The House Hunt!

1826 is about to go on rent in February so we have to find a rental place pretty quickly. For the past month or so we have been looking and have not had much luck - a pretty stressful situation, but we have been in situations like this before and are hoping that something will be worked out right in the nick of time.  This past weekend Amma, Abba, Ajee and the kids looked at a few houses and fell in love with one. They were so excited (especially Amma Abba) as they thought they had found the perfect place in every way. However someone else got to it before us, which kind of depressed the two of them. A few weeks ago a similar situation had happened where we almost got a place but the landlord gave it to someone else. We cannot completely blame luck for us not finding a suitable place however, there are some other factors:

1.      We need something big enough to house all of us and some.

2.      Each member of the family has their own needs and wants that they want fulfilled, inshort we are all quite picky. Abba wants a lot of space, Amma wants it to be new and clean and a big kitchen, Hasan wants a soundproof room away from all the noise, we want all that and a good school district and short drive to work.

3.       The fact that our family is so big and loud doesn’t help either.  I believe it may scare some landlords.  We often get asked, “How many of you exactly will be living here?” I have learned one thing to not answer this question anymore.

Yesterday, Ajee had set up an appointment to go see another house at 7PM. He had sent us pictures the day before.  I was not too impressed after looking at the pictures as it looked like a well decorated older house, but apparently at home everyone loved the photos and were extremely excited thought that this was it! Right before we were leaving Ajee called and told us that someone else is already interested and is about to sign the papers on it on Saturday, however the landlord wants us to see it in case that offer does not work out.   This news disheartened everyone especially Abba and Hasan as this was happening for the third time.

Hasan refused to go. He told us all to go and that he will just study. He doesn’t want to see another house if we can’t get it.  Abba did not see a point to go either. “Why are we going when someone already has an offer why are we wasting our time?” Amma and I finally convinced the two grumbling men that there really was no harm in seeing it. So we all along with the kids stuffed into the car and went.

We finally found the place after driving around the street several times as it was dark due to the lack of street lights.  From the outside it looked pretty nice. We contemplated waiting for Ajee to come (as he was going to meet us here right after work) but since the kids were getting restless we got out. Isa ran up and rang the door bell. This lady with an infant on her hip opened the door, and as soon as she pulled the door back, a little dark gray poodle looking dog jumped out on Amma. Instantly, Amma let out this loud scream! While the house lady screamed “JAPER, JASPER - GET DOWN!” Abba then got annoyed with Amma for getting scared of a little dog and creating a scene. Amma defended herself by explaining how it was scary and that anyone would be scared if that happened to them. This is partially true but knowing Amma and her fear of dogs the reaction was a little more exaggerated then someone else in that same situation. Meanwhile Jasper kept wagging his tail excitedly and smelling everyone’s feet.  Yusuf was just as thrilled as Jasper and just wanted to be put on the floor so he could get a hold of it, Isa on the other hand was a little nervous of the dog.  As we made our way in I saw Amma make a disgusted face by pulling her upper lip to her nose, thanks to the repulsive pet smell that was in the house. Abba was equally appalled due to the clutter. There were boxes everywhere, so there was hardly any room to walk. The kitchen (although renovated) and the family room seemed dark and dingy and the bathroom had cracks in the tiles, with dark grey residue around the tubs.  She then showed us the backyard and I was secretly hoping she would let Jasper stay out while we saw the house, but no such luck - he remained to be a crucial part of the tour. We all walked around the bottom floor fairly quickly.  As I made my way to the bedroom/study downstairs I saw Amma power walking away from Jasper who was constantly following her.  The dog in turn was being chased by Yusuf who couldn’t wait to get his hands on this little furry creature, while Isa was pulling Yusuf away from it.   As the lady was taking us upstairs, Amma whispered that she had seen enough and was ready to leave the house and especially Jasper, but we followed the lady anyways just to be polite. We skimmed through the top floor rapidly (which was not much better than the bottom floor) with Jasper running between the boxes and our feet and Yusuf struggling to get down to chase him again. Hasan quickly took the baby from me and made his way to the exit with Amma and Abba.  As I was leaving, the lady asked us the common question of how many of us will be living here. In my mind I thought “none here” but told her it will be us and my husband who is on the way.  On our way out we saw Ajee pulling up. Abba, Hasan and I told him we all loved the house, Amma had already sat back in the car to get away from the dog.  Seeing our fake reaction made Ajee feel bad, as he knew that there was a good chance we may not be able to get it. Ajee went in to the door and the dog greeted him excitedly, while Abba also chose to sit in the car instead of going back for a second round of madness. The lady was starting her tour again and we quickly stopped her and told her that he can just scan through it himself.  I could see that she was relieved that the tour was over, but probably a little less relieved then us!