It’s proving difficult to find decent housing in this little college town of
Stillwater. Granted, I’ve not been spending any significant amount of time
looking, but I’ve never needed to before. It seems, though, that every
place I’ve contacted this time around becomes immediately disinterested when
I mention that I have a dog.
Of course, I can understand a landlord’s hesitation to lease to pet owners.
Not everyone is very kind to their landlord, and the mess a pet can leave
can be the worst hassle a landlord has to deal with. But it’s still very
frustrating when you’re presumed guilty of the same offense simply based on
the actions of others.
If there were some way to prove to them that I’m a decent person and won’t
ruin their property, I’d do it. Sure, references can help and all, but if
a location has a pet policy, they have a pet policy- end of story. They
don’t need to change it in order to make money. Stillwater provides every
landlord an endless supply of apartment and house hunters.
That’s why the pet policy issue is only one of many that I’m facing, such
as overall quality, landlord reputation, availability, proximity to campus,
and whether or not I can fit at least most of my stuff in it. This isn’t
even mentioning this biggest and probably most limiting factor of them
all: cost.
Oh how they change their minds when greenbacks are waved in their faces. It’s
just a shame I don’t have a whole bunch of them to wave. It would seem as
though many of these landlords would let me use their finest properties as
my dog’s lavatory.. for the right price. This isn’t to say that all of the
landlords are like this, but I get the impression that the vast majority of
them are ready and willing to sell their first-born children to make a
dollar.
Half of the people I’ve called about listings have bordered on being rude.
The other half seem indifferent, and really, have no reason to be any
other way. Why should they take the time to be friendly, outgoing, and
eager to help, when there are hundreds of other people ready, willing and
able to lease from them?
Because it’s the right thing to do. But that’s none of their concern. Their
goal is money and money alone.
Many people across the U.S. have addressed similar problems in the grocery
industry by creating co-op grocery stores, run by a community of fellow,
like-minded shoppers. What would happen if the same principle were
applied to the housing industry? What about some kind of housing co-op?
The devil would be in the details, naturally, but at this point, my brain
just needs to have hope that something could be done to make all of this,
at the very least, a little bit better.
