A Flat to Let (*spoiler alert* 2 of 2)

Having failed on the first day out I figured I'd better keep at it. I started checking the listings on my phone until it became compulsive to the point where I'd look for stuff posted in the past 24 hours and be disgusted that nothing amazing came up. When anything half-decent was issued I'd ring "RightMove is connecting you" and ask for the earliest appointment they had. The agents on the other end either couldn't care less and wished I'd never have lived let alone called them, or demanded all my details and knew more about me than my father by the end of the conversation. The first that I was set to see was cancelled when I called to confirm, as was the second and third. The fourth seemed very promising and I took the morning to truck it into the city centre, paid to park, arrived early, only for the agent with a smirk on his face to say "Bad news, chap, it's just been let. Someone overseas sight-unseen." His advice was to wait a month as the influx of students was causing a huge spike in demand. A month! I couldn't sit still so I kept up the hunt but the majority were cancelled, and the very few I did take the time to view were crossed off the list within moments.

And then it happened - a unique house with neat furniture, lots of space and a really cool location. I saw it only ten minutes after it was posted and called and secured a viewing - though I soon learned it was a block viewing (open house). Unwilling to let it get away I asked my agent for advice - should I just throw down on it right now? She steered me away from that and even when I asked her to weasel me an early viewing they told her they didn't take deposits without viewing anyhow. I went down that very night, walked the hood, peered over the gate, calculated distances, scoped the "local" pub, even walked the canals to the train station. Then the next day with my weekend coming up I glanced at the listings again (as I was prone to do) and didn't see my chosen one on the list. Sure enough the landlord had taken it off the market for more renos and would be putting it back up around Christmas. I was heartbroken.

A site visit for work took me out of the housing bubble for a few days which was fine as my agent had arranged another day, this time for myself and my newly arrived colleague, Heather, for my first day back from site. Work commitments nearly had me miss it but I made it back in time. "And a good thing too," I thought, as the very first property had real potential. "One of us will take this" I reasoned until I saw the second and fourth properties (3 was in a neat building but was crap) and realised that there were OK properties available after all (in part because our budget had forcibly expanded.) By lunch I had a favourite and Heather was debating between two and magically there was no overlap.

But I had a hunch about the next place. In a slightly off the beaten path location, promising a rather uncommon balcony, and actually coming in just under budget I really hoped it would be swell. When we arrived through a sea of street art only to have another tagalong on our viewing and only five minutes to view it, the odds seemed stacked against me. Then I stepped out onto the balcony. Woo-eee that needs to be considered.

My agent was against the location and even against the carpets and wanted to get me out of there but I quickly snapped some pictures and then we had to rush across the city to be 25 minutes late for an overpriced but ok flat. The rest cancelled except some hole I'd already viewed and before I knew it the time was 4:15pm and the pressure was on to try and reserve something by 5, lest the day slip away and all the viewings be let, leaving it all for naught and having to start again. I asked to drive by the neighbourhood again as I hadn't explored it before.

With time ticking and both my female companions silently telling me not to pick the balcony something inside me kept calling for it to happen. (But you already knew that because I tipped my hat paragraphs ago.) Not being overly decisive we called to inquire further and then had a back and forth with the agent who had to call the absentee landlord. Nothing was accomplished before day's end and my agent reminded me that if I didn't put an offer in on anything that I was likely to lose out. That evening I mulled and I explained and I received pep talks and by dessert I was pretty sure and then by 6am my dreams were waking me to get it going. I managed to wait until 9:03am before I called to follow up. 

No landlord response. No confirmation. More paperwork. No callback. I was getting anxious. 

Texts were sent and answered but still no resolution. End of business day came and went and my agent reminded me that any chance of a second choice was essentially gone but by now I was determined. Then the phone rang. The letting agent had been in touch with the landlord. 

They would cover the cost of the extra cleanup. They would accept my one year lease with a six month break clause. They would take it off the market. It was mine! 

Well in two months when it closes it will be mine anyhow, and I sure do hope it'll be worth the effort, and the wait.