So a year is almost up here in our Hampton Rental home! Time just flies by...wish I had a pause button for life! We love our rental home....problem is it is 45 minutes to our new church....with no traffic!
We are separated from our church by bridges and an underwater tunnel! The dreaded tunnel traffic can be a beast! There is no emergency lane in the tunnel and so one little car breakdown will have you sitting in your car with the engine off for 30 minutes! Then at night after evening services sometimes there is road work ......so it takes us up to 1:15 to get home! To make matters worse my husband mainly works on the other side of the tunnel and we have one car so on Wednesdays he is doing a whole lot of driving! Also our rent is a little higher than what we wanted to pay.....we wanted to pay about $1,000/month. There are plenty of rentals out there for that price but...........we are not qualified to live there. Why are we not qualified you ask? My husband has a 770 credit score, we have deposit $ and an excellent rental history. We are unqualified because of God's blessing of 6 children! Last year when we arrived in Hampton with 5 kids we found a house similar to our home in Missouri and we applied for it and were denied! The reason being not enough square feet per person in the home! We tried to reason with the realtors that we had just sold a house that was 1200sqft in Mo. and we all fit perfectly, our children are all small (under 60 lbs) and we are very organized......they were not hearing it! I was upset because this would mean we have to spend more than necessary on rent each month! They brought out a measuring tape to the next few houses we looked at to measure the bedrooms! I couldn't believe it! The government has way too many regulations! We found a home that "fit" our family and it was $1400 a month.....it has been a blessing to live in such a nice townhome but we really wanted to find a place a little cheaper and a little closer by to the church! Chris went and looked at a 4 bedroom alittle closer to church and on the other side of the tunnel for only $1250 which is a good deal so prayerfully everything will work out there if not God is definitely teaching us to wait on Him!
This is copied from a Va government website telling the details of how many people can live in one house and the bedroom square foot required......I think it is ridiculous because you could have 3 sloppy hoarders living together in a 2,000 sqft house and still have health risks and fire concerns.....
How many people can live in a house?
The zoning ordinance (Article 2, Part 5) limits how many people can live in a single residence. In general:
- No more than one family, plus two renters, may live in one house.
- Or, no more than four unrelated people may live in one house.
However, the rules define that more than one person can live in a residence:
1. One family, which may consist of one person or two or more persons related by blood or marriage with any number of natural children, foster children, step children or adopted children and with not to exceed two roomers or boarders.
2. Two single parents or guardians with not more than a total of six of their dependent children, including natural children, foster children, step children or adopted children, functioning as a single housekeeping unit.
3. A group of not more than four persons not necessarily related by blood or marriage functioning as a single housekeeping unit.
4. A group residential facility.
5. Any group housekeeping unit which may consist of not more than 10 persons as may be approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
6. One person or two persons one of whom shall be elderly and/or disabled, and one or both of whom own the dwelling unit, plus one family, which may consist of one person or two or more persons related by blood or marriage, and with any number of natural children, foster children, step children or adopted children.
7. A bed and breakfast, as may be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
How much space is required in a home?
The county’s building code says bedrooms must be:
- 70 square feet for one person
- 100 square feet for two people
- 150 square feet for three people
8 comments:
Yeah it is ridiculous. I understand that there have to be some sort of rules to avoid too many unrelated people crowding into a place, but when it's a husband/wife/kids I have a harder time understanding.
So am I the only one that is paranoid my kids are too loud?! How often do you let your kids play in the yard throughout the day?
Maybe I'm super nosey...lol...but I've been wondering how your husband's new job has been coming since that's why you all moved out there. Is he still doing the insurance thing with your sister? He must be doing well because $1400 a month in rent is insane to me! So we obviously don't make a lot of money...lol
Thanks for the post! Hoping you all find the house God wants you in soon.....and us too!
Yes I think an exemption to the occupancy rule should be made when they are your own minor children! We live in a townhouse end unit and our next door neighbors are at work all day so no one is really bothered by us here....I can't imagine living in an apartment top floor though. $1400 is a lot of money we paid for the years rent up front with the money from our house sale. Rent is expensive it stinks!....I honestly do not check our finances anymore so I am not exactly sure how well the job is going...but I am pretty sure we do not make a lot of money...lol =)
That does seem kind of crazy. Although, I bet that the origins of the law was to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords in days gone by.
Elise it does seem that our government had rules to protect citizens and then they get misinterpreted years later to benefit the government not the people...=(.
It would be cheaper for you to buy. I am a single mother. I pay $2,100 a month mortgage and my house was $320k. I don't receive alimony or child support. Interest rates are low. Just buy. Don't throw your money away by renting.
Anonymous, that is good advice and praise the Lord for his provision for you as a single mom =); however my husband works commission only and no bank will loan to us until he has been at the same job for 2 years. So we have at least another year or renting to go before we find out how much of a mortgage we would qualify for =).
So it seems that the city zoning ordinance limits the number of children you can legally have by limiting the definitition of a family...am I reading that correctly?!?!
Yes the government is trying anyway they can to regulate population growth for some reason....lol.
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