Preocupado

I have all these awesome ideas for blog posts, but I haven't been able to concentrate on anything for the past few weeks except for our living situation. We lease a house and we just found out our landlord is going to raise our rent. Granted, they haven't raised the rent in the three years we've lived here, but considering that we are perfect tenants, have never paid our rent late, and painted the house on our own dime when we first moved in, we feel like we earned the steady rate.

We've been trying to decide if we should stay or look for someplace new, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that our landlord refuses to go month-to-month with the lease. Because of the way the LA rental market is designed, this gives us a tiny two-week window to find a new place to live, since apartments for August only appear on the market around July 1st, and we have to decide before our rent is due on July 15th. 


Aghhhh!

We definitely don't want to spend more than we already pay. There are problems with the neighborhood, such as neighbors who let their dogs bark at all hours of the day and hoards of tourists who clog our streets in search of a way to drive to the Hollywood sign (which isn't possible). Also, there are little issues with the house that we've been willing to overlook at the current price, but not so flexible at a higher rate. Take, for example, last year's carpet beetle outbreak which cost me $500 in clothing and dry cleaning and was all around disturbing and disgusting.  

They will do a six month lease, however, I'm not so sure this is a good thing, since we would essentially be facing the same situation, just six months from now. Plus, I will be in the middle of school and possibly pregnant (knock on wood).

Our other option is to begin thinking about buying a house. The problem is, a tiny turn-key starter house in LA costs about the same as a 5-bedroom mansion in any other part of the country. AND, we'd have to find something that happens to close at the exact time that our lease ends. What are the chances of that happening?  Oh also, neither of us really want to raise a kid in Los Angeles. There's THAT little detail, too.

I've been scouring Westside Rentals and Craigslist everyday. The rental market is highly competitive and pricier than ever. Half the time, by the time I call a place, it's already been rented. Otherwise, it's out of our price range OR completely dated. Yesterday, two realtors didn't even show up for their appointments to show up their properties! 

Moving is considered one of life's big stresses. Not knowing if you're going to move...or being on a deadline to find a new, acceptable place to move, makes it all the more nerve-racking. Add to that the fact that we're starting to think about what's best, not only for the two of us, but possibly for the three of us, and you can understand why I've been walking around with my shoulders tensed to my ears for two weeks.

Should we stay or should we go now?