The Real Estate Problem

OK, I'll warn you in advance... This is a gripe post.

Here's the situation. Paul and I are a nice married couple about to have a baby. We are responsible, hard-working, quiet, and clean. Seemingly the ideal renters, right? Well, we also just so happen to have two big dogs. Though they are well-mannered, not destructive, and not violent by any stretch of the imagination no one wants to rent to us because of this. They hear "German Shepherd and Weimaraner" and they immediately respond to our inquiries with "Sorry, the property's been rented" or "Oh, the current tenant decided to stay so it's no longer available." 

The properties that miraculously will allow dogs over 20 lbs. are crap. They have horrible, stained carpet and other damage and are nowhere we would ever want to live, much less bring a baby home to. I mean, seriously, a big "No thank you" to your giant wall of mirrors that is so old it's coming away from the wall in the living room. We aren't drug kingpins from the '80's or planning on opening up a dress shop in our condo, or looking forward to that crashing down on us during the next earthquake. 

Here's the other problem, and it has two parts:

1) It would make sense in a perfect world for us to buy a house, since we would then have no pet restrictions to deal with. However, property in San Diego is unbelievably, ridiculously, embarrassingly over-priced. So much so that it makes me physically ill to think about it. This house is for sale right down the street from us:

It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a carport (not even a garage), is ugly as hell (seriously, is that stone facade really necessary?), and is 1,110 square feet. Anyone want to take a guess how much it is? 

Drum roll, please..... $490,000. Yes, that's right, $10K short of half a million. Are you freaking kidding me???? Does that make sense in any normal person's brain? And the other two houses in our neighborhood that are for sale are both in the upper $400's as well; one of them is even less than 1,000 square feet!

2) So the second part of this problem is that I was searching some rental sites this morning and the same house above that is obviously for sale (but I know that only because I live down the street and drive by it every day) was listed as for rent for $800/month. Now you have to understand that 3 bedrooms around here typically rent for at least $2,000/month. But there is a popular scam going on right now where people will rip pictures and information off of real estate listing sites and post the properties on Craigslist, etc. as for rent at a cheap price. When an interested renter responds to the posting, the "owner" gives some excuse as to why they can't show the house (for example, they have recently moved to Africa) and says if the renter will mail them a deposit they will mail them the keys. Puh-lease! But I guess people must fall for these things because scammers keep trying them.

So scams like these + crappy "We welcome big dogs" rentals + "No dogs over 20 lbs." listings are what comprise about 95% of my Craigslist search results. And it's not like we're only searching in one or two neighborhoods; our searches cover like six zip codes. It is SOOO frustrating!! I don't feel like we'll ever find a place that's right for us and we'll have to bring this baby home to the 350 square foot (yes, that's right) "charming cottage" we currently live in and it won't have a nursery at all! UGH!!!

Sorry people, just had to vent today... But the search continues and tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully an honest and dog-friendly landlord will come along soon so I'll have a suitable "nest" in which to nest.