When we first got there we looked up things in the paper, on the internet, and had friends who live there make contacts for us. We would find a place and then that place would already have paying renters. Then we would find another place and people would have applications in to rent it. We were told to be bold while looking for a place. We called this older lady who had discussed renting with another couple, but the couple didn't put any money down or anything on the place, and the lady told them she would hold it for a few days while she waited for their response to if they wanted it. We called that same lady up and told her we would give her another $50 dollars if she would rent it to us that night, we begged and pleaded, but to no avail: she wanted to keep her word.
We decided to go to a city just outside of Grand Junction. There we found a nice little Condo, it was under our first budget by a little, and our second budget by a lot. So we drove to the renting company and got an application. We decided to fill out the application there and turn it in. So we did that and then left to get some food. While we were at the store the renting place called back and said that another person was putting an application in along with a holding deposit (guaranteeing the place to her if she qualified). So we quickly drove back to the office to pay a refundable holding deposit also, $150. We got there and wrote out a check right before the other lady finished her application and paid the deposit. The funny thing is that we hadn't even seen the inside of the place yet, but we wanted to be sure to get the condo if we liked it. After putting down the holding deposit we got a call from the man in charge who would show us the condo. So we drove over there and took a look. It was great, in good condition, and cheap. :) So we told him we wanted it, all we had to do now was qualify. He told us that he would call us that day to let us know if we qualified. He also told us there was someone else who put the holding deposit in at the same time so it wasn't guaranteed to go to us. Luckily a few hours later he called us back and told us it was ours if we wanted it. We told him yes! So we have a place. It's got 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, washer/dryer hookups, and a kitchen with a range, a fridge, and a dishwasher. We don't need that many rooms, but since it was cheaper by far than anything else we had seen, plus under our budget we thought it would be good. So...we have a place!!!
