chandler and I went to Charleston to apartment-hunt. On Saturday, after driving 35 miles within downtown Charleston and seeing barely any one-bedroom apartments, we got a walk-through of a cute little apartment within a house that I saw on Craigslist.
The apartment was small, but cute...and everything was brand new and renovated. It was around 5 pm and we had essentially seen every street in Charleston. As we were driving away from the place we toured, we saw one final "For Rent" sign...Chandler called the people but apparently they couldn't get in touch with the renter and said they would get back to us.
The next day (Sunday), by noon, we hadn't heard anything from the other apartment that Chandler called. At 1:30, the realtor from the place we toured called. She said that she had arranged a meeting with the owner of the house (who lives in another one of the apartments). Chandler dropped me off for the meeting and drove around on his own.
The meeting went well, and I went to the realtor's house to sign the lease. Right after I handed over the lease and a check for the security deposit, I turned on my phone to call Chandler to have him pick me up. As I turned on my phone, I saw two texts from Chandler:
"The people from the other place called me back..I'm touring the apartment now."
AND
"This place is incredible...don't sign anything!"
This is literally LESS THAN A MINUTE after I handed over the paperwork for the other place.
I told the realtor what happened and she told me to tour the other place, and that maybe I wouldn't like it as much as Chandler did.
I toured the place, and it was FANTASTIC. If you look at the previous entry, it has everything on the checklist:
Huge bay windows in the living room, a working fireplace, old wood mouldings and mantles galore, a porch, wood floors.
I called the realtor and she sounded frustrated, but made it sound like she was going to help me. She said that she would call the owner and let her know and that she'd try to find the numbers of the other interested people.
An hour later, the realtor calls back. She said that the owner of the place I signed the lease for was going to call me soon and give me some "options."
Chandler and I waited in Charleston OVER AN HOUR before the owner called back. Mind you, it's 5 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and we have a 5 hour drive to Chapel Hill ahead of us.
The owner reminds me that I signed a lease and, by changing my mind about the place, I am breaking the rental agreement. Therefore, I have two (2) options:
1. Keep the lease and live there as agreed upon
2. Pay $400 for breaking the lease...for a place that I only signed 2 hours previously.
I explained to her the situation...I am from out of town, starting a job in Charleston in less than a month. This was the only weekend that I could come to Charleston before I actually moved down. I had only 24 hours to find a place. I turned off my phone out of politeness so it wouldn't ring in the meeting and that while we were meeting, Chandler was getting the tour and he was trying to contact me the entire time.
I should mention that the owner is also a lawyer, and, I might add, a HUGE BITCH.
Essentially, she stayed completely cold and reminded me that I signed an agreement...
I talked to Chandler, called my dad, and we all agreed that it would be smarter to get away from the bitch now, rather than have to deal with that kind of evil for an entire year.
When Chandler called the people who own the other apartment, they felt so bad about this bitchy, horrible person, that they took $300 off of my security deposit. So, it works out that I only am paying about $100 to get out of my 15-minute lease.
Either way, while what she did was legally correct, I can't swallow how completely heartless she was. The realtor told me that there was a HUGE response for this place. I didn't back out of the contract weeks after signing...it was MINUTES. She could have just torn it up and moved on to the next person clamouring for the place. I mean, for goodness sakes, we toured the place with another guy, and he was offering a security deposit up front, within minutes of seeing the place.
Also, thank goodness for my new landlords. They live in the downstairs of this incredible place and have been kind, accomodating, thoughtful, and complete life-savers. Because of them, I am excited about my place and can't wait to move in!
The apartment was small, but cute...and everything was brand new and renovated. It was around 5 pm and we had essentially seen every street in Charleston. As we were driving away from the place we toured, we saw one final "For Rent" sign...Chandler called the people but apparently they couldn't get in touch with the renter and said they would get back to us.
The next day (Sunday), by noon, we hadn't heard anything from the other apartment that Chandler called. At 1:30, the realtor from the place we toured called. She said that she had arranged a meeting with the owner of the house (who lives in another one of the apartments). Chandler dropped me off for the meeting and drove around on his own.
The meeting went well, and I went to the realtor's house to sign the lease. Right after I handed over the lease and a check for the security deposit, I turned on my phone to call Chandler to have him pick me up. As I turned on my phone, I saw two texts from Chandler:
"The people from the other place called me back..I'm touring the apartment now."
AND
"This place is incredible...don't sign anything!"
This is literally LESS THAN A MINUTE after I handed over the paperwork for the other place.
I told the realtor what happened and she told me to tour the other place, and that maybe I wouldn't like it as much as Chandler did.
I toured the place, and it was FANTASTIC. If you look at the previous entry, it has everything on the checklist:
Huge bay windows in the living room, a working fireplace, old wood mouldings and mantles galore, a porch, wood floors.
I called the realtor and she sounded frustrated, but made it sound like she was going to help me. She said that she would call the owner and let her know and that she'd try to find the numbers of the other interested people.
An hour later, the realtor calls back. She said that the owner of the place I signed the lease for was going to call me soon and give me some "options."
Chandler and I waited in Charleston OVER AN HOUR before the owner called back. Mind you, it's 5 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and we have a 5 hour drive to Chapel Hill ahead of us.
The owner reminds me that I signed a lease and, by changing my mind about the place, I am breaking the rental agreement. Therefore, I have two (2) options:
1. Keep the lease and live there as agreed upon
2. Pay $400 for breaking the lease...for a place that I only signed 2 hours previously.
I explained to her the situation...I am from out of town, starting a job in Charleston in less than a month. This was the only weekend that I could come to Charleston before I actually moved down. I had only 24 hours to find a place. I turned off my phone out of politeness so it wouldn't ring in the meeting and that while we were meeting, Chandler was getting the tour and he was trying to contact me the entire time.
I should mention that the owner is also a lawyer, and, I might add, a HUGE BITCH.
Essentially, she stayed completely cold and reminded me that I signed an agreement...
I talked to Chandler, called my dad, and we all agreed that it would be smarter to get away from the bitch now, rather than have to deal with that kind of evil for an entire year.
When Chandler called the people who own the other apartment, they felt so bad about this bitchy, horrible person, that they took $300 off of my security deposit. So, it works out that I only am paying about $100 to get out of my 15-minute lease.
Either way, while what she did was legally correct, I can't swallow how completely heartless she was. The realtor told me that there was a HUGE response for this place. I didn't back out of the contract weeks after signing...it was MINUTES. She could have just torn it up and moved on to the next person clamouring for the place. I mean, for goodness sakes, we toured the place with another guy, and he was offering a security deposit up front, within minutes of seeing the place.
Also, thank goodness for my new landlords. They live in the downstairs of this incredible place and have been kind, accomodating, thoughtful, and complete life-savers. Because of them, I am excited about my place and can't wait to move in!