When you first move into a new home, whether you are renting or buying it, there are always unexpected discoveries that were not evident when you signed your mortgage papers, or your lease agreement. With a home purchase, you are entitled to a home inspection and a walk-through, but these do not reveal everything about the home. A rental situation puts the tenant in a rushed situation. The landlord or property manager is often reserved and may have several other people wanting to view the same property. Many landlords require background checks and application fees, assuming the applicant is already guilty of something before being proven innocent.
You can find out many things about an area before moving there, such as average temperatures and rainfall, the proximity of pedophiles, the nearby schools, parks, shopping, and many other statistics. There are always surprises; however, once you have unpacked your boxes. In the place where I am currently living, the plumbing was connected wrong in the kitchen sink. Hot water is on the right and cold water is on the left. This confuses me frequently, causing me to waste water unnecessarily. Sometimes, after you have moved into a new place, you discover that your neighbor plays his music really loudly. If you live in an apartment complex, you may find that the neighbor above you has noisy children that use the sofa as a diving board onto the floor. Another neighbor may have a dog, or several dogs, that bark incessantly. If you are buying your own home, your next door neighbor might like to mow his lawn at 6:00 am on Sunday mornings, or host parties lasting until dawn. By the same token, you might have great neighbors who become lasting friends.
Sometimes you discover structural problems within a home, or broken windows, or plumbing problems. There may be damage left by a previous renter that was never repaired. The smoke that I encountered in the first place I rented here in Hot Springs, was not immediately detectable. It did not help that I had rented it from 1,100 miles away without the advantage of viewing it beforehand. The next place I moved into, as I have already described, offered me little improvement other than the fact that it was close to my work and it was smoke-free. It has taken me weeks to clean it. Fortunately, making a house into a home is something that comes naturally to me, so I have made it at least somewhat comfortable. There are several things about this place that are now causing me to have “renter’s remorse”. The ac/heater unit was not working when I moved in. The landlady told me she would order a new one and borrowed a space heater for me to use in the interim. It was still cold here in March – and in April – and even in May. It was 2 ½ months before she finally delivered on that promise! I asked for screens for my two windows in the middle of March, which should not have been missing to begin with. I was told that she was coming out to measure them weeks later, and that they had been ordered, but it is now 3 months later and I still have no screens.
Frustrations are part of our modern life. We depend on other people to keep their word, but often they do not. Quite often people will appear to be truly friendly, kind, and honest; but once the sale has been made, or once they have your money, or once you are locked into a contract, they change like Jekyll and Hyde. Until all people learn to be kind, to be honest, and to live in integrity, there will be tensions. Our responsibility is to accept that other people will let us down – sometimes unintentionally and sometimes purposefully. We do not need to start wars when other people disappoint us. We can bless them, or pray for them. We can accept a situation, try to change a situation, or leave the situation. These are our choices. They are our only choices if we want to bring peace into our lives and into the world.
