Adventures in Real Estate: Part 1

The path to having a roof over our head was a rough one indeed.  In late May we found a great house.  Plenty of room, fenced in yard, double garage (this is important because in Canada it gets so cold in the winter that your engine can freeze and be ruined.  You have 2 options: a climate controlled garage OR a engine block heater you have to plug in at night or something.  We went with garage).   Moving on,  the ad for the house says, ‘no dogs’.  The property management company ASSURES us over and over that our dog is no problem and that we have nothing to worry about.  Everything is a go and Britton was thrilled to not be in a hotel any longer.  On a Friday night at about 8:00 pm they finally tell him he can swing by and get the keys.  He packs up his truck with everything he has been lugging around for a couple of weeks and heads on over.  And that’s when the stuff hit the fan.

“Umm…you know how we told you the dog was no problem?”, says the property management lady.

“Yes…”, says Britton.

“Well…I was wrong.  The people that own the house will not allow it…so…”

You can imagine how well that went over.  When Britton relayed that message I think we were both ready to scrap Canada…little did we know this adventure would only get weirder.  When the woman told Britton that the reason for no dogs was that they didn’t want their floor scratched up I burst out laughing.  Anyone that knows out little family knows 2 things are very true.

1. Daisy won’t be scratching anything…that would be difficult to do while sleeping.
2. They should be more worried about me and my high heels scratching their precious little floors 

Britton assured them there was NO way that our dog would be an issue and if that was their concern we would be happy to pay a very large non-refundable pet deposit on top of our other one month rent deposit AND we would also be willing to have a clause added to our contract making us liable for any damage to the floors.  The property agent was seemingly very surprised and told us that very well may change the owners mind and that she was call them with our offer.  She scurried off to make the call and came back with their answer…no.  No amount of money would make them change their mind.  At this point Britton calmly told the agent he appreciated her obvious lie and could she tell him the REAL reason for the no dogs policy because it would be almost ridiculous to turn down that offer.

The reason was as follows:  The owners are planning on moving back in to their house and they don’t want there to be any allergy issues.  Reasonable?  Yes.  Oh I forgot to mention; they aren’t planning on moving back for FOUR years and they have NO current allergy issues. Nevermind the fact the we have no intention of living there for more than a year.  You can’t argue with crazy and any of you who think that is a reasonable thought are at least one of the following; hypochondriacs, dog haters, sissies, Canadian, president of your high school chess club, members of a jelly of the month club.  You may or may not drink Zima...WITH a Jolly Rancher in the bottom for flavor.

At that point we just said forget it and started our search over.  More headaches…moving with a dog to Canada is a P-A-I-N.  In a city BLANKETED with parks, all of which are VERY dog friendly, finding someone ok with you bringing your dog to live is seriously difficult.  Of the more ridiculous reasons we heard?  “The owners will NOT allow dogs in their home…they are very religious.”  Umm…I’m sorry..did you say because the owners are ‘very religious’?  What religion includes a belief system that is anti-dog?

I can't even deal...

Stay turned for Real Estate: Part 2 where we learn about Canadian Drug Enforcement Agency...

PS - The movers came yesterday and all of our belongings are en route.  No turning back now...eh?