Hunting

We spent our first day on the island house hunting. We visited five different realty companies. They were all super nice, and we got a few options to look into from each one, but nothing felt too promising. We had made an appointment through Craigslist to see a house at 5 pm, so we decided that our last visit would be to that realty company, just to check in before our house showing.

Craigslist is famous for scams, but it is also a great resource for finding a house. So, we had been looking at Craigslist houses since before Kent was even offered the job. We had found a lot of houses and apartments that we liked, but living on the mainland was not in our favor.  Nobody could wait for us to show up, so houses were being rented and all we could do was sit and wait.

Fortunately for us (and you will see why, in a minute), this particular house we had an appointment to see had a very vigilant “RENTER’S BEWARE” campaign against it on Craigslist. These people were reposting their warning about three times a week saying that the landlord was "rude" espicially in his "tone of voice". Being the savvy Craigslist shoppers we are, we steered clear of that place! Poison! No way do we even want to get close to that thing.

So we shopped on. Then, two days before we moved, we found the perfect place! We got really excited, and called just minutes after it was posted. Gone. It was already being rented out. But, what do you know? This guy has another rental property just down the street! So we made an appointment to go see that one.

After making the appointment, we searched the address to get a better look via our good friend google maps and, yep, you guessed it. Our hearts sunk when we saw the infamous “RENTER’S BEWARE” house! We decided since we had already made the appointment, we would just stick with it and try to feel the vibe for ourselves.

That brings us back to day one and our fifth realty company (where this house was listed). We stepped into the office and were greeted by the cutest little Asian couple. They were so nice. We talked to them a little about the house we were going to see and Kent asked him about the Craigslist warning. He told us that it was a disgruntled past tenant. She was a single mom and she and her kids had not taken care of the place at all. They were skateboarding on the lanai which was not only damaging things, but it was very dangerous. So, anyway, he said that the owner had kept some of their deposit for damages and this mom got really angry. It turned into a whole big thing and eventually they just returned her whole deposit to her. He told us that the owner (who she was complaining about) was a very "honorable man". And boy did we trust him!!

That explanation was very comforting to us. Now, we were both feeling very hopeful about that place. We talked a bit more with them and he asked us where we were from originally. We told him we were moving from California but from Utah originally. He told us that they visited Salt Lake because their son served a mission there! Uh ???? Kent said, “So are you LDS?” And he said, yes. And we said, “So are we!” They are the Gospel Doctrine teachers in their ward. Our hearts were so warmed by this news. Seriously. We walked out of there feeling so excited and hopeful.

When we went to see the house later that day, we absolutely loved it! A duplex with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a view of the ocean! Perfect for visitors. We applied and signed the lease earlier today! It is our home for at least a year! 

No luck on the car or the Robyn-job yet but we are in pursuit.

We just keep looking at each other and smiling, or just breaking out in random laughter all day. We are so happy to be LIVING here!