Friend In Desperate Need of a NE Side house to rent- Suggestions Welcome! (Live Oak: sale) - San Antonio - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

FreedomsBlessings · 06-28-2010, 03:15 PM

I have a friend (it's her and her husband, and 6 kids) who have suddenly become homeless due to their landlord selling the home they were renting in.

They thought they had a house 2 times, but it was rented before they could get an appointment to see the house.

They would prefer to be on the north side, in Judson district, as their kids are in school there.

The need is for a 4-bedroom house, no more than $1000 a month or so. If you know ANYONE who can help them, or if you have suggestions, I would appreciate the help!

kevcrawford · 06-28-2010, 03:43 PM

Did they have a lease? Regardless of the sale of the home, if they have a lease, it has to be honored.

FreedomsBlessings · 06-28-2010, 05:02 PM

Yes, they had a lease... they were not treated fairly, but she would not fight it, because she was worried about getting a bad reference to find a new home. I told her not to worry about it, she's not guaranteed to get a good reference anyway. The lease was actually up, but the realtor wanted her to stay in the home, have the home showable, even show the house a few times... when she didn't have to show the house, she had to leave for an hour- she was supposed to have at least an hours notice, but there were times she only would have about 40 minutes notice to leave- with 6 children! They were not respectful of the fact that it would be lunch time, or anything. She was basically given 15 days to vacate, and left 6 days before the paid month was up. HOWEVER, they were late on the payment. The lady did work with them... so I don't know the full story. I don't know if she actually charged them the late fee and this was what it was or what.

In any case, I tried to tell her she had rights, but she refused to make waves, because she wanted to get a good reference. But now, there is no house to move to. So yes, she handled it completely differently than I would have.

buffy888 · 06-28-2010, 06:59 PM

I know I have seen some in the Live Oak area recently - can't think of the real estate companies off the top of my head, though. I would suggest having them check Realtor.com - can use it to search for rentals and can specify number of bedrooms, rent amount, etc. When we were looking for a house to rent, it was pretty helpful as it will show you the rentals listed through the MLS.

FreedomsBlessings · 06-28-2010, 08:08 PM

Thanks, Buffy! I did a search and found 16 in their price range and sent them to her.

kevcrawford · 06-29-2010, 08:05 AM

It sounds like a rough situation, but if the lease was up, they likely have no recourse. As someone above posted, check out Realtor.com and SABOR.com for rental listings. Or call a Realtor that knows that area and see what they can find for you.

TexasRedneck · 06-29-2010, 08:41 AM

Ditto on working w/a Realtor...a lot of times, they can act as a advocate for you, getting a landlord to consider someone they'd normally "pass" on.

One thing you said bothers me, though - you mentioned they were late on the lease payment. That's NEVER a good thing for ANY reason - and is something NO landlord wants. I hear folks all the time say "yeah, but I paid the late charges, so it's okay!" NO IT IS NOT! When I went through my divorce and was trying to rebuild a destroyed credit situation, the ONE thing I did religiously was pay EVERYTHING early. Period. I was out to prove that circumstances beyond my control messed me up - and the only way to prove that was to be "Mr. Clean" from that point on. Wanna see me go ballistic? Tell me a bill I owe is even CLOSE to being late! Lots of folks I know kid me about paying as soon as I get a bill, rather than closer to the "due date". Flip side is, I've had ONE account that I had a past due bill on. They called me, surprised that it hadn't been paid. Normally, if you're late on a payment they put you on C.O.D. for a year (commercial account). Instead of putting that over my head, they asked if I had overlooked it somehow. As it turns out, it was creditted to the wrong account by someone on their end - so yeah, not my fault - but the main thing was they KNOW I'm always current, so rather than calling with threats, they called with concern.
I've been a landlord - something I'd never do again. I'll be the first to tell you that a LOT of it is because of my personality, but be that as it may, there's a LOT to be said about being a "model tenant"!!