Room for rent

Monday, January 22, 2007

By Ben Cannon

With the days of more stereotypical skibumdom (couch surfing, regular weeknight partying, and general dirtbagedness) behind me, I had to find a place in Jackson that would suit a transition into a more (ahem) professional lifestyle. That said, and well familiar with the fact that its hard to find housing in Jackson, I prepared myself for the worst and began imagining ways to cope with too many young people inhabiting too small a space with empty beer vessels as an accepted decorating motif.  
Coming down from Pinedale, a place with enough housing woes of its own, I began a few weeks ago the quest for nailing down a room to rent.  Even one day after new rental classified listings came out, I found, everything within my price range had been taken.  
One young woman did call me back, though, to explain that she needed someone to take over the lease of her one bedroom apartment.  For some reason, it seemed, though there was plenty of interest in the place, this girl had gone out of the way for my name to make it to the top of her landlord's short list of renter-candidates.  She even emailed me an application that asked for, among many other details, my social security and bank account numbers, as well as a description of my more recent jobs.  
I realized that I was being screened as a prospective tenant to ensure I was no longer the ski bum I might at one time have been. Well, that one fell through because some other young professional got there with a check before me. 
In the meantime, I was offered a comfortable and relatively clean couch to slumber on.  One of the guys who lived in the condo I was crashing in told me about a four-bedroom house around the block that boasted "a keg-erator and a pool table."  It sounded like it might have worked out well.  But, a part of me was relieved when the room was taken and I had to settle on a quiet, basement-level bedroom and bath at a price that is manageable, if not cheap.  
Anyhow, everyone who is at some transient or pre-stage to becoming a local has his or her own story about finding rental property in Jackson, Wilson, Alpine, over-the-pass, or wherever.  
And for those thinking about making that next big step into home ownership, check out this week's cover story of the Planet’s print edition on affordable housing in Jackson Hole. Pick it up on Wednesday.
Not ready to buy?  Befriend some guys with a keg-erator. 
PERMALINK:
Room for rent | Planet JH News Article: General Article

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