Need help finding place to rent

I have an older relative that needs to find a place to rent ASAP. They have to be out of their house by Aug. 28. They've been searching for weeks with their realtor and other relatives but can't find anything that will work. They've even tried looking on Craigslist. Does anyone know if there's some special website or agency that might have more rental listings than what's on the average real estate websites? We've scoured the internet looking for apartments, houses, etc. and we keep finding the same ones which won't work.

Here's what they require in a place to rent which is making it difficult to find anything:
wheelchair accessibility
accepts at least two cats and a small dog
dishwasher
washing machine
dryer
cannot be in a bad part of town
Has at least three bedrooms
Has at least 1.5 bathrooms
must be less than $2000 per month
is located within a 15 mile radius of where they currently live

We just cannot find anything that meets all of that criteria. There's got to be some way to find a place. As it is, it looks like I'm gonna have to temporarily keep three of their cats until they can find a place to buy. They can't buy anything until October which is when they should get their loan. I figure they probably won't find anything to buy until after January. The next several months should be fun.

Does your city or county have departments that assist seniors or physically challenged folks? Or, since one needs wheel-chair accessibility, does the hospital where their physician has privileges have a department that assists in locating resources?

That can be tough - I know in my area finding something close to what you're looking for would probably be impossible.

Good luck!

Good ideas. I'll have to look into those things. Thanks.

I had an idea earlier today. They should just look into every apartment in the area rather than those that are just advertised on the internet. There's probably a good chance that there are vacancies in some of the apartments that aren't advertised, for whatever reasons.

I think apartments should let new people bring in their existing pets even if they go over the allowed limit, as long as they don't violate breed or weight restriction rules. Everyone else should have to follow the rules though. Although, I don't know why most places only allow two pets. There's no difference between having two cats and five cats. Now dogs are a different story because of the barking and size.

And I thought there was some law about places such as apartments being handicap accessible. There's some new apartment buildings we were looking at and a wheelchair won't even fit through one of the doorways.

You can look on http://www.city-data.com/forum/ You will have to create a screen name a post asking for help, but you might find something there.

Originally Posted by lilblu

We just cannot find anything that meets all of that criteria. There's got to be some way to find a place.

Click to expand...

I cant imagine that you will either...that almost sounds like a list made up to prevent a place from being found - compromise on a couple of those items (maybe a large 2 bedroom, or a 20 mile radius; obv the wheelchair accessability is a must) and look again - see whats out there thats close but not perfect. If you find a place that fulfills everything but one or two, maybe your friend will be willing to lower their standards a bit because the situation demands it....once in the less desireable place, they will have more time and ability to search for that "dream" place fulfilling all criteria.

We just moved and had to compromise on a few of our standards but we are pretty happy.

If you want to find a "good area" look on your city's website or good "(city name) crime free complexes" and that should pull up results. Those units have standards to meet for crime free residents. The list may even pull up how often police had to come, etc.

Have you tried - rent.com ?

Also, as mentioned above, look into disability centers or elderly centers and they should have people who can assist or resources to direct you to. I do believe most, if not all, apartment complexes have to have a certain number of units handicap accessible. Though, whether those units are available is another story.

I second contacting local Commission on Aging. Or if local senior center in town they should have info.