House Hunting

End of First Year. House hunting time! OK it is not the most romantic subject, but a job to do.

As you no doubt imagine, this task was not the magical mystery tour for me as it can be for many others. The questions are deeply ingrained in my head: Is there a reliable and fast net connection? How safe does it feel if you go out by yourself at night? How safe is it, actually? How is heat, and in my case, aircon? Roaches, Bedbugs? Are the neighbours noisy? How far is the nearest supermarket and pub?

The University is keen to point out the number of student properties in the city is more than sufficient to account for the combined number of students in the area. That means that the range of accommodation on offer is quite consistent in price and quality -- it varies most according to its distance from the main part of the campus. Being prepared to walk or take a bike for a few minutes back and forth can save you a lot of money. (Remember, though, a pleasant ride in September will turn into a dirty and dangerous nightmare in January.) In other places, it's really important to check on the bus service. A friend of mine, in a University in a bigger city and a year ahead of me, had a bad experience: he hadn't realized that he'd need to change buses twice to get to the University in the morning and twice more back to his house in the afternoon. What took about seven minutes in the car in September took almost an hour in rush hour for the rest of the year.

Given all that, I was determined to be cautious and picky. The experience of making some bad snap judgements in the past has reinforced this way of thinking. That being said it took two days of looking and six properties before our group settled on a house. In all honesty, it is a truly cracking setup. Otherwise, I would not have been happy with making a decision in such a short timeframe and the deal looks to be a good one. We were all very much in favour of the property from the initial viewing. Although, I felt it necessary to force at least an hour of deliberation to ensure we were not missing anything obvious.

The problem that I encountered was the Guarantor form, or rather lack therefore of. As neither of my parents work (one is retired and the other is soon-to-be retired), this ruled them out from signing one. I understand that if you are a student with no credit history and no references then the need for a guarantor is justified. After all, if you are running an agency then one of your responsibilities is to find tenants who can pay and will pay. But hold on a sec, I do have references, I do have a credit history and I do have proof of funding for the next couple of years, so should that not be sufficient? It was good enough for my previous Landlords/Agencies. Apparently not, judging by the expression of one of the women in the office. She hadn't seen anyone in my situation before, and had no idea to respond. Not quite "Computer says no", but not far off. Perhaps I would like pay a year in advance? No thank you. Call me old fashioned, but I'm not keen on trusting my bank with that kind of money. Fortunately persistence and patience pays off: a word with the director of the company and sanity prevailed.

Now the place to live for the next year is settled, better make sure I'm still at the University to enjoy it :).