God, that really does suck. The situation you are suddenly being shoved out of AND the one you are being shoved into.
Where in S.Jersey? Have we had this conversation before?
As for paying off the rental company, I say screw 'em. You are leaving the city and the country. Keep the money for what you need and pay them later if you can. the worst that can happen is a ding to your credit. I seem to remember you rented your place and Cait came later. Rent the next one under her name
Or let people know when you are trying to rent from them what the situation was when you broke the lease.
Hang in there!
The good news is, that rents (at least around here, probably in a lot of other places) have dropped off quite a bit due to the real estate crash. I noticed quite a few apartment complexes that had been renting in the 7-800 dollar range have had signs out advertisng $550. So there's one silver lining to the recession anyways.