I'm exhausted. I have devoted every single afternoon of these 2 months to view apartments. How many have I seen? More than 50 I'd say (and counting...) And when I'm not visiting one, I'm thinking about where my home will be. Even at night, this thought haunts my dreams. At this pace, I can easily be considered an expert in real estate.
There is still something weird in entering someone's house, walking on their floors, opening their wardrobes, invading their privacy. It's as if you stepped into someone's life for the duration of the visit. In the end, with practice, I've become quite efficient in my research and visits. There is no time to spare! Here are a few learnings I'd like to share (you can thank me by helping me find somewhere to live!):
- Ads: where words have different meaning
'exterior' = 1 window to the street, the rest non-existent or facing an internal yard.
'bright', 'loads of light', etc. = you need to turn the lights on from 6pm in summer and the whole day in winter - Ads: where words are left to self-interpretation
'ready to move in' = add to the price at least 30K EUR more to reform the place. - People live in all kind of conditions
ok, I'm a bit OCD, but you wouldn't believe the things that I've seen... - ...it's as if they didn't want to sell their houses
some people don't let you touch anything, others point out the negative aspects, others even put up the ad and when you call they say that it's not available for viewing! - Estate agents: what do they do again?
I have provided them with details of what I am looking for and they either a) have just sold a house which was exactly what I am after; or b) show me one that has absolutely nothing to do with what I want - You will like what you can't have
in the first weeks of my house hunt marathon, I saw the house I wanted to live in. The price was higher than what I can afford (and to be fair, it is overpriced), so I made an offer which got instantly rejected. Now I can't help myself comparing every other house to this one, which I have probably idealised in my mind... - ...because you can't have it all
when I like the location, I don't like the interior of the house. When the house quality is excellent, it's too dark. When there is light, you need to make the house up...
