notes on three days spent house-hunting

[raven]

I wrote this yesterday on a fast train out of London Euston that was at first a slow train out of London Euston, with the staff announcing that only one northbound track was open and it was the slow one, but they were going to be allowed to switch tracks soon - and then the train did it, and apparently sped up from thirty to nearly a hundred miles an hour in about half a minute. Mine are small pleasures.

(Ditto small pleasure: spotting my father getting off the train on the next platform just as the one I was on skimmed out. I must remember to ask if he saw me.)

So, I spent Saturday in Oxford, had a lovely unexpected dinner and ice-cream with gavagai and vkbar, and Lashings were on at the East Oxford Community Centre, unplugged and in fine form. This must be the fourth or fifth time I've seen one of their shows, and besides they used to rehearse in the front room of the house I was living in at one time, so on one level they are comfortably familiar to watch, and on another level any material they do that is new to me is especially sharp by contrast. Afterwards, they and their hangers-on staggered to Port Mahon and I got ridiculously drunk on gin. It was a good time.

I have been house-hunting since Sunday. Some observations:

1. It's thirty-five degrees and sunny in Ithaca. In Cambridge it has been ten degrees and horizontal rain; twenty-five degrees and choking humidity; crystalline sunset where you take your jumper off and put it back on four times in half an hour; dry, wet, cold, hot, grim, grey, intense with glare, repeat. I have found this mostly baffling.

2. Letting agencies the world over are vilely awful people. I had this insight in the shower the other day and have since felt the urge to share it with as many people as possible: letting agencies treat tenants rubbishly because tenants are not their clients. Landlords are their clients, tenants are the commodity they serve up, neatly packaged and homogenous. It's like Kelloggs being nice to branflakes, it's a category error.

3. ...and this would be why we got shuffled, rescheduled, and on one occasion entirely forgotten about by at least four different letting agencies. Shim and I kept on explaining, over and over, that no we do not live in the city, we are here from Oxford, we cannot do this time or that time we can do the time we specified a week ago, and still they kept at it. One agency forgot to tell us entirely that they'd let a property until we went there and called them and went, hi, where are you. It was frustrating.

4. Dear Google Maps: Cambridge, England. Not Cambridge, MA. Really. Really really. I guess the fourteen previous times I have made this correction have not stuck. (Especially infuriating when the address is something generic like X, Green Street, Cambridge, and it puts you somewhere near Harvard Yard and refuses to move.) That said, the smartphone has proven its worth on this trip - when the maps were working they worked very well, and so did bus timetables, looking up letting agency details, nearby public toilets when I was fed up, etc., etc. I keep thinking it is just going to store more and more of my preferences and eventually become smarter than me.

5. And after all of that, we did find a place! Fingers crossed it works out: it's pending referencing and whatnot, but the letting agent actually seems both nice and competent. They have been somewhat fazed by the fact I do not have a) a current employer or b) a current address, but progress has been made.

...so. Fingers crossed. It's a wee flat, mostly green, sparsely furnished with plenty of room for bookcases, and I will not jinx it by providing any more detail just yet, but it's a great weight lifted.

6. And Cambridge is beautiful. It really, really is. I keep being upset with it for not being Oxford, I s'pose. But the sun was shining, people were out on the streets wearing summer dresses and carrying parasols, it was all heartbreakingly picturesque. I saw a man, a small boy, and an even smaller dog fishing in the Cam; two friends carrying a straw hat and a chocolate cake; a woman wearing a jacket marked "Police Community Support Officer" and eating an ice lolly. The other night Shim and I crossed the river at Jesus Green after dark and saw fire-spinners on the other side, one with a staff with flames at each end, and the other hula-hooping a ring of torches. It was beautiful, reflecting into the surface of the water, and a little eerie in the evening heat.

So. So, we shall see. Much paperwork, much moving. Much slack-jawed peering at bed linens in John Lewis. But I feel good about it.

Comments

[thingswithwings]

Oh, congrats on (maybe) finding a flat! That's such an annoying process, and it's always such a relief when it's over, I find.

Ithaca has been gorgeous and sunny and beautiful just to spite you. We went swimming in the waterfall the other day, and the sun was hot and the water was cold-cool and life was good.

[livrelibre]

Yay on finding a place! It is such a relief to have that mostly settled.

[toft]

Hey! Congrats on apartment-hunting, that is awful. A friend of mine was recently telling me about apartment hunting in Cambridge, coincidentally (she was looking for a friend who's coming there for a year), and it sounds horrendous. Fingers crossed on the place!

[brightlywoven]

All of this is *extremely* exciting! (Even staring at bed linens in John Lewis, I can't even tell you how much fun I found/find it mooching around homewares stores with T. I shouldn't, but I do)

And when I am tempted to dismiss tabland as being inferior by virtue of being not Oxford, I re-read the opening of the 4th chapter of Dirk Gently and remember it can't be all bad.

[raven]

Oh, I miss you guys! <3 Is the puppy still denser than water? Is it wrong I still find this hilarious?

[raven]

ohmygod, yes. Now I am looking at my books and having happy daydreams about IKEA bookcases. Also, hi! I miss you!

[livrelibre]

Nothing says truly settled in until you have most of your books around you:) Miss you too!

[raven]

Thank you! I have my fingers crossed, too, and all my other extremties, until I have the keys in hand. :)

[raven]

It is so EXCITING, though. I have never looked at linen with such interest. I do not even want to go into the sociopolitical ramifications.

I have not read Dirk Gently since I was about twelve. I think it is overdue a re-read!

[sir-rosealot.livejournal.com]

My flathunting was very similar! I ended up looking up flats on the internet on my phone and calling letting agents from a cafe until one had a suitable flat that hadn't just been taken! And now I am about to go to bed in it for the second night! Are pictures of yours still up online?

[biascut.livejournal.com]

letting agencies treat tenants rubbishly because tenants are not their clients

Ha, Helen had exactly this insight during our last bout of rental-flat-hunting. I think it may even have been in the shower. She also delighted in sharing this insight with MANY.

[stained_glass]

CAMBRIDGE. I think my big problem at the moment is that, yes, it's not Oxford. I'm sure it's perfectly nice, but it's not Oxford. And it makes me anxious.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I've only been to one Lashings show, and have fond memories of being a hanger-on for the night.

As for letting agencies, it's a long time since I've dealt with them, but the way I was treated varied a lot depending on the business. What you say is true, though, about potential tenants being a commodity; though many of them can be brusque towards landlords, too. I'm glad you've found somewhere, though.

[helixaspersa.livejournal.com]

Cambridge is *so* much nicer than Oxford! Really! (I've been in both places twice.) Glad you found somewhere to live anyway.

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

I look forward to the potential for seeing you both more! Gotta say, though, I am basking in the weather over here, after the last week in Cambridge. (Well, that and getting seriously dehydrated, but I daresay I'll have recalibrated my water intake soon.)

I hope hope hope that the place you have works and does not fall through, but just in case it does and you have not already come across it: the Cambridge Accommodation Noticeboard allows you to avoid dealing with letting agencies. (Declaration of interest: it is run by my dad.)

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

I wrote this yesterday on a fast train out of London Euston that was at first a slow train out of London Euston, with the staff announcing that only one northbound track was open and it was the slow one, but they were going to be allowed to switch tracks soon - and then the train did it, and apparently sped up from thirty to nearly a hundred miles an hour in about half a minute. Mine are small pleasures.

Pfft; that's not a small pleasure; it sounds massively exciting. Hurrah for fast-accelerating trains!

Ooh, I was in Cowley on Saturday night as well, walking my sister to and from the O2. Shame I didn't see you (although I suppose it might have been a bit stalkery).

Congratulations on finding a place! I hope it works out and you don't have to plunge back into the hell of flat-hunting; green and bookcase-space both sound like wonderful attributes for a flat to have. Best of luck with it all.

[hathy-col.livejournal.com]

Our letting agent was only nice to us because it turns out her mum owns the flat and it's been empty for ages and they were desperate for us to take it. (That said, she was also the lady that advised Richie not to look at a certain flat because "the street it's on, well, there are loiterers. Lady loiterers. At night. And you sound like a nice chap.")

Other agents were akin to THE DEVIL, cancelling viewings and double-booking them and ARGH. Glad you hopefully found a good one. *crosses fingers desperately*

My memories of Cambridge grow ever more fuzzy, but you should see if the man who sells The Big Issue is still outside the Sainsburys by Jesus College. He was ace.

[chiasmata]

We went into it this time round with the attitude that we had one day to view flats in, and we would damn well put down a holding deposit on one by the end of the day. (This was partly because at this stage in the year, neither of us had much annual leave remaining and also, petrol is expensive.) Luckily, it worked out, but it could quite easily not have done.

Neither of the two landlords whose houses I have rented through an agency have had any time whatsoever for the letting agent in question. I can only conclude that NOBODY involved in the process of renting property actually likes letting agents.

[fyrdrakken]

Congrats on finding a place and I'm glad Cambridge is a lovely city!

[tau_sigma]

letting agencies treat tenants rubbishly because tenants are not their clients

Oh dear. Oh dear very much. I did not have this problem at all with viewing houses to buy, but in that scenario, it's best for all concerned if I buy the house.

(ohgod why did they let me BUY A HOUSE I AM TOO YOUNG)

It sounds lovely, and I shall look forward to visiting you sometime. *g*

[tau_sigma]

"the street it's on, well, there are loiterers. Lady loiterers. At night. And you sound like a nice chap.")

AHA HA HA HA HAAAA. Oh dear.

(There is a street in Nottingham, it's the street on which the Boy's High School is on, and every so often Anwar drives me down it and we see how many, um, loiterers we can spot. WE R ROMANTIC TRUFAX.)

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Ah, but it is one step MORE evil than this. The real clients are the banks; landlords are their customers, we are the product and the letting agencies help the landlords service the banks.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

They're not, I think! But my own are better, and I'm going to put those up somewhere shortly. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I think this is not true in all cases, but depressingly plausible a lot of the time.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Are you going to be visiting Cam soonish, did you say? It would be nice to see you!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I remain unconvinced. But we shall see!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

. (That said, she was also the lady that advised Richie not to look at a certain flat because "the street it's on, well, there are loiterers. Lady loiterers. At night. And you sound like a nice chap.")

oh my god this is AMAZING. ahahaha.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you! If agencies are awful to everyone, I am beginning to think they are just a scourge.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Fingers crossed, we're still okay, and setting a moving date pretty soon. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much! I'm really hoping it works out, but I think I may not let out the breath I'm holding till I have the keys. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I think estate agents, as opposed to letting agents, are pretty nice - their customers are in much shorter supply. :)

You must come and visit, yes! I will poke you about it once we are moved in.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

That was very similar to Shim's and my experience, alas. Glad it worked out for you, too!

[stained_glass]

I should be, sure - I need to visit Fitzwilliam! When will you have moved there? *hugs*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

We will be moving on July 4th, all things going as planned! As we speak I am making a list of pots and pans and bedding and kitchen utensils and other such things...

[dougs.livejournal.com]

I have a thing (an exciting thing) I want to send to you in the next week or so, and I don't know where to send it -- could you pop a suitable postal address in an email to dougs at dougs dot org dot uk for me please?