Monday, July 25, 2005

The Amazing Place : Episode Recap

Another weekend gone by, another week without an apartment. We're starting to do some self-examination here about what our flaws are -- why are we not landing these applications. Employment? Lease Terms? Personal Hygine? More showings to come in the next days, but I'd thought I'd give a run down on last weekend's debacle.

We had scheduled something like eight showings in the span of an hour-and-a-half, with each of them lasting only fifteen minutes. You do a drive-by the night before to make sure that the location is something you want, then prioritize which ones are going to fill your slots. If you are fortunate, you get there early before the realtor arrives and have a peek around the place. When the realtor gets there, it's decision time... do you motor to the next stop or head to the real estate agency to put down a deposit?

We had found a place we really liked (two, actually) and were there in plenty of time to get prepared. One flaw that we did make early on, was parking down the road - not double parked in front of the house, or perhaps on their lawn to save time.  Also waiting in front of this place was a girl whom shall be referred to as The Pro. The Pro had faxed in her application to the office (not quite sure if she kept carbons of housing applications at home in preparation for this sort of thing) the night before and had fixed her ominous eye on this property. We bantered with her for the ten minutes or so and she, likely unwittingly, gave up some details on how the Sydney application process actually works. Turns out, she had been offered several of the properties that we had applied for, rejecting them for some reason or another. This lady was smart, professional and tidy -- a landlord's dream

As the realtor walked up, The Pro began to sink her claws in immediately, going right after her and firing a volley of responsible-sounding questions. What she did convey to us in the lead-up to the home tour was that the first application that is accompanied with a deposit places a 'hold' on the process, not allowing for any other applications to be taken until that initial one is reviewed. As we saw the place we knew it was what we were looking for and decided to try and apply for it.

This meant the race was on, back to the real estate office across town to put the deposit down before The Pro could lock hers in. The Pro was talking to the agent as we left, so we thought that we had a good chance of beating her there, but were wrong. A part of The Pro's arsenal of tools is an uncanny ability to navigate city streets and after zipping around the Eastern Suburbs for twenty minutes, she made up enough ground on us to get to the office first. The Pro was already at the counter, with her credit card out trying to complete the transaction. We furiously filled out the applications (something that The Pro had faxed in the night before) and wondered why The Pro wasn't able to put her deposit down. Turned out, The Pro didn't have enough dough and we were able to jump her in line.

All for naught, however, as the landlord wanted a shorter-termed lease than what we were comfortable in agreeing to. I suspect, in my paranoid reality, that there was so much groundwork in The Pro's gameplan already in place, that they knew the second option was going to be their pick -- sabotaging our terms by inventing clauses like 'possible construction in six months'. No, we're not bitter, not at all. Again, just my twisted view, but we're having some problems establishing credibility.

The other place was a husband and wife owner who liked us very much, but not enough to prevent them from bumping us from the top of the list in favor of some other couple. So, its' off to renters purgatory -- serviced apartments with a deluxe kitchenette and a daily rate. Good news / Bad news is that we get to do this again next weekend, engine running and deposit in hand.

posted by ncawthon at 2:39 PM