In September of 2024 with a fifty-day deadline, I headed back to Tucson to find a rental.
I stayed at a different airbnb owned by my potentially-future real estate agent and began my search.
My chemical-sensitivity requirements were: no carpet, no gas appliances, no mold/mildew or musty stink, no air fresheners, no candles, small, no new construction or remodeling due to chemical off-gassing, nice neighbors, with a washer and internet connection. I was hoping for under $1,000 a month, but willing to consider as high as $1,300 a month. I spent a week in Tucson with appointments all day long. I saw quite a few that were being remodeled but didn't trust they would be offgassed and safe by the time I needed to live in them. By the last day, I was driving to and from appointments CRYING in disappointment afraid I'd be homeless by the end of the month. My requirements were impossible and I was running out of time and options.
Around the third day of my trip, I was horribly sick. At first I thought it was because of the exposures of the various rentals, but realized it was the airbnb! Something was wrong with the portable air conditioner which was contaminating the air. (Later I did some research and discovered air conditioning created really bad indoor air quality!) I spent the last days of my trip sleeping in the bathtub as the bathroom was the only safe space. What a nightmare! This illness also compromised my ability to assess the rental spaces.
I found one apartment that might work. It was described as a casita, but it wasn't. It was advertised as 300 square feet, it wasn't. I was told the shared wall was sound-proof and smell-proof, it wasn't. It was advertised as $855 a month with all utilities and internet service, it wasn't. Then the 81-year old landlady said something that caught my attention...she was sensitive to perfumes and fresh paint. This gave me hope! At least she wouldn't poison me!
During the showing I noticed the walls had not been painted although the advertisement said it was. I was happy about this lack of toxic paint smell, however, there were holes in them, patching, scratches, the colors were painted into the white ceiling. It was ugly. Because of the risk of new paint, I offered to paint it for her before I moved in using low VOC paint. I'm great at painting. She said absolutely NOT and she was sure I'd throw it all over and make a mess. She almost didn't rent it to me for fear I would paint on the sly. Who turns down a free paint job? She continued to harass me about painting even after I moved in.
By the time it came to sign the lease, the landlady raised the price twice first from $855 to $955 and then to $995. She constantly tried to gaslight me into believing, "That price was what it was advertised for." She deleted the listing without deleting the "Price History" which clearly shows the lower price. (She eventually deleted the "Price History", too, when I called her on her lies!) "You can always back out," she kept repeating. She didn't realize I didn't have any other options. She also said it came with all utilities and internet, but later she changed her mind. She said it came with a washer if I sign a one-year lease, again, she changed her mind again. Later I found out the walls are neither scent-proof or sound-proof, and the space was much smaller than 300 square feet. She lied about nearly everything!
I signed the lease thinking I can do this for one year just to get me moved and in Tucson. I dreaded moving into an apartment managed by a compulsive, pathologically lying psychopath. I was no longer excited about moving to Tucson. I didn't have a choice. I imagined the worse...
And the worst came true...
To be continued.
