This is certainly not easy. As a student, you would just look for accommodation that was labelled for students, or agents who provide for students. I did not realise this was such a privilege. Yes, I’m admitting my student housing life was a privilege compared to my adult housing life.
My journey was a little more difficult than normal, due to the pandemic. Where I was relocating for work was in a touristic area of the country, and I was starting work at the end of September, which meant most of my house hunting happened in the summer, when the majority of houses were let out as holiday lets. That was a nightmare. Thanks to covid ruining last summer, most people were making the most of staycations, and landlords loved it, and let out their residential places as holiday lets to make up for the losses. This increased the difficulty of finding a place, as I couldn’t really view houses. I was also moving 2 hours away from home, so when I did do viewings I tried so hard to get them on the same day, because driving a 4 hour round trip to view 1 house for about 20 minutes, was not worth the fuel. I was not earning money over that summer.
A big factor contributing to my struggles, was that the company I was going to work for, took a lot of new graduates, who coincidently also needed to relocate to the area. There was also another company which took a number of new starters. So, if you do the maths, about 100 people moving to the area in the space of about 1.5 months, and only 6 places available for rent on Rightmove per week, you can understand the difficulty. The landlords were in control, you send in a bunch of applications for various places, hoping to get accepted; it was literally like applying for placements again. It was stressful. I went through this, week in, week out between the end of July and beginning of October, basically 2.5 months. I wish I had started looking earlier.
There were so many factors that decided whether I wanted to settle for a place or not. Did it have parking? What was the parking like? What was the street like? Would I feel safe walking around here? How far is it from my potential place of work? Does the house need extra work? This last question is important. The number of houses I viewed in 2021 that DID NOT have a Wi-Fi port in the house was shocking. How were previous tenants living? Why would a landlord re-do the house, and seal all the holes where the Wi-Fi port would be, or where a satellite could be connected? WHY?! I ended up thinking I was crazy for thinking those were basic things to have in a house. Turns out I wasn’t, it’s perfectly normal to expect that. In hindsight, I should have made a list of what were things I was willing and not willing to compromise on with a property.
I eventually found a place and moved in 2 weeks after I started my job. Thankfully due to covid, our induction was on MS Teams, so I didn’t need to travel. The houses I ended up moving into, was not what I expected. But that’s what I get for not viewing it in person.
I know now that I should have a list of questions to ask the agent or landlord, and if they can’t give me a definitive answer that works for me, then I should drop them. I’ll tell you now, if I asked the questions that I now ask myself every day in this house, I’m very sure the agent couldn’t answer them for me, and I would not have applied for this house. If I had used the money that I am spending on rent to drive to work instead and kept looking for a place that met my needs, I not only would have saved money on rent, but I would also be living in a place I’d be comfortable living in. I didn’t need to rush, because when I met my manager, she said the next few weeks are for me to settle in, so if my timetable is a bit more varied, it’s fine. I wish I had that information sooner, but hey! It wouldn’t be adulting if everything in life went smoothly. That would be a fantasy.
Moral of my story:
- Start looking early- regardless of the pandemic, start looking for your new location early like 2-4 months. The application process can take a while, and it can fall through meaning you would have to start all over again. Give yourself that extra time.
- Have a list of basic things to look for in a house- These are things to know what to look for in the house. I’ll consider making a little tick list that you can update for your house search.
- View in person when you can- this can allow you to judge the place for yourself, but I’ll do another post on what to do if this option is not possible.
- Don’t rush- there is always time, and inform your employer, they will be considerate of your situation.
