So I'm supposed to 'get back to living your life' - as the professionals who handle all these fire, insurance and renting things say - and I'm with the pets at a furnished, wall-to-wall carpeted townhouse with a lot of stairs because I said I have pets and no one will rent to me. Finally someone said, we will for $$$$$. I have the insurance coverage to fork over the $$$$$, and my dogs have been outside for 50 nights, and I've said 'yes' to every house that didn't have visible repairs made with duct tape and string. Problem solved when the insurance company said OK.
No, problem temporarily solved. 30 days later, I'm living my life at work because that's where I think I should be Monday - Friday, and I get a call from my short-term company who collects the $$$$$. The complex where the townhouse entered my unit and found pets. I have to go.
Even though I did have a foster cat named Keyser Soze in the past, I'm not a criminal mastermind that can disappear after walking out of a police station with my SUV full of pets and their supplies, so I had a reality check with - I told you I have pets and other people in the complex have dogs (some also have 2) and other people have cats.
Not good enough, even though she admitted I had honestly rented and fully disclosed my pet head count when renting from them. It's not them, it's the complex - and they hadn't thought they entered units 'at will'. Yeah, I don't like this 'at will' thing either. They didn't even lock the door when they left. It was closed, but not locked.
Meanwhile, I can't repair and move home because the insurance company stubbornly thinks my house was a teardown with boarded up windows before the fire, so they're saying they're not paying to 'improve' the dwelling by replacing windows. They also denied my request to winterize the house (drain the water from the pipes) because they don't think New Jersey ever has temperatures below freezing. And if I do any work on the house they haven't pre-authorized, my fight for windows and drywall for where I used to have walls goes up in smoke.
It seems common sense to prevent pipes from freezing in an unheated house, but there's a lot of people from Sandy that either used their own savings, credit cards or an initial settlement amount, and they started to get some work done because their houses were being taken over by mold. Their insurance companies - home, flood and FEMA - then said any repair to their damaged house invalidated their outstanding claims.
After the lack of action on the part of the corporate, short-term housing experts last time, I started making calls on Day 3 of the Hunt for Somewhere to Live Part Deux. Within an hour, I was speaking to a real estate agent who emailed me photos and showed me a house that evening. I said 'yes' again, and since he already explained my situation to the homeowner he was ready with a lease. I signed with the caveat that I need approvals from the insurance company because common sense seems alien to them, along with anyone giving a flying rat's ass that I will have nowhere to live again.
It's now Day 7 of the Search Part Deux - legally I'm now in a mess because the insurance company didn't give a 'yes' or 'no' within that 72 hour refusal period of the contract. I'm antsy, and didn't settle for leaving voice mail so I kept picking up the phone and dialing. What's the hold up? Am I moving in 3 days or not? Clock is ticking. I need someplace to live. If I can't live there, I want them finding me someplace because that's their profession not mine. I know I'm a difficult case because my pets did survive the fire and I'm a cold-hearted bitch unwilling to cooperate and put them into a shelter (they have no clue about the definition of 'No Kill'). My pets are part of my family, and since I don't look for attractive pets they'll be euthanized if I go along with the professional advice on how to 'get back to living my life'.
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