Ok, so i've been checking up on this site from time to time and i have to say i'm becoming a bit disenfranchised. I am one of the original 1000 sign ups and that's cool, and i do want to help zubby grow but i'm beginning to wonder WHAT i'm helping grow. The site has been so VERY VERY slow for the last month or so to the point where i kinda hate being on it and checking on things. I've tried many times to write to randy without a single response, there is no activity on the first 1000 sign up group which would say there is any progress going on at zubby....it just seems that randy dissapeared and the site is still running rather badly.
I cannot and will not promote this site if it continues to run this way because i cannot ruin my reputation online as a person who recommends sites that are not that great. I love what zubby could become but unfortunately its not even near there yet....where are you randy? whats going on????
- Dani'el
Tags: Annoyed Randy Zubby
Hey -
I've been going through a really tough time in the last month or so. I thought it would be appropriate to have my first blog be about what has happened, the transition in me and my family's life, and where we are going in the future.
So here is the whole story of how we are about to be HOMELESS. So, first I should describe my family. To an onlooker we don't look like a family. We don't fit the defition of the "average" American family. We are 5 adults and two children. Of the five adults, there are two couples and one single adult. The two couples are Jalid and Eh'mi and me and my partner D'n (the two children are his). Then there is Tam'ra. So, right off...yes we are a completely radical idea...multiple adults making up a family but that is what we are. We are also, unfortunately...renters at this point in our lives.
So we decided one day that we were tired of wasting our lives renting. We wanted to...own...not only that, we wanted to create our own house. Not only that, we wanted to not have to work as much anymore because there was too much we wanted with life to be stuck at dead end jobs until we were 60. So we had and have decided to buid our own house using natural materials and create essentially an eco-farm, growing eventually all we need to survive and raising all the animals we need for food and clothes and such. If you want to know what we will be building the house out of, you can google "cob buildings".
So that is all good and fine. We decided to all move into together (as at the time we were in two seperate houses for no real good reason except that we didn't have enough room) and start saving money to get a large down payment to buy our land and create our house. We guessed this would take us a few years being that we all make a bit when combined. Unfortunately, in order to save a lot we boarded up into a 3 bedroom duplex...It was cozy but it was working. Now, D'n was coming back from being deployed in afghanistan. At the time it was just me and Tam'ra living there. Then we asked the landlords, remember this is a 3 BEDROOM HOUSE...if it was cool if D'n and his two children moved in. That is two kids sharing a room, tam'ra with her own, and mine and D'n's room. To our complete dismay and confusion, the landlords decided that was TOO many people....we didn't even mention that jalid and eh'mi had actually been living there as well for a month...so it was really jalid and eh'mi in one room, kids in the other, and the three other adults in the third room. Again, cozy but working out fine.
Now, through this experience we have learned the law quite well. According to both federal and Oregon state law (the state we are in obviously) a landlord cannot make a living situation or rental agreement more restrictive than 2 people per bedroom (and federal law i believe adds one person per living room)...so according to federal law we could legally have 7 people in the house (which we actually did)...but they rejected our idea based on only have 5 people...the legal limit for a meer TWO BEDROOM.
So we had to move. We found a four bedroom house in a near by town that we hate. We were excited because the place had a huge yard, enough rooms, and they had no problems with ALL of us AND our pets (one big dog, two cats, three ferrets, various fish and such). We soon realized they agreed to have us because they were desperate for renters and the place was a complete pile of...well, you know. In only the three months we lived here, starting about 2 weeks into living here (as i'm currently typing it in this said house)....the plumbing messed up (how does raw sewage backing up into all showers and toilets sound? oh...and pouring out the BOTTOM of the toilets and into the HALLWAY)...the electricity was messed up...the roof was leaking, the sink was leaking and to top everything off, there was mold growing EVERYWHERE because the house is constantly damp naturally (we think the house was not equipped with a dampness barrier underneath near the foundation).
Now, its important to note that landlords did NOTHING. They tried to fix the plumbing themselves but they rarely ever showed up when they said they would, it took them a full week to come in the first time when we had no use of showers, or the washing machine...and it wasn't until about a MONTH AND A HALF later that they agreed to get it paid to be fixed. Nothing else has been fixed. So we put in our notice and later learned that these kind of things are illegal...its illegal what they are doing but guess what? There is no where to turn....no one can help a renter in this situation. Tried calling the housing authority..they said we aren't section 8, they couldn't help us. We called the health department, they said " we can't help you, you aren't a restaurant". We could not and cannot find anyone that would help us. There are no rights for renters even though there are supposed laws that are meant to protect us.
So we started looking for a place to live and we started noticing a very bad trend. EVERYONE was denying us based on our NUMBERS again! Now, we are looking at 4 BEDROOMS! and 7 people is too much (when the legal limit would be 9!!!!!!). So finallyl we find a place to live which is actually a 3 bedroom owned by a company that knows the law (and stated it) and will have us. That's where we are now...throoughout all this experience we decided...screw being renters because no one will ever accept us in THEIR house...so we are going to buy our own...we realized with our combined incomes that we actually make almost 70,000 a year AFTER TAXES! Why NOT buy a house? when the money we will be putting into the mortage, unlike our rent, will be an investment, not money to put in other peoples pockets! So we are going to buy a house..later sell it or rent it and create our dream home.
I guess my point is that there are no rights for us. Renters have no real rights and if they do no one will help enforce them. Not only that, but there is not enough love in the world...We were an unacceptable idea of a family to all these people...it wasn't our numbers..it was the IDEA of us that made them reject us...if it had been a couple and 5 kids, they would taken us. But no...we don't make sense to them...we break their minds...how can a family be that? well it can...we are a family.
Thank you for listening to my rant. I'm going to go now. Feel free to comment if you wish! Thank you.
- Dani'el
