Friday, August 11, 2006

Half century and still homeless

Date: August 10
Mileage: 55.4
August mileage: 126.6 (inc. 15 miles Aug. 6)

I don't know if anyone out there in blogosphere is a landlord in Juneau, but my name is Jill and I have a cat. She's a very nice cat, very personable, and definitely a lot cleaner than any human child I have ever met - and a alot of adults for that matter. Please take pity on me. I'm cold and wet and have only a thin piece of nylon to call my home. Thank you.

For a city in Alaska, Juneau rentals have a surprisingly universal ban on pets. And they don't need to bend their discriminatory rules at all because places are snatched up the minute they hit the classifieds. I love my cat, but she and I may just have to weatherproof a cardboard box for the quickly approaching winter. Yesterday, so many landlords and real estate agents shut me down on the phone that I finally stopped asking them about their pet policy up front, hoping that by meeting me first and seeing how nice and somewhat normal I was, they would overlook my little furball waiting for me in Homer. I pedalled through the steady drizzle more than 50 miles yesterday to check a handful of places all over the city and valley, and still no dice. The places that will welcome pets with open arms are a little out of my price range. The others looked at me like I was asking to start a fire-twirling cult in their building. Sigh. I just finished unloading all of my worldly possessions into a heated storage unit, and I can't help envy their position - for $40 a month, my stuff has a better home than I do. But it's 1 p.m. now - time to set out for the afternoon and try again.

7 comments:

  1. Jill-if you still aren't having any luck, you might want to try the bulletin boards at the malls (Nugget and Mendenhall) or at Rainbow Foods in downtown Juneau. People looking for roommates might be a little more relaxed about pets ....
    I also sent an e-mail around to some friends when I saw your blog entry.
    E Bluemink

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  2. Damn, I'd have the perfect place for you. Negotiable rent, I don't mind a cat.

    One minor drawback? I'm only an 11,000 mile commute to work. Give or take.

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  3. I'm leaving Idaho for Anchorage in 2 weeks with 2 large dogs and a cat. It took over 40 phone calls to finally find a ridiculously over-priced apartment that would take them. I feel your pain. Hang in there and keep trying!

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  4. While not many want the delicious dampness of Juneau sullied with catbox, I am sure most would accept kitty if it were converted to violin components.

    -www.extremecathatred.com

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  5. I had similar problems in my move to the SF Bay Area -- this has got to be the most dog-unfriendly place in the nation (from my perspective). It doesn't sound as bad as Juneau, but few places will take pets because reasonably-priced rentals get snapped up as soon as they become available to rent. I considered sleeping in a tent along the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz along with all the other homeless people.

    Oh, storage units here start at about $250 for a one-car garage sized place. Right now I'm paying $1800/month for a 970 sq foot 2 bedroom apartment that's 40 miles from my work.

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  6. Yes, It's amazing isn't it, you see a dog riding in 8 out of 10 cars, and it's nearly impossible to find a place that rents to people with pets.

    I was pretty lucky, there happened to be some places in the paper. We ended up with a 2 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom Unit with Washer and Dryer for $950. with a $500 pet deposit.

    I would check JRE realitors in the mall across the street from Nugget Mall. They rent trailers Double Wides for a decent price, the realitors we rent from now are Caldwell Bankers, just to the north end of that mall across the street on Ummmm Jordan Ave.

    If you have any questions Email me at johndw1 at yahoo.com. I'll try and help.

    Take care!!

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