Part 2/7:
At the age of 19, with limited financial means primarily from fast-food paychecks, we sat down with a singular mission: find a rental house that was not merely a slum lord's nightmare. Fueled by dreams of grandeur—think Great Gatsby mansion vibes—we set our filters on Zillow to “price: lowest to highest.” The results that trickled in, however, were sobering. Abandoned shells of homes with histories better left unspoken, cramped spaces that barely qualified as liveable, and dilapidated properties filled the screen.