Truth in advertising...

If you have read any recent posts, you will know that I am dealing with alot of emotions, dealing with junk, and then we get to drop in my biological dad and his current divorce from the last wife...it's a mess, but I am muddling through. I do have a rant, and so I am climbing up on my soapbox now.

In the course of this recent divorce filing, my biological dad is needing to find someplace to live. She wants their place, and he is willing to give it to her in the divorce, but that means that he needs someplace. He is driving me nuts being extremely picky, and not wanting to take what is available...he wants a place in the country with room to roam and at a price he can afford. He refuses to budge on anything on that list. There is nothing in the county and then what there is to rent is over-priced.

The other day, I am looking through the Seymour paper and I spy an ad that says "1, 2, and 3 bedroom homes for rent, reasonable prices, must move in by June 30th", so I am thinking this might be the answer, so I call....

Me: Hello, I am wanting to get more information on the homes you have for rent

Her: They're apartments.

Me: I'm sorry, but the ad I am reading in the paper says 1, 2, and 3 bedroom homes for rent

Her: Yeah, they're apartment homes

Okay....so I just have to interject here...I am thinking that is the silliest thing I have ever heard. If you are advertising homes, it means a stand alone home, if you are advertising an apartment, that means a building with many units, and there is no such word as apartment homes, that is an oxymoron. It can't be both, it's either a home or an apartment! Please!!
But since the price was so good, I continued the conversation. I should have known better. I mean, really, if they can't figure out what they are actually renting out the rest can't get any better, right?

Her: When are you looking to move?

Me: Well, as soon as possible, and the ad says it has to be before the end of the month, and that would be fine.

her: We have a three month waiting list

Me: Excuse me??

Her: We have a two to three month waiting list on these right now.

Me: Then why do you have an ad in the paper saying you have homes available to move into before the end of the month if you do not in fact have homes or anything available before the end of the month?

her: Oh, the company just always runs that ad, they just change the date each month.

So I hang up the phone and it is all I can do to stay calm on the line with the lady. I get off the phone and I am like, what is the deal?? First off they advertise homes, when in fact they do not have any homes, second they advertise immediate move in, when in fact they have a waiting list. What happened to truth in advertising? Are they not subject to that or what?

I was livid! I thought I had heard it all. But guess what? It gets better.
You think prices in a college town are bad. A guy finally calls me back, he has a 2 bedroom home and he is wanting $625 a month for it, and I am thinking that is alot for one person to try to cover, well then he proceeds to tell me that with rent and utilities, it averages about $1000 a month! Okay...and in my mind I am really wanting to tell this guy he must be NUTS! Who is going to be able to afford that kind or rent? I mean really?! It's only 2 bedrooms, and if you think of it a rent by the bedroom, like a college town, that is $500 per bedroom. No single person could afford that, and i have no idea how a family could afford that either. And the guy wonders why he is having trouble renting this place out, and why when he does get it rented that people end up having trouble making the payments? I'm thinking maybe he needs to get a bit of education about the salaries that people in the area are making and what they can actually afford and then rethink his pricing schedule.

Okay, so now that I have ranted and raved about it, I am calmer, but it is still not making it any easier to find someplace to move him, but at least I am not ready to strangle these people on the other end of the phone.