Prospective county renters scramble to find a place to call home.

Cristina Chamberlain is a veteran of the apartment-hunting game. She''s lived in New Orleans, Houston and Chicago, to name a few places. She knows all the renters'' tricks--the charm, the "I''ll-give-you-a-bigger-deposit" games renters play.

But never, ever did she have as much trouble finding a place to live as she did when she moved to the Monterey Peninsula last summer.

"It took me about three weeks" to find an apartment, Chamberlain says. "It was the longest time it ever took me to find a place, and it was stressful. The choices weren''t so good. It was either you didn''t want to live there or they didn''t want to talk to you."

Never mind that Chamberlain is a dream tenant: She''s gainfully employed as the director of merchandising and retail services at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the local employer everyone loves. She''s a newlywed, and she and her husband are clean, have never been evicted, and they don''t smoke or throw wild parties.

But there''s a catch in there. The Chamberlains have cats. When Cristina was looking last year, she pulled out all the stops to get the place she really wanted, a $1,625-a-month, three-bedroom apartment at Lovers Point.

The property owner "said absolutely not, no pets," Chamberlain says. "They''re older, declawed, neutered cats. I said, ''Even if I gave you a $2,000 deposit?'' I was just desperate. She still said no."

When house-hunting on the Monterey Peninsula, it seems "desperate" is the only way to be, and stories like Chamberlain''s aren''t hard to find.

Property managers say the rental housing market is so tight here, even the best tenants--with or without pets--can''t find a place to live.

"Tight is an understatement," says Jan Leasure, a broker for Monterey Bay Property Management, which manages 200 rental units. "We have people who walk in our office every single day that are highly qualified, have sparkling credit reports, have ample income, but we don''t have anything vacant for them to rent, so we turn them away."

Leasure estimates the vacancy rate on the Peninsula is "less than 1 percent," meaning that of all the given rental units here, less than 1 percent of them are vacant at any given time.

The crunch isn''t just on the Peninsula either. "Salinas is booming," says Gail Valdez, broker for Bay Property Management. "We''re getting a lot of people being transferred into the area. They come here, and they can''t find a place to rent."

A lack of new apartment-building construction is the main culprit in the housing crunch, real estate agents and property managers say.

"They''re not building new apartment buildings," says Steve Romberg, president of the Apartment Association of Monterey County. "They''re doing infilling here and there, but it''s not enough."

According to information from the Construction Industry Research Board, only 11 multi-family housing building permits were issued countywide in 1998. This was a nearly 97 percent decrease from those issued in 1997, when 355 permits were granted. Multi-family housing units, the board says, include duplexes, three- to four-unit structures, or apartment-type buildings with five or more units.

Competition for available units is fierce, and rental hunters may arrive at the latest advertised "open house" to find a dozen or more prospective renters already there, filling out rental applications and plunking down checks for the requisite credit check fee. These fees, which can vary from $20 to $30, can make hunting an expensive prospect, even if one doesn''t get the space. Low-income renters are often caught in the squeeze.

"Every time we go to apply (for a place), there''s like 50 applicants already there, and they get a credit check fee from each of them," says John Batiste of Seaside, who is looking for an affordable apartment for himself, his wife and two children. He says he can only afford to pay about $800, and he''s hoping to find a three-bedroom unit.

Batiste, who is staying with a friend until his family can find a rental, says he''s paid as much as $50 a pop for credit check fees.

"I don''t think it''s fair," he says. "Every place I go they want a credit check, but I don''t even know if they''re even doing the credit check, or if they''re just taking my money."

Batiste''s experience isn''t unique, according to veteran apartment hunters. One recent apartment hunter shelled out credit check fees at three different rental units--for a grand total of $75 from her meager purse. She didn''t get the apartments, nor did the managers return her calls to tell her if she was even being considered as a tenant.

Leasure and other property managers say most reputable firms don''t accept credit-check money unless the prospective tenant is being seriously considered for the unit.

"It''s not like we take as many applications as we can get and then decide who we''re going to rent to," says Tom Mangold, president of Mangold Properties, which manages 1,700 units in the county. "We''re in the business of renting places, so as soon as we have a qualified applicant, it''s rented."

"We generally won''t take more than three applications" for one rental, says Ted Ciesla of Casa Ciesla Property Management.

State law caps the credit check fee at $30, Ciesla says, and property managers shouldn''t ask for more. He says the money pays the cost of the credit check and covers other costs such as reference checks and a check that tells if a tenant has ever been evicted from a rental.

"We do have a fiduciary responsibility to the owners of the properties," says Leasure, who adds that managers generally won''t accept credit checks provided by the tenants themselves.

"In this age of computer technology, it''s really easy for people to produce something that looks like a credit check," she says.

Still, it isn''t hopeless.

"We always say, there''s always something," says Carol MacHamer, coordinator of student affairs at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. MacHamer estimates about 400 new students come to MIIS looking for housing every year. "Of course, things like being a smoker or having pets makes it harder. Usually what it takes is flexibility. Keep an open mind; don''t get too fixed on any one type of place you must have."

Even Chamberlain eventually found a place--after a lot of trying. But she''s already decided she doesn''t want to go through the trying-to-rent hassle again. She and husband Mike are now looking to buy their own home.

"We want a dog," she says, "and we don''t want to go through any of that again."

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