Note: this is a long post, totaling 15,546 characters. I've included a summary paragraph at the top for convenience. The next few paragraphs afterward detail more about the situation. The list of 16 reasons for leaving where I'm at follow.
Summary:
When I made the realization that there wasn't going to be any reasonable chance to get a new place and my current place has a mountain of problems with it (they're thieves, maintenance is lacking, bugs and lizards get in, overpriced Internet, badly run state government, among 12 other lesser reasons), I knew that I was going to have to leave Florida (FL). I have a friend in Oregon (OR) willing to take me in. It's about the longest possible crosscountry move possible, but there are a good number of advantages with OR versus FL. In fact, I was thinking of OR instead of FL when I first moved. The move, however, has a lot of difficulties and unknowns to address. I basically have until March or April until I have no choice but to move out, but if I can make it to the end of the lease, that would be better.
In depth:
So, you may be wondering what's put me into a depression lately. Seasonal stuff is part of it, but only a small part. The primary culprit has to do with my living situation. As you may recall, I set up the Patreon in hopes of being able to stay. I moved to Florida in hopes of getting a much better quality of life, but then covid-19 came along and ruined everything, made worse by one of the worst countries to live in for handling this, having a government that isn't doing anywhere near enough to get covid-19 under control and labor laws here are so lackluster they're among the worst compared to the rest of the developed world so you can't get stability.
However, there are a mountain of problems with this apartment complex that I've been trying to move out of shortly after moving here. From these problems, I'm dead set on getting out of here, but there's a problem with doing so. First, because I don't have a decent enough income source (I did at the time, before covid-19 struck), I wouldn't be able to qualify for any apartment. I would fail to meet the 3x income requirement for a place that costs a very low $500 a month, far lower than anything available. A roommate may be an option, but I can forget about that option as no one can or wants to move in with me that I know and trust enough. Until the masks and covid-19 go away, I'm effectively unemployable, so I've given up on the job hunt as employers are more than willing to violate the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) than to give me any chance at a job.
I'm dead set on leaving this apartment for the 16 reasons listed below so this is my last year here. I would also rather not rent any more either if I can. Without an income source and a good chunk of spare change, I can't really get a small house or a condo or the like of my own. I may have the credit (somewhere in the upper 700s to low 800s on the 250-900 scale), I just don't have the income stability.
When I was first moving, out of ND, I was almost at a toss up between OR and FL. Each had their own pros and cons and they almost balanced out. FL had regular access to swimming where I could eventually get my own boat. OR had the mountains and close proximity to a lot of somewhat close or close friends (by compatibility and mutual interests). I ultimately chose FL because of hoped-for regular access to swimming, but I just had to get an apartment that's so out of the way of everything (see reason number 7) so as to not make that possible. I knew I wasn't going to have any friends I could turn to and I hoped to be able to get some, but I've pretty much given up on that (see reason number 6). I have a lot of somewhat close or even close friends (by compatibility and mutual interests) in Oregon so I'd have regular access to it. Of course, with covid-19 going on, that will have to be put on hold until covid-19 goes away.
I've started coming up with plans for how I'm going to move out. I have a friend in OR who is willing to take me in and help me get back in order again. With covid-19 denying me access to things, it's going to be very hard. On top of that, eating along the way and especially going to the bathroom are going to be very difficult. On top of this, it'll also be during the winter or spring, depending on how long I can hold out. This means I have to keep to the south to avoid the freezer. I also have more belongings and my car is just too full so I'll have to either get a trailer (and get a trailer hitch installed), or, if my 2017 Chevy Cruze is unable to handle that much weight (I know I'll likely have to take it slower, like doing 60-65 in a a 70 zone), I'd have to get a UHaul truck or similar. I have to do all this while the going is still good, on the finances that is. Having to tap into credit and being unable to pay it off in full is the last thing I want to be doing as that would cost me immensely more. I can't sell stuff to get rid of some things - access to the post office is denied due to covid-19 and some things are just too big to ship.
There are a good number of advantages to OR versus FL. There are mountains around that I could hike up and around (once I ever get my fitness back up again). Swimming may be more limited, so I'd have to adapt to cold water swimming if I'm to be able to do it more regularly. The friend willing to take me in can even benefit from me, after a few initial hurdles are figured out. The biggest advantage they'd have is a car and the ability to go wherever, whenever, especially if it's farther away. Both FL and OR have about equal climate advantages.
Perhaps, in the future, after a few more years, I could move back here to FL again. Once Baricanna and perhaps smaller stuff are released and worked, I'd be set. If I could, I'd like to get something more in the Miami Metro area.
The 16 problems with my apartment:
What's wrong with my apartment? There's a long list of things, ordered from strongest to weakest impactful (past number 1, a reference to how close it is to the previous for impactfulness is above it):
1. They're thieves! They charge me for not having renter's insurance even though I have had it continuous since moving in, and they're too lazy to check the policy number. Same policy number, same company, same building in focus, same individual who has the policy, same everything where the only thing changing is the expiration date being moved a year later. This has taken about $300 from me that they still haven't refunded and refuse to refund. Then they brought on this Credit Booster thing and effectively "stole" $5 every month, forcing this unnecessary charge on residents for no reason whatsoever. It's not really stealing in this case, but it's an unwarranted expense that didn't need to be tacked on to every resident. On top of that, they stopped taking money orders for payment and force you to have to use online services and there's a $11.95 fee, so it's just another money grab to secretly raise their prices. I counter the fee by paying for more than 1 months' worth of rent at once as the amount is always fixed so it becomes more like $5.98 per month instead.
2 (close). Maintenance is almost nonexistent. For about 3 years now, I've tried getting them to fix this door which I thought was the source of where the bugs get in from. They'd just do random various things and it doesn't help any. The one time I had a problem with my toilet not filling up, they actually fixed it - that was about 2 1/2 years ago. My kitchen sink drains very slowly and max strength drain cleaner doesn't fix this. The bathtub's drain plug doesn't work. There's a hole of about 3/8 inch directly above the bathroom mirror. The door is crooked and has a lot of gaps around it. The bathtub faucet is lacking silicone sealant. There are a lot of gaps around the air conditioner. The bathtub faucet constantly leaks - it takes about 24-48 hours to fill 4 quarts' worth of container. I put it in a container and use that to flush the toilet with (thankfully no moderate or worse problems with that part, things a plunger can easily remedy). Silicone sealant is lacking around the sinks and even the window. When it rains out, a waterfall forms right in front of my door which is loud and wakes me up - the gutters fill up and overflow and this is a common problem across multiple buildings as I've walked outside while it's raining and saw at least 4 other waterfalls, to as many as 7. The fridge's freezer has an odd, bad smell to it and doesn't freeze stuff (I don't know how the fridge part is as I don't get anything that's refrigerated). These are what I'm aware of, but because of covid-19, access is denied due to the masks, short of doing it myself (there's no point, though I have used a culking gun for applying silicon a few times before - it's not worth wasting the money on that).
3 (very close). Bugs and lizards regularly get in. Likely related to the maintenance case, bugs and even those lizards are getting through from. I'm covered with sores from mosquito bites, many of which still visible 18 months later. This is a health hazard. Through creative thinking, using bait for ants and using the ant trails, I've been able to pinpoint the location where they're coming in from - there's a certain spot under the air conditioner allowing entry.
4 (close). Ridiculously high-priced Internet with no cheaper options. My building is serviced by 2 ISPs. Frontier is the cheaper option but they flat out refuse to verify my identity. The same information I have no difficulty using to apply for credit cards where I have little difficulty getting the card doesn't work with Frontier. This leaves only Spectrum, and they charge almost twice as much for Internet access, at $75 a month. 200 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up is serious overkill for my needs (10 down, 5 up is good enough for me) and they refuse to offer anything cheaper. This can have a fair bit to do with reason number 7 as well.
5 (close). The state government is horribly run. Although this isn't specific to my apartment, it weighs in for all of FL in general. Benefits that would've helped me keep stability were cut prematurely and unfairly (there are lawsuits against the governor for this action). Food stamps are still pending and I wouldn't expect much out of that. The labor system here is rather poor as well. Although the minimum wage finally got increased, it's far too slow and I can't get a job until covid-19 goes away so it's of no use. OR supposedly has a much higher minimum wage.
6 (distant). No nearby friends to turn to. I was aware of this when I moved here, thinking I could get some, but it turns out that I can't get anyone to do anything with me (no beach and only one case for pizza), and this is before covid-19 struck. Now that covid-19 is around, this isn't even an option at all - trying to get someone to do stuff with isn't going to happen any more as I would be long gone before covid-19 is gone to make this even possible. If I need a jump on my car or something, I don't have anyone to turn to. This may be in part due to reason number 7 immediately below as well.
7 (very close). It's out of the way of everything. The nearest place to go swimming is either at the park immediately west of me and taking my kayak 3 to 4 miles out from shore (otherwise, it's too shallow and so much grass around) or driving an hour away to get to the beach. Most jobs I find of more interest tend to be very far away as well... though I've since given up on the job hunt as covid-19 isn't going away any time soon. I didn't really want this area, but everything else had months-long waiting lists and I couldn't wait as I had a very specific time frame.
8 (moderate). Hot water doesn't last during the winter. I have maybe 8 minutes of hot water for a shower before it runs out. I have to turn the water off during the shower when I do the body wash phase or I absolutely won't have any hot water at all. I cannot have separated shampoo and conditioner as the hot water doesn't last long enough. I know it's running out when I have to start raising the water temperature during the shower because the water starts getting cold otherwise.
9 (moderate). Restricted and limited laundry. 4 machines for washing and drying alike for the entire complex and there's something like maybe 150 living here. On top of that, laundry has limited hours so if I have wet blankets or I'm out of underwear, what am I supposed to do, wear soiled underwear for several hours while I wait for it to open back up again? I've had to wear old work clothes to work because of this, adding an extra stench. It's a separate building - residents should be given a sort of pass to be able to enter. This problem shows itself much more when my sleep cycle is backwards.
10 (moderate). Regular thump, thump, thump stereos. The recreation center right across from me is a busy place and tends to be prone to having cars that just have the thump, thump, thump going on because they have a subwoofer in the back that hits just the right frequency that it resonates with the walls of the building causing it to be extremely loud. I feel that speakers in cars that output sound below a certain frequency threshold slightly above what most walls resonate at (and below) should be illegal. Most everyone I know hates that thumping and it's one of few things that will give me a headache.
11 (close). The shower head is too low. I've bonked my head on that thing a few hundred times by now and it's given me a sore head. I'm roughly 68 1/2 inches tall (roughly average-sized for a human) and this shower head is about 66 inches above the tub's bottom, overlapping by 1/2 inch. It's a safety hazard.
12 (very close). No garage for my car. Tree litter frequently gets into the windshield area and shortens the life of the windshield wipers. I also have a cracked window and I'm afraid to take it to a car wash because of that so my car hasn't been washed for almost 2 years now, if not longer. I can't afford to replace it and it'll jack up my already high insurance rates.
13 (close). Too small. 288 square feet is on the small size. Sufficient enough, but I'd like to get something around 350-400 square feet. Over 500 becomes excessive unless a roommate is involved which is very unlikely.
14 (distant). Unusually high-height speed bumps are hard on the suspension. Quite often, myself included, drivers go around the speed bumps whenever possible. They're about an inch higher than most speed bumps I know.
15 (moderate). The blinds. Quite often, the blinds interfere with things and get in the way - they're very annoying. Once they go up, it takes a half an hour and getting worn out trying to get them to come back down again. I can't remove them and replace them with curtains - there's no place to put curtains and I can't install a curtain rod without being charged for damages. I had to return the curtain system I bought upon first moving in because of this.
16 (very distant). Brown outs occur somewhat regularly. Just a sudden, brief loss of power, enough to cause the microwave to beep or trigger my UPS's battery power (UPS is uninterruptible power supply). With most essential stuff connected to my UPS, it has the least impact.
