Everyone has a story.

There are good people out there who have fallen on bad times. Some kind of  mis-fortune, loss of job, loss of health; some beyond their control, some well within their control. The point is that they all need a place to live and are overwhelmed.  In most cases, they need some place to live  by the end of the month. YIKES!

 Lately it seems that I have been attracting these people.  I don't know why (my friends are probably nodding their heads knowingly-THEY know why), but it has been very enlightening and  a little up lifting. I've met some great people with great stories, and I've loved being their advocate.  They have 3 dogs and 2 cats that they can't part with,  or they have no pets but really bad credit, or they are a bunch of college buddies wanting to share rent because they can't afford to live on their own yet (land lords are REALLY scared of these guys!), or they are ALL of the above!  I recently found a rental for a family with 3 BIG dogs (fortunately, they did not look as big in the pictures they sent)  and neither one had a job in the state yet. They had a pile of cash from the sale of their out of state home and a co-signer, so they did have a little bit of an advantage-the dogs were more of a problem than their lack of jobs.

Then there is the young recently divorced mom with NO credit because she uses the Dave Ramsey cash accounting method and has been living with a friend, so has no rental history either.  Child support has not officially started yet.  No credit and no rental history  is more damaging than bad credit or bad rental history.  Her income was a little below the required "three times the rent", but because I was able to create a personal relationship with the listing agent, we were able to get her and her adorable little girl in a nice  town house in the school district she wanted, and close to work.

My current challenge is another 3 dog-bad - credit-due-to-recent-misfortune'er moving  in from out of state in January.  I met with them this weekend, and what a nice couple they are! I have started my email campaign with listing agents and hope to find them the perfect rental home.

The moral of THIS story is that nothing is impossible, no situation is hopeless.  Your friendly neighborhood realtor (and I hope it will be ME) is there to help you-pick someone who seems to care and someone you can trust and stop trolling Zillow, Trulia and Rent.com- you don't have time.  You're packing, getting  the kids to school and soccer practice and cooking dinner . Not being sexist here, it is usually the woman who is out looking for a house.

What is YOUR story?  I'd love to hear it, and I'd love to help if I can!