Today RentalDiaries is joined by Air Force turned Space Force wife, Lauren Straub.  Lauren is a mom to eight amazing kids, and a bit of a moving connoisseur.  As a 15 year military wife, she has moved 12 times, picking up some rental experience along the way that she is here to share today.

In those 15 years and 12 moves we’ve been given the gift of seeing new places, meeting new folks, and learning new things. However, they most definitely haven’t been without enduring new battles, gaining more knowledge, tools in our tool belts and growing stronger in who we are.

Definitely!  Only a mere 38 months ago, we were anything but prepared for what we were walking into (figuratively and literally.) We were stationed at JBMDL in New Jersey and were heading south to Tampa, FL.

As any military spouse knows, orders can come fast. And when they come, you go.  Our family dynamic is very unique; one of our daughters is extremely medically fragile and homebound. Taking her places has not been a privilege we’ve had but we so look forward to the day where we can! There was no way for us to travel down to Florida prior to our move.  But we knew we needed to secure a home prior to our arrival due to the competitive market we were going into. 

Fortunately, the military world is small and we have friends in the area who graciously offered to go walk homes and FaceTime us during virtual walk throughs. After quickly “walking” many homes, we truly thought we found “our home” to rent. 

Driving over 1,000 miles in 2 vehicles, a big ole U-Haul behind one, all the munchkins (one who was 4 months old and exclusively breastfed), 2 big dogs, lots of hotels ….well, we were just ready to be HOME. We finally pulled up to our new rental and we were SO excited. That excitement quickly faded the second we walked in the doors. 

It was FILTHY. I can’t even describe the smell. It was rancid. There was literal poop smeared on walls. Bugs. I know we were in Florida but literally the biggest roaches I had ever seen … all in our house.  Shag carpet that was nearly folding over on itself in places due to needing stretched so badly. And that is just the beginning. I just knew it had to be a joke. We had to have walked into the wrong house…this wasn’t the same house that our friends walked through a month prior. But now it made a lot more sense. Our friends got access to the home the same way we did … the lockbox on the door. We had yet to actually meet a person in this process.  

Well, sadly, it wasn’t a joke. It was very real.  We went and bought every cleaning product known to man. Precious new neighbors volunteered their time/supplies to help. And we kept reaching out to the rental company….voicemail after voicemail, email after email.

I finally got ahold of a manager who told me (and I quote):  “Welcome to renting in Florida.  Pour some bleach and use some elbow grease.  Houses come as is.”

He said this but the contract we signed stated otherwise, and, tip number one: PAPER TRAIL.

To be honest, I am a TOTAL over-thinker. I analyze everything (Did I say too much? I should have given more details. Maybe I didn’t stress the importance enough? etc. etc.). I really had to have a plan for approaching our rental situation.

As a special needs mom, I’ve learned a humbling amount on how to overcome obstacles. One thing that has become a universal tool for me is the paper trail.

First, create a new folder in your email that is solely for the current house correspondence. Every email you send or receive will need to go in this folder.  I am the first one to have every intention of creating a paper trail, yet the same one who doesn’t because of my overthinking and not wanting to come out of the gates blazing.

That being said, feelings put aside – this is business, and the paper trail is everything. While this may be emotional for me being that my family is at stake…the other side of this contract is a business entity and their money revenue is at stake.

Verbals, unless recorded, can’t be proven. Every state has their own recording laws (check your state laws before you even think about recording without someone knowing.)

However, in this day and age, email and texts are often our primary way of communicating.  This can work in our favor when it comes to having an easily documented correspondence trail with landlords.

Being that we’re human, it’s easy to forget that each and every text (sent and received) and email (sent and received) is an official record of evidence.  That means keeping with the facts and your lease, not your emotions.

I am a firm believer in both verbal and written communication; I called and spoke with the company and then followed up with an email after the phone conversation,

Hi Joe, 

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me this afternoon regarding issues we’re having with our new home (1234 Sesame Street). Just to recap our conversation, and to help both of us remember down the line, I’m going to touch on what we spoke about… (State the key points. Attach pictures in this email.)

Our time in Florida was extremely challenging. We moved 3 official times in 35 months and additionally moved into 2 ‘hospitality’ homes and 2 long term hotels as well. Our family endured many battles in that time. We didn’t walk out unscathed.  We did however walk out refined and with lessons learned and earned.

Our PCS to the Pittsburgh area came in the middle of this pandemic and, while there have been many barriers to navigate, we can’t help but know just how blessed we are!!!

You bet your britches!!! I pray no one ever has to endure what our family went through. If doing something SO SIMPLE as sharing a brief story helps others avoid the same heartbreak…I’ll do it again and again and again!

I’m truly honored to share a tiny bit of our story with y’all! We often overestimate what we can accomplish in a year but vastly underestimate what we can accomplish in five years. Only problem is that most quit after a couple years when the return doesn’t seem to match the investment. 

But that’s not your story or song. 

You believe in something so big that you keep pushing  … especially in the valleys when 99% would just give up. I’m so excited to see what you create and bring to the world with your vision and passion!

Thank you for allowing me to share in this!