Jueves

What a great day :)

It looks like the rain has finally stopped as this is the first day it has been clear the entire day.  Time to continue the house hunting for the Traveling McMurrays.  There are lots of places empty, but most are for sale... only a few for rent - and the majority of them are only willing to go for 6 months or more.  Any rooms that you can find to let less than 6 months are pretty pricy, or are plain tin shacks.  It's like they can hold you hostage...

I did find a few - but the best it seems is $100 USD per night or more.  That is only slightly better than the rate at a hotel!  But fear not, I kept looking - talking and visiting with people who know people and realtors and agents, and building managers...

Finally I hooked with Anne-Michelle.  She's a Canadian realtor (from Toronto) and very nice.  she was able to show me a few properties that were getting close to affordable and even some near us.  I got to see a few pictures... then the pitch:  The best she could do was a little more than 800$ US for the week, and oh... plus power (which might easily be about $100 because of A/C).  She only had the one, but luckily, she did rent another - surprisingly similar - place to another couple that morning who happened to have no preferences and no budget.  It was a bit of a hardship, but she was prepared to call them for me and ask if they would be willing to move to this room, then call the owner of that room to see if he would be flexible on price since it is such short term.

I recalled every single used car I have ever bought or sold, and as I sat in her air conditioned office I privately reminisced to myself about working in car dealerships, and about sales courses on "the Salesman: Learning to Lie Effectively", and "Honesty, It's Just a Guideline", and "Taking People's Money... Yes, You can!", and the Bible ... well, not really, but you get the idea.   :)

So I let her make the "call".  I needed a phone card and so this was a good opportunity to go next door and give her a minute to "work the numbers".

Success!  She could do it!  The room would only be $600 for the week.  Of course power would be on top though.  I told her I would have to get Glen to call her.  Unfortunately, this was getting to be the only choice.

On my return to our place I stopped in at Re/Max - just to check.  You never know, maybe it would be cheaper to just buy a place.  After all, real estate has been dropping.

Well, Good News!

The agent at Re/Max had a place... TWO actually.  Well, she wasn't actually the agent, she was the receptionist.  But she did call an agent (they are apparently very busy) and came back with $80US per night, no "working the numbers", no strings attached and power is included!

So... of course I am interested.  We went over some details, like "cash only", and "US funds", the deposit, etc.  Seems more than reasonable... let's go see it.

(insert huge big giant 'ahaaa' right here)

It was nice, really nice.  A perfect apartment with all the stuff like a coffee maker, a toaster, a big bed and clean furniture, close to the pool and close to our place.  More importantly though, IT WAS THE SAME PLACE!

I don't mean similar - the pictures I saw at Honest Anne's pre-owned Dominican Apartamentos Emporium were pictures of this place - exactly.  I'll pay her Friday for it.

Karma!