BRAINSTORM - help????

Alright. I've decided I need to enlist the help of ANYONE I can possibly get to throw in their two cents... (or five or ten cents...) I've reached the end of my brainstorm list and need some input!

Here's the (very long) story, from beginning to end:

(Steve, Me - 2004)

It's March 2005. Steve and I were dating (and broke as broke gets). I was evicted from my first apartment for not being able to pay my rent (oh boy was I naive) the day before I found out I was pregnant with my second son Asher. Steve was living with is parents, and busing up to see me whenever he could; I was living with my parents, and we had attempted numerous times to acquire jobs that would allow us to get married and live on our own. After spending hours and hours working hard at jobs that brought us nothing (scams where we had to walk around selling things all day but not get paid for it in the end, etc.), waiting for the UTA bus in the snow and freezing temperatures, we finally decided to check out some military options. After we had seen a recruiter for the Army, Air Force and Navy, Steve decided the Army was a good place for him to get on his feet, and it would secure his chance to go to college (with the GI Bill).

He signed up for a four-year contract in the US Army the first week of April, and was scheduled to leave for Basic Training April 25th. We knew we wanted to get married, but had been waiting for the money to throw a big reception and all of that... so it wasn't a difficult decision when we found out he was leaving so soon (and I was already 3 months along with baby #2), to throw an impromptu (no exaggeration) wedding. We told our parents we were getting married the evening of April 8th, and we were married the next morning, 11 am April 9th, in my mother's living room. This left us exactly two weeks until he left for Basic. (The story of the actual wedding day is a beautiful one. Maybe someday I'll get into that, but I'm farrrr off on a tangent already, so I won't be doing that today.)


ANYWAY... eleven months in training and one baby boy later, Steve finally got orders for our first duty station: Fort Riley, KS. (I don't think I need to explain here that this was the worst news of my life thus far.)

(Brigade Ball, 2007)

March 17, 2006, we packed up our kids and our things and headed to the misery we now call home. When we arrived in Kansas, we quickly discovered we had entered another dimension, where civilization hadn't yet come about. There was no military housing available, so we put ourselves on the one-year waiting list and sought after other alternatives. We discovered absolutely NOTHING for rent within 100 miles of Fort Riley.

After six weeks in hotel room after hotel room, we ran out of money and patience, and finally settled for taking out a mortgage on a home in Abilene, KS. Abilene is about 40 miles from the military post, so the drive was pretty miserable, but the town is pretty and TINY, with nice neighbors and cheap homes.
We never intended to buy a home so early in our lives, especially in an area we knew would be temporary! If only we'd had a choice. For a year we lived in Abilene, and with only one car, I very literally sunk into the deepest depression my heart has ever known. The house was cute and in good condition, but I had no idea how to live in such seclusion. A year after we moved in, our names came up on the housing list for on-post housing, and we jumped for it. We put our house up for sale, but had no luck and decided to rent it out for a year and see if the market was better next year. (NO LUCK.)

We have been living on post now for 13 months. Here's the point of this story: The renters screwed us around every turn. 9 out of 13 months they paid us late, sometimes 10-15 days late. We have paid late fee after late fee on our mortgage because of it, and this last weekend, our renters moved out. They left no notice, no rent, and didn't clean a single inch of the place before they took off. Labor Day, I packed up all our cleaning supplies and headed out to Abilene with my husband and kids for a day of cleaning. When we got there, we never could have imagined the amount of damage and filth they'd left.

The entire house is beyond filthy, the carpet is not going to be recovered. I'll have to re-paint all the walls, re-carpet the entire house, replace broken windows... They have abandoned a vehicle on the property, and the BRAND NEW FRIDGE I BOUGHT when we moved there is broken.

The washer and dryer that we left in the basement in working condition is GONE. We walked around the house taking pictures of the damage, planning to sue them for the cost, and after five minutes of walking around inside the home, we walked outside COVERED IN FLEAS.
This is the absolute most revolting thing that has ever happened to me, people. Never in my life have I encountered a flea, and to see them on my babies and watch my babies pop up with red spots all over their legs and arms and faces... I cannot describe to you the anger and sadness. This was my very first home, the place where my baby learned to crawl, walk, talk... The place I took care of and decorated... my very first place. Now we can't even walk in it without blood-sucking fleas attacking us and our children??? This is nauseating and heartbreaking.

Anyway, we are dealing with the legal aspects of getting our money back and repairing the damage to the home. With the help of our military attorney, I think we're going to come out alright in the end... but we're going to have to get rid of the house somehow. It is in no condition to be rented out or sold, and we can't pay the mortgage, so we're going to have to short sell or foreclose. This, of course, is going to destroy our credit.

HERE'S WHERE YOU COME IN. We are just 6 months away from being completely finished with our Army contract. Steve and I have been planning to send the boys and me home to Utah to live at the beginning of October, to get things set up - find a place to live, find a job and daycare, start school at Weber State, etc. Then, when Steve gets out of the Army in February or March, he will follow and already have a home set up. I am panicking. This is the end of the line for me, I'm escaping this prison they sent me to for the last 3 years, and now... this. My credit is ruined. How can I get a place to live in Utah before all this is settled in court? Does ANYONE have any input on how or what I can do to still get home in the next month or two like I had planned, but not put my family in bigger financial ruin? I can't imagine that anyone will rent to me with this situation on my credit... I have a job lined up, but I don't know how I can find a place to live. (Living at my mom's house is not an option. No room at the Inn.) :)

Does anyone know of ...

• cheap 2-bedroom apartments?
• is it possible to rent without good credit? will I get screwed on rent and deposit?
• anywhere I can live that's furnished, since I can't get my furniture sent to me until December-ish?

Any input can help, especially if you live in Utah. I figure networking is probably the only way I can get some good tips! If you know anyone who is renting something and doesn't need my credit to be perfect.... oh boy, would that make my day (my year)!