Thank you all for your words of hate.
Our current landlord decided, apparently on a whim as she only gave us 60 days notice, that now is the time to move back from Italy to Australia. We've been here for over five years and now have until the 30th of December to move. Yes, that's right — SMACK BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR BREAK WHEN EVERYTHING IS CLOSED, INCLUDING REAL ESTATE AGENCIES. Thanks landlord for that incredible amount of forethought and kindness. Did I mention that the Mister just sold our car? Well, he did, so we really need to move while we still have transport.
We were accepted for one place, which we then decided to reject because it wasn't really good enough in location or quality, especially for the price they were asking. We've since been rejected by two other landlords for houses we do want, because they seem to be unduly scared of our dogs. Despite the fact that we have a reference from a neighbour attesting to their loveliness and general good behaviour. We want to move in. The real estate agents want us to move in. Nobody else is applying for these houses (one has yellow walls and no aircon, one has a substandard description/photos and is just over $350 per week, which seems to be most people's magic cutoff number), so we are calling the agents every day in the hope that at least one of the landlords will cave from desperation. Sigh.