This time, we actually started thinking about moving in March or April. We thought about buying a place, so we spent a few weekends looking at apartments to buy until I totally freaked out at how much they cost, and we abandoned that idea and decided to rent. I think I wrote about this, but I just couldn't go from the most expensive thing I own being an engagement ring or computer to it being an apartment that's more than 1m in a city that I don't even feel very attached to. It was emotional (I am with Ariely that most money/general decisions are), and maybe not smart, but there was no option for me.
We decided to start looking to rent in mid-July in order to get an idea of which condo/s we would be happy in. We found two condos in a great location that are cheaper than similar condos, and we decided to limit our search to them. Our criteria were:
- Short and easy commute
- Oven (DIFFICULT to find in Singapore!)
- Bathtub
- 3 bedroom with a helper's room that is not a bomb shelter and is humane
- Near a grocery store and ideally a wet market
- Reasonable price
We saw a ton, but some were nasty dirty disgusting, and others had weird furniture or other things that were not negotiable. We tried to find a solution with one apartment (with a fantastic view!) in us paying for monthly storage of some of the horrible (and mouldy) furniture. It just didn't make sense. We expanded our search to include weekdays. Finally, the second (or third?) weekend, we went back to one dirty one, and we looked beyond the dirtiness (which after seeing others didn't seem so dirty afterall), and we realised that it was totally fine. We went back for a second look, and we decided it would be great.
Next steps in Singapore - we sign a Letter of Intent and put down a month's rent and tell them what we want them to do before we move in (i.e. CLEAN the entire thing, check appliances and air con, mend curtains, etc.). We went back to draw up the letter of intent, and we ended up meeting the landlord (we had previously met only the agent), and it turns out he's from Medan, where Matt's family lived in the 80s in Indonesia. Perfect - everyone was happy. I was especially relieved.
Then, we woke up the next morning and our agents had sent us the final version of the letter of intent. Matt had signed it before the details were filled in - it's our third apartment with these agents, and they had taken us around for months, literally, so we trusted that they had our best interests in mind. When we read through it, it was perfect - save one thing. It said that we would pay our agents S$2500. Um, what? Divide that by 12 months, and we just added $200 to the monthly rent/cost of living there! Granted they had negotiated the price down S$500 per month, but still - we had no idea. We called the agents, and we said how happy we are with the apartment, but that we had no idea that we were paying them. They had previously explained that if the monthly rent is above a certain amount that the landlord pays the agents and the tenants pay nothing. They had known that paying an additional agents fee had actually helped us decide not to take another apartment, as it adds on quite a bit. Where did this come from? Well - they knew all along that this landlord wouldn't pay them - he was straightforward about it. But...they just wanted us to have an apartment, since I was getting a bit antsy, and I'm pregnant, and whatever, so they didn't want to bother us with the details - they just wanted us to get in. "Don't worry - you don't have to pay us. We're friends, and we know you'll give us other business, and we're happy to help you out. Just think of it as a gift." So...if we don't pay you, you won't get paid for all of the time that you took us to look at places? "Yes - but we're really happy to do it." We KNOW there is something cultural going on here, but we don't know what it is. We didn't want to be American and push and push it, and yet we were being American by understanding that we were now legally bound to pay them this amount of money...we decided to deal with that later and get the apartment in order.
The Letter of Intent says that we will sign a lease within seven days. After seven days, we had not, and apparently the landlord was travelling...anyways - though I was nervous until it happened, FINALLY, earlier this week, he signed the document and emailed it over. So today, at noon, we will go sign a lease and get possession of this apartment.
I am NOT the most laid back person, and I don't claim to be, but this saga was particularly rough for me, and I do think that I can blame some of it on hormones. I want to be able to picture where we will be in labour and where we will bring the baby back to, and I want to be able to try to understand (though I know I won't really understand) what life will look like when the baby's born, and not having a picture of an apartment (or any furniture or anything) was really difficult for me. Plus, as I get bigger I realise that 1 - it's REALLY hard for me to pack and help do anything and 2 - this baby can come at any point, and I want to be really ready at 36 weeks, which is in two weeks...
All in all, it seems to be working out - we bought a beautiful dining room table and chairs, king size bed and coffee table from this couple who is moving back to the UK, and we bought a couch two weekends ago...so we have all of the essentials, and we're moving on Wednesday. I'm hoping for no major glitches. If something does fall through, I'm taking a flight to Bali (or Lombok) - assuming they let me on the plane - and staying there for a week until Matt can sort it out. I can guarantee that I wouldn't even be useful at this point.
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