Sunday, February 24, 2008

Looking to Rent - St. Joseph, MI

So we found out that finding an apartment to rent in St. Joe for the summer is easier said than done. For one, we are not ideal tenants. True, we don't smoke, we pay rent on time, and we don't play loud music. However, we're finding that we have two significant strikes against us:

1. We only want to live there mid-May to mid-August.
2. Riley is coming with us.


And something I didn't think about: St. Joe is a resort town! EVERYONE wants to be there for the summer. There are tons of vacation rentals, but we certainly don't need a new 2500 sq. ft., 3 bedroom, on-the-beach, with-a-pool, type of place. Not by a long shot. AND we don't want to pay vacation rental prices.

And then there are a couple of complexes that gave me the heeby-jeebies. You know the kind. And I don't mean to be snobby here AT ALL. But I don't want to live in a place that isn't both:

1. Clean
2. Safe

We've simply not found anything in between "way too nice" and "kind of shady." So the search is on! We did drive through a couple normal-looking neighborhoods and found some "for rent" signs around. I'll be making some calls this week. We don't need a large space, but would like to live in a place that doesn't smell in an area where we'd feel comfortable walking Riley around.

So...

If you know of anyone with rental property in Southwest Michigan, LET ME KNOW.

Also, I'm worried that I'm wrong in all of this. Is it being snobby to want a nice-ish place to live? A part of me thinks that white, middle class folks like me tend to insulate ourselves from the problems of poverty and hunger and homelessness by choosing to live in areas where that stuff doesn't happen as much. I think it is awesome when middle/upper class people intentionally live with and serve underprivileged folks. What an awesome way to demonstrate the love of Christ. And when I read about the life of Jesus it seems like he was often intentionally spending time with and serving the poor. Shouldn't I try to be like that?

I don't know what is the right thing to do, honestly.

3 comments:

Short Stop said...

We're praying that God leads you to the perfect place!

BTW, we may have to come visit you this summer! ;)

Jenni S. said...

I'm certain that if you're prayerful about it, God will lead you to a place where you'll have His peace, regardless of the neighborhood. If you look for that, everything else will fall into place. I'll be praying for your search!

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.