Apartment Search Gone Sour

I just relocated to Evanston from Phoenix, AZ and went through the whole process of searching for a decent place to live. I'm a single mom and moved out here without a job so I know it can be tough. I would go through an apartment finder company in your situation. They know the landlords and can tell you whose laid back and who's not. It is tough filing suit about discrimination because it can be tough to prove. In the meantime I went through apartmentpeople.com. You can search by neighborhood, price, prets ect...their phone number is ###-###-#### And it's free. You tell them what your looking for and they will take you out to a number of places to look. Most of the time you wont even meet the landlord you just start the process with them. Which is nice. Also go to Greatschools.net and put in the address your interested in moving to and you can check out the schools in the neighborhood to make sure it's a great fit for your children. Hope this helps.

Please don't take this the wrong way, because I absolutely do not mean for any of this to come off as harsh or sarcastic...BUT

Any agency or person who is hesitant to rent to you because you have children should be a big huge red flag to RUN the other way. As others have mentioned, it absolutely is illegal to discriminate because of children and Cook county does have pretty good laws/regulations and advocacy for this sort of thing.

But really, do you want to waste your time with a landlord who is going to reluctantly rent to you and be retaliatory towards you perhaps because of your kids? Imagine all the things that he/she could find that are 'going wrong' with your place and make your life a living hell because of the kids (even though they are angels). I know it might be tough, but hang in there and try to find a place/landlord that is understanding of your situation.

As for the not-so-kid-friendly places - call 311 and ask for information on how to report those landlords/agencies. That is one of the many things your tax dollars fund 311 for (if you live in the city).

Best of luck to you - and I agree with the woman from Coldwell Banker - get on the road to home ownership. There are many caring Realtors out there who truly do understand your situation and want to help.

There is a law prohibiting disrimination based on familial staus. There is some leeway for owner occupied 4 unit dwellings or less but I still don't think they're allowed to discriminate especially if they were to put it in print. I think the limit is 2 per bedroom, so you shouldn't have a problem. I don't know where you're from but if you wanted I could do a search on condos & see if they're in the same price range as renting. I'm a Realtor with Coldwell Banker & I would be your buyer representation if you were interested so you wouldn't have to deal with this (not to mention all the benefits of home ownership.) Please call me if you have any question @ ###-###-####. Sincerely,
L. C
Mom of a 19 month old girl, Antonia.
P.S. I also know many lawyers who specialize in real estate & the fair housing laws.

There is a law. If you're in Chicago you can contact the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law - they have a fair housing division. In the northern suburbs there's Hope Fair Housing Center and Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs. There are a number of other organizations you can contact if you live elsewhere. Try googling fair housing chicago or something like that.

Good luck! I.

I hope you have found a new home for you and your babies. I too was searching and did in fact try Apartment people. They seemed great and very prof but then I started noticing that the speech was similar from all the reps (i had 3 appts) and I asked the last guy how come the responses were the same. He very honestly stated that they could only say what they were trained to say and that even if the customer asked about safety, they couldn't comment on safety of the apartment or neighborhood it was in. They could just say how "great" the apartment was. Are you kidding me! I was using them bcuz I too am a single M. of a tot and I wanted a reputable org to recommend a safe place. I can rent blindly on my own!

you don't say where you live, but Chicago and Cook County have pretty comprehensive laws against discrimination, including familial status. that said, I'm not sure if there aren't limits on how many people can live in an apartment of a certain size. If you live in Cook County, go to cookcountygov.com and look for the department of human rights. For Chicago it's the Commission on Human Relations.