So, this past week has been one in which there has been little rest for the wicked. I got to spend all of last Thursday researching houses online through the wonders of RightMove amongst others. Having then compiled a list using several criteria:
- Must be 2 bed
- Must be both double beds, I think me and JC both have too much stuff for single rooms really.
- Ideally greater than 2.5 x 2.5 m (more like 3m desirable)
- Must have a shower
- If only 1 bathroom/toilet cant have to walk through one bedroom to get to it (rules out a lot of the victorian houses, as they’ve done a 2 storey extension and just stuck the bathroom upstairs onto the back) don’t think we’d appreciate the late night , early morning intrusions
- Must have parking a parking space
- Must be less than 3 - 4 miles to UEA. The criteria I use is less than an hour walk. Putting - the train station as a maximum as a rough guide.
- Using Google Streetview must not be an area I’d walk around after dark (and I’m from knife - city central) and I wouldn’t worry about your car getting nicked
- Avoid storage heating but it can be lived with
- Definitely ignore houses with gas fires in each room for heating
- Must be double glazed (I’m not playing with sash windows again)
- Carpets / wallpaper / general decoration should be less in age than I am
- Kitchen units must be attached to walls
- Mould is a no go, or rising damp
- Any property that doesn’t say where it is (address or postcode), how big it is, or show any photos of the inside despite being up for a number of weeks / months aren’t worth the time of day
- And all ideally for £500-600 pcm
Using this criteria, a number of properties were shortlisted albeit most of them being upto £700 pcm. Which then allows me to be in a position where I can spend all of Friday talking to estate agents trying to book appointments for viewings for the coming Monday and Tuesday. I’m sure that talking to estate agents is mentioned in Dante’s second circle.
Anywho, Friday after was a rushed affair to get to Manchester to attend one of Lady E’s friend’s birthday meal. A simple affair in theory, small talk and a Pizza Express. Low and behold it took us over 3 hours to be seated and get through 3 courses if I’m being generous. That and the small talk didn’t happen due to the apparent loathing of one of the attendees of my presence. But heyho. Dinner was followed by a cocktail at possible the worst, loudest, chav-filled, mock-cocktail, studenty bar I’ve had the displeasure to endure in a while.
Saturday was a rush back to Nottingham for the pre-wedding party. And Sunday was a return to Norfolk to get ready for Monday.
Monday, saw the first day of house hunting. Saw a nice few properties, although the locations were poor and the prices high. And much disappointment was had. Made only worse by the way that Lady E thought that I was a complete hypocrite because the properties that were nice during the day, I was concluding were too much money by the end of the day. This of course meant that I was actually JC’s b-hatch because I was rolling over to “his” views.
So feeling much disheartened by the previous day, Lady E and I returned to Norwich to continue the house hunting to hopefully find that illusive property that had avoided the day before. The day started well with a nice flat, still pricey, but very nice; and with views. The day went on, and we focused the search upon the “Golden Triangle”. To which the conclusion was that all the good properties had been taken by students or professionals in the area along time before we had got on the scene, leaving only a few properties that were hugely over-priced and had remained on the market for good reason.
We had almost given up all hope until the last property of the day, that was epically huge, sensibly priced and located. Everything that I had hoped for. Since then, I’ve got JC over there and we’ve placed an offer in on the place and we just need to hear back from the landlord really to see what he thinks, but the letting agent seems to think it’s promising.
So I shall chase that up tomorrow morning. And then I shall board a plane and head for Denmark and a wedding. My first wedding with an independent invite, which should be good.
This page previously appeared on morganbye.net[^1][^2][^3]
[^1:] http://morganbye.net/house-hunting-and-the-like [^2:] http://morganbye.net/2009/07/house-hunting-and-the-like) [^3:] http://morganbye.net/blog/?p=13
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