The Flat Viewing Day - Come On Home

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Trip Start Aug 06, 2008 Previous
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  Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Monday, August 11, 2008

        Up bright and early we ate our breakfast and headed out map in hand. Our first viewing was at 11am and was located in the county of Littlemore. The entire city could be classified as Oxford but it was actually only the central area that was called Oxford, the rest of the city was broken down into counties. It was a long walk but the bus routes weren't too helpful in getting there so we started trucking and after an hour and a half of walking we arrived.
 
     Our first impressions from the outside were jaw dropping. It was a small community type area that you had to turn into off the street then consisted of townhouses and apartment buildings. The road was hand laid bricks and the whole place looked brand new (found out later it was only 2 years old). Most of what we had seen so far was 100+ year old houses with moss and vines all over them so to walk into this new area added to just how nice it was. The cars parked on the ramps were Porsche's, BMW's, and other rich brand new cars. We got to our place and the letting agent meet us at the door. The place we were looking at was one of the apartment buildings and on the third (top) floor. We got up there and laughed at the fact that the door had no door knob but rather just a key lock that you turn and push to open. The place was top of the line gorgeous. It had a large living area with leather couches and nice book shelves and other furniture about. The kitchen was a decent size and actually had a counter top dishwasher. We later learned that dishwashers here are actually very rare. Once again they had the laundry combo washer/dryer in the kitchen as well. This is the standard here and every place has it in the kitchen... weirdoes.   It had two bathrooms, one in the hall and another on-suite in the master bedroom. They were both full bathrooms with showers and everything. The second bedroom was actually very large and had a computer desk and dressers and bed included, same story in the main bedroom. While the place was over the top nice it was a little out of price range. The agent was extremely helpful and our first impressions of him were very good. We explained the situation to him and while other agents didn't even want to talk to us when we told them we don't have a home or bank accounts or jobs he wanted to help us and said that if were interested he will find a way around. After leaving we all loved it but scratched it off the list saying it was too much money and a little too far from the main areas.
 
      We made our way to the second viewing which was a short term location and I'm not going to waste ink on it as it was a complete dump, the guy never even cleaned the house and the rooms were extremely small. Scratch that one off the list.
 
      While we had a lot of ground to cover between the first two viewings and only 2 hours between viewings our next one was pretty close so we stopped in a park to chill for a while to kill some time. We ended up half napping there laying in the wet grass but it was very peaceful and relaxing and after the long walking distances this morning we just needed to get off our feet.
 
     The next place we headed to was above a convenience store which was very convenient ;) It was a smaller flat with two bedrooms and your basic setup. The toilet and shower were in different rooms which was odd. They basically stuck a toilet into a closet and that was it. The other room had the shower and sinks. The furniture was also a lot older and stained in many areas.   It was defiantly a lot older and showed all over the place. However it was in our price range and we were running out of options. The agent for this one was very pushy and we weren't too much of a fan of her or the company. She was trying to get us sign up on the spot and we basically told her to screw off and we will think about it.
 
     Running out of options we returned to the guest house to figure out our finances and plan our attack. We did the math and basically figured out that we need to have possession of a place by Friday or we were in big trouble financially. Having moved here right when all the university students were returning was very poor planning and not leaving us many options for flats to let. Having almost no options other than the one above the store we basically said we have to go for it. The only unsettling thing was that we had to sign a 6 month lease so we would be locked into it for a minimum 6 months.
 
     While we were getting ready to call the agent back and start the ball rolling we got a phone call from the first place we had viewed. The agent said if the rent price was negotiable would we consider. Scott who answered the phone was taken so off guard that he just said we will call him back and hung up. He told us what happened and we couldn't believe it. Since when are rent prices negotiable was the first thing that went through our heads. Having later thought about it more we realized that there is over a dozen letting agents in town and there all fighting each other for business so they will negotiate in order to get your business. Suddenly we felt like we were trying to buy a car.
 
     We tried to call him back and find out more details but it was after hours and he never did answer. The first place we viewed was so nice that we suddenly had a large lift of spirits and wanted to pursue it as far as we could. Going from having one option to suddenly having two was so uplifting. We were basically just going to settle on the last flat we viewed as we needed to get off the street but now we had options. Our big selling point was we needed possession by Friday at the latest or financially we would become very strapped and in big trouble. Not able to get a hold of him we made our game plan. We basically said that the first viewing was our primary choice and the flat above the store would be our fall back. We knew we could get into the flat above the store by Friday so if it came to it we would go that route but wanted to fight for the first viewing as much as we could. Suddenly for the first time this trip we were excited of the prospect that we had a place to live and would soon be able to plant our feet and stop living out of suitcases and guest houses.
 
     We set a plan to get up the next morning and head down to his office to talk to him as time was becoming a concern and it was already Monday and if we wanted possession by Friday we had to start the ball rolling tomorrow or we were in trouble. After talking to him we would head to the other agency and start the ball rolling on our backup plan as well as we had no safety nets and desperately needed one.

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