The day is here. The last day where I have to secure a place to call my own. By the end of this week, my current house rent would have expired and I’d get revisited by the small guy (caretaker) and then the big guy himself (landlord). Yet I still haven’t gotten word of a good place. Now I’m picturing a scene where I’m served an eviction notice.
To abort this potential discomforting visitation, I have hatched a 6-day long plan for a grand move transition. Find a lodge in the next 4 days, have a little final assessment on the 5th day, then move the belongings on the 6th in time for the rent expiration on the 7th day. Sounds like a brilliant plan yea?
Only if it were as direct and straightforward as that, I would have gotten a cubicle by now after hunting for the past 2months.
Update on the Horrific Apartment Search
Just this past week I’ve had to settle badly and hugely on apartment choice and budget. For the sake of accelerating the searches and having unbounded options, I decided to expand the sampling house search space to accommodate a 2bedroom option.
This increased my budget by 25%, which in turn increased the overall budget by that much. That is a lot. Almost a N100,000 ($300) extra to the original budget is astronomical for me! Especially the case where the extra house wouldn’t serve a unique purpose, but only induce more budget on maintenance.
Related: My Rookie Experience at Finding an Apartment
Now seeing as I had come to a hasty season of my house search (10days left before rent expiration), I made a good and bad wild decision on the last working day of the past week.
The Wild Decision made while House hunting
The only place I inspected recently that I thought had a fair chance, I immediately made a financial commitment on it, pending how pronto the agent could provide a better place before the next 4days, as per the grand move transition plan. The payment I made was about 42% of the overall house budget.
In one light, this move is good because I get to reserve the seemly place from other buyers. Agent 201, make a quick sweep and secure the perimeter! Sir, yessir! The problem with available places around here is, if a place is decent enough, availability will only hold for hours.
One minute you’re told there’s a place open for house visits. You make yourself ready and you go to inspect. You find that you like the place. Then you make a call to your actual real estate agent about your resolution. Only to be told the place has been paid for and you don’t understand how that could have happened since you just left the “available” site only less than an hour ago.
If I could get a dollar for how often I’ve been in this situation…
This happens because of the multiple agents permitted to represent a building lot. A landlord sends word out that a tenant is needed to occupy this and that, to the real estate agent employed to cater to that type of situation regarding that house.
This agent distributes the information across to his peers because that’s how he gets bread on his table.
These peers do the same with their houses too. Whoever first finds a client wins and shares a percentage of the winnings to the first-hand agent. So you’re not just dependent on the one house you represent. What if no one moves in years!
My financial commitment will reach the landlord as a certain buyer serious to take the space but having financial challenges to meet the full payment. The landlord will decide to impede any other payments or visitation to the site until I, a seemingly interested buyer, make the complete payment.
But the impediment can only hold for so long before the landlord decides that sentiment and business don’t go together, and proceeds for the next candidate willing to make full payment.
Still, a good move to consider if a place has good potentials with just a few buts. Even though few enough to still make you keep searching anyways but not to miss out completely if you don’t find a better alternative.
In another light for why this house move is bad is, having informally subscribed to multiple agents who cater towards lending me access to diverse house options, a financial commitment of that sort confines me to this one agent, because there are no refunds.
Also, this agent is likely to relax on the search knowing I have to make complete payment anyways, as I stand a chance of losing the entire sum if I get a place by another agent.
And when you find a client that has made over 40% commitment, you won’t really be kicking your legs and jumping about Kilimanjaro to find this client another option. Preferably you’d let the idea of the committed house grow on the client, and save your stress for a new client.
This is my intuition of this entire process but I’m not expected to think that way.
I went ahead with the payment because I like to think this agent is different (lol). After all, none of those multiple sampled agents has shown me a place that had any fair chance, meaning this agent has to amount to something. Plus, the interaction is great, I guess.
Final House Resolution
And how much abrupt options would I see in 4days having a 7-6 job? Some weeks have gone by without getting calls from agents on available renting, which is very normal. So 4 days wouldn’t make a ton of difference missing out on other agents’ calls I suppose.
After all said and done, this is me, raising my hypothetical wine-filled glass in the air (because it’s 3am right now and there can’t be any wine drinking for responsibility sakes). For the next time you see a post titled around apartment, best believe I’ve moved and I’m happy about my choice, or I’m making the best of the situation!
Cheers.
3 Comments