Last week, in a valiant effort to find housing, Hubbalicious and I embarked upon a marathon of apartment viewings that would bring any sane person to the edge of reason (and DID, in fact take two otherwise sane persons to that particular locale). In the span of two days, we saw no less than 15 apartments. We crossed the center of Stuttgart a multitude of times. We circled blocks looking for parking. We took wrong turns. We shook realtors hands. We kept a wide smile on our faces as we tried to communicate our opinions to each other using only our eyes and telekinesis. We found the absolute end of our house hunting rope.
We saw places that were on the fifth story of a walk-up building. We saw places which, we soon learned, COULD be magically transformed from an office into an apartment, for the price of a kitchen and a shower installation. We saw one BEAUTIFUL place … which would have required an additional move in cost of 10-15k Euro, to “buy” the kitchen from the previous tenant (other than that, it was pretty darn perfect). We saw one place that had the master bathroom (save the toilet) in the bedroom itself, in a modern effort to be cutting edge….
The process of apartment viewing goes something like this: I get up early and start scanning a few trusted websites – alternating between the sites and a translation site to figure out what I’m reading. I’m getting a little better at German – I’ve learned the words for “rent” “room” and “kitchen”. Once I find a place that looks good – I toggle over to Google Maps to see if I can figure out the neighborhood it’s in and whether that is a place we’re targeting.
Once that’s done, I either call the number on the real estate web page and hope the person who answers speaks English, or I send an email via the automated tool on the site. The phone call is nice because I get usually instant gratification in the form of a viewing appointment. The automated tool is good because it emails me a copy of the message I’ve sent, and attaches a link to the ad – which I am usually frantically searching for, when the realtor calls me back to set up an appointment.
I usually try to get the realtor to share the address with me as soon as possible. This allows us to execute a “drive-by” to make sure that: 1) I read the map correctly and that the neighborhood is the desired proximity to city center (where the mass of shops and restaurants and main train station all sit), 2) that the neighborhood itself has a few shops and restaurants where we can be part of a small community and 3) that the building is well represented in the ad. If these criteria aren’t met, I can call and cancel the viewing appointment – but usually we go anyways to see what we can learn. In some cases the realtor doesn’t get back to us quickly or the address isn’t disclosed – and then we adapt what we like to call “stalking behavior”.
Armed with a few photos from the ad, and perhaps a floor plan, we’ll skulk around these neighborhoods, in search of the advertised apartment. One of us (names withheld to protect the innocent) is even bold enough to sneak into an apartment lobby behind a resident, or creep between the buildings to see if the tree shown through the window in one of the photos is indeed in this back yard. Am I proud of this (okay, yeah, it’s definitely me)? A little bit – I’m sleuthy like that! But, I also get that it’s not appropriate behavior and one that isn't necessarily going to ingratiate us to any future neighbors.
Hubbz and I stalked an apartment early in this process and fell utterly in love with it. The street is sweet and quiet and tree lined. The building is old and well cared for. There is a bakery on the corner where we can go for Sunday coffee and rolls. There is a hair salon on the next block that looked like a place I might be able to trust for a cut and color in a foreign land. The photos and floor plan in the ad look like they fit all of our criteria….but the realtor – well, he’s not really quick to return our calls.
We keep looking at GREAT places – but none of them have had the cumulative points that this one does. We have a serious, unrealistic crush on this apartment. It makes us yearn, and moan in the anguish of a probable unrequited love. It makes us giggly and sparkly when we let ourselves hope and plan for how we’d arrange furniture or where we’d have dinner. Most importantly, it makes us let other, perfectly good, apartments, sit vulnerable to capture by someone else in the hopes that perhaps we will capture the heart of this landlord, this realtor and fulfill our city living dreams. It is downright embarrassing how we pine for this little place, despite the fact that we haven’t even been inside to see yet!!! It’s seriously a case of “I don’t know you, but I love you”. Until now….
This week, I am on a business trip – and, wouldn’t you know it, that illusive realtor called and offered a viewing for this weekend. So, Hubbz, armed with a cell phone, a digital camera, and all of my faith in his decision making skills, went to tour the inside of the Holy Grail Apartment.
The good news is, we were right – it’s a great place and we’d love to live there. The bad news is – the guy who showed it to Hubbz is not yet authorized to represent it – and frankly, isn’t sure that the landlord wants to rent to Americans. So the realtor will speak to the landlord on our behalf. And we’ll continue the waiting game – the weighing-all-other-apartments-against-this-one game – until something gives. Keep your fingers crossed, my loved ones out in the blogosphere. Wish us luck!!
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