She's not going to change. Cut your losses ASAP, get her to move out, and then you can move on.

If the entire contract process went smoothly I wouldn't worry too much about picking up, cleaning, etc. ... but my experience was that at every "walk through" (our buyer did 5 of them) more and more things were nitpicked, griped about, negotiated, etc. If I had it to do all over again, I would say yes to one right before closing and NO NO NO to all the rest. After all, the house is still your property, you still live there and the walk throughs can be disruptive, and one final, informal walk through to ensure the property is still in the agreed upon condition is generally all that's necessary or required by the contract (from my experience). BTW, I was there for every single excruciating "walk through" (except the time our buyer chose to come measure for her curtains when we were having a back up open house -- we had said "no" to her coming to do so the day before so I guess she saw her opportunity and took it) and I have never been so uncomfortable, defensive, or felt so out of place in my own home in my life. Of course, by that point in our process the buyer had shown what a you-know-what she was, so YMMV. UGH *shudder* never again

My girlfriend is getting pretty down about the search and is starting to think that she will not be able to find a house that is even livable. We visited another house today with her agent that was quite a bit more expensive and smelled like someone had died in there with their cats. She makes a little above the median household income for our area but cannot afford even the lowest of starter homes. There are over 1 thousand homes on the mls in our zipcode but only 30 in her price range and that inludes many that she can't justify in her budgeting but would be approved for and "fixers" (which should say someting like "fixer" or "as is" in the agent accessable portion of the listing) that don't qualify for traditional bank loans. It does not make any sense to me- who is living in all these houses? Do they get to eat too? Maybe looking at a house that may foreclose? Go to the link below, it allows you to look at foreclosures in your area. There may be other sites, you'll have to look around. One person at another site I go to is building a Katrina Cottage from Lowes. From what he says they are pretty inexpensive, he still has to find land. I've asked if he has a ballpark figure of what it's costing but haven't heard back. The best way for her to find a place is to do a lot of serious looking. She should sign up at the major sites as well as local agent sites, we have a few here that aren't associated with a big name. Their listings may not show on realtor.com for what ever reason. Here's a list of a few Caldwell Banker Century 21 Craigslists - she needs to click on her state ReMax Exit Realty Foxtons Realtor.com main search - click advanced search to get more options Prudential Fox & Roach Weichert NJ MLS Yahoo Real estate - even though it is Prudential, you still need to sign up independently. You can check foreclosures there also. It's a pretty decent list. You can also find an agent through their Home Gain. Also check google for for sale by owner in your area. In my area all of the real estate magazines that I get free at the supermarket are online. If you want to post the state you are in, there may be other agencies she can sign up at. Make an account at all of the sites. Put in your search criteria then save the search. You will get emails when new listings come on as well as price drops. Every site is different and in order to find a house, you may have to sign up at all because sites like C21 do not get picked up at other sites, nor do they show anything but their own. My favorite site is Remax for ease of use. I actually save all homes I'm interested in from other places in my Remax home finder. I will copy the MLS # searching at Remax. Here is a link that might be useful: Yahoo real estate

After selling our home last year, we returned to the Northern Virginia area and decided to rent for a while. We are now in our second rental house. Price negotiability really depends on your market. In my area, house rents are all over the map. There is definitely room to negotiate but it takes work and patience. Take the advice of the prior posters. But be prepared for rejection. If your new area experienced a big run-up during the boom or was an area with a lot of investment properties, many owners are trying to cover their mortgages. Makes sense. However, it's unrealistic for many owners to cover their mortgages and other costs if the area saw rapid price inflation w/o commensurate increases in income. Rent is very sensitive to income and I've watched many houses sit on the rental market because they're overpriced. It's very hard for owner/investors to accept that they make get only 60-70% of their costs covered. I've negotiated the rents down by several hundred dollars/month on each of my houses. I've also been approached by owners I had talked to during my search who are now ready to meet my price...housing markets are a bit wacky now even if you're just interested in renting. The good news is that you're looking at the worst possible time for landlords w/o tenants. It's late fall/coming up on winter and most families have moved in and settled down until the spring/summer relocation season kicks in. You're in an excellent negotiating position. Be fair and you may find a landlord that will appreciate it. Also, please don't forget that a good rental agreement isn't just about price. The terms of your lease are equally important. My first landlords failed to sell their home so they rented it BUT wanted to keep it on the market with a lockbox for the entire term of the lease. Needless to say we walked. They came back hanging their heads and we negotiated a much better arrangement for us. Now, this will sound strange but I considered it pretty important. If renting from a private owner w/o the involvement of a property management company, run a credit check on the landlords. There are a lot of homeowners out there teetering on the brink and you don't want a foreclosure/eviction notice after you've gone to the expense and trouble of moving in. The real estate agent should be able to help you. There are owner/landlords who will try and intimidate you because you're a lowly renter. Don't fall for it. Stay your best assertive homeowning self and don't settle for less than you need. It pays to know average rents for various types of housing in your market. I had a real estate agent helping me with the first house. She was great. She found places for me to see, called owners with home for sale to see if they might be interested in renting, she had the rental statistics, and she was invaluable in negotiating a lease. There are a lot of accidental landlords in the market right now and they range from decent to just awful. Having a real estate professional helping you with the details of the lease can save you money and enhance your living experience. The agent did not pressure us to buy. She earns a small leasing commission from the landlord and also earns a potential future buyer...you. We sent our agent a giant gourmet basket of goodies as a thank you and she was thrilled. I could write a book on the subject of transitioning from homeowner to renter and will be happy to answer any questions you may have down the line. One more piece of advice. Before you begin looking, study the landlord/tenant law in your new area. Most states/counties now have online handbooks and it's best to know your rights and responsibilities upfront.