Relocating Is Hard Work: Pt 4 – More Unexpected Curveballs

Thanks to all of you who have been following this cray-cray saga of mine! It might sound silly, but the solidarity I feel in knowing I have friends here is really comforting.

If you need to catch up, you can read about my getting a job offer, negotiating my salary, finding a new place to live, distributing my relocation funds, and discovering my husband no longer qualifies for student loans. And now…

SURPRISE! THE RENT HAS GONE UP

So over the last week or so, since I found a place to live in NJ (sight unseen), I’ve been emailing back and forth with the landlord lady Sarah. At some point I had mentioned that Michael might come up and visit sometimes, and that my mom might sometimes come up, too.

Well then one day out of the blue she emails me and says that due to the number of visitors I’ll be expecting, I should probably rent the larger room vs the smaller one which I had originally agreed to. The room I had wanted was $975. I remember seeing the post for the larger room, too, for $1195. And I remember not caring about the size of the room.

And then she tells me that she forgot to update the Craigslist posting I had seen and that really the rooms aren’t $975 and $1195, but $1050 and $1275.

So now, we’re less than a week away from my supposed move-in date, and I’m stuck paying $300/month more than I originally expected. I originally wanted the $975 room. Now I kind of have to take the $1275 room.

WHAT TO DO?

It’s hard for me to gauge if she legit forgot to change the post, and if she legit thinks the small room will be too small for me and my occassional husband, or if she realized I’m kind of desperate, and is trying to exploit me. If it’s the former, I appreciate her kindness. If it’s the latter, ummm, I don’t want that kind of landlord.

The good news is that I only told her I’d stay through the end of December, so by then, hopefully I will have had time to figure out the lay of the land and find a cheaper apartment in a decent neighborhood.

In the meanwhile, for these 6 months, I’m going to have to pop an extra $300/month out of thin air. It’s not a lot, and I’m looking at a few side hustle/part time job options that I can do in the evenings or on weekends.

I’m not about to try to find a new place to live now, 3 days before the move.

Oh well. No one said this was going to be easy. 🙂