House Hunters International??

I wish it were that easy. Three houses, a quick discussion and then a decision. All in thirty-minutes! Well, 20-minutes when you factor in commercials. Definitely not our case.

We were informed that houses and flats for let (rent) are very tight, right now. Not many people are moving and giving up what they have. Our situation made it even tighter. We really need a second room for baby (and guests) and we also really wanted a small garden so that the dogs could go in and out as they pleased. Also, something with a ten-minute or less walk to a tube station was a must.

We met with our realtor (well, I'm sure he has a different title, here), Erryl, on Thursday morning. Erryl is actually kind of a niche in a weird real estate system.

Here in the UK, realtors are called estate agents. Estate agents are sometimes not a trustworthy crowd. Not all. But, as Erryl put it, "You have to watch out for the sharks." Erryl is more of what we are used to in the US. He searches for properties that fit our needs and then has to schedule appointments with these estate agents to view each one. He is familiar with most of London, but may not know about the property. So, we have to rely on the fact that the estate agent understands our standards and what we need. Though, he's sort of a middle man... Erryl was our best bet to see different areas and give an honest opinion about each area and flat. He is paid by Scott's company to help find us something, so he's not pushing us to take something just to make a commission.

We had been emailing Erryl prior to our meeting. As our day drew near, Erryl informed us that there were no availabilities in the areas we were hoping to look (and had discussed with him earlier). The main problem is finding a place that will let to pet owners. But, he found us several things to look at in the Chiswick area (pronounced Chis-ick). At this time, he also mentioned that he wanted to show us a town called Cobham. Cobham is out side of London and close to Surrey (if not Surrey). Also on the list was Richmond, Kew, Ealing, Acton and St. Margaret's. I was not happy about Cobham. I knew I would like it, but I didn't want Scott to have that kind of commute.

Our first day was spent mostly in Chiswick, as that is where about 70% of the properties were. We found Chiswick's high street (an area's main drag) to be very neighborhood like and lots of shopping. Scott, also, had a fairly close walk to the nearest tube. It seems to be a good area for people our age with children.

We, on that day, found a place that we were pretty set on. It's a ground floor conversion (a house that is now a two floor flat). We would have the lower floor and the garden. In fact, about half of what we looked at were conversions. We were the first to look at the property and expressed to the estate agent that we were interested. This sort of means that we have the first right to make an offer. I believe if she gets another before hearing from us, then she has to contact Erryl. We knew that this place would not last long and were anxious to get through the next day. Oh yeah, we did find a great place in Putney. But, the Putney area didn't seem as charming as Chiswick. So, I guess you could call Putney a second choice.

So, day two. Because there are so few places available currently, Eryll had to resort to searching with Foxton's. Foxton's is the largest estate agency in London. If you google real estate (or similar) in London, Foxton's is the first hit you get. Though they are large, according to Erryl, they are not reputable. He only uses them as a last resort. The majority of the properties that we looked at this day were almost all Foxton's. And let me just say, they were all very disgusting and quite sad. Erryl was very disappointed and wouldn't even take us into some of them. These seemed to be in areas that were all, should I say... on the line? Also, the flats themselves were all very unkept... even the vacant ones. We finally had one glimmer of hope at the last Foxton's property in St. Margarets. It was a newly updated 3-story flat with a great use of space and large closets. The draw back was that it was on an extremely busy street that had traffic 24-hours. Big deal, right? Well, yeah... when you don't have air conditioning and have to open the windows, it is. But, finally it was a relief to know that the entire day hadn't been a waste, we did find something that could kind of be a third choice.

So... off to the country we go. Cobham was about a 30-minute drive from St. Margarets. The high street was great - much more there than I was expecting. The country side was still part of the town. Great parks and walking areas and a refurbished mill that still operates on the weekends. As it turns out, Scott's commute would only be about 30-minutes longer because of fewer stops on the train.

We only had one house to look at in Cobham and made our way there. About a 15-minute walk from high street, and shorter walk to the train. The house was great. Just on the market. Only four-years old and much more like what Americans are accustomed to. Still a very English floorplan, but very bright with tons of windows and wooden shutters. A larger garden with deck and a garage. Though, it was a short walk to high street, a car would still be a little more necessary since things were a little more spread out.

After seeing this place, we went back to town and had a coffee. Many calculations later, commute debates, etc., we decided on Cobham. So, Erryl called and put our offer in and we headed back to London. Keep in mind that this is Friday and that we are in a panic to hear something because if this fell through, we didn't want to lose the house in Chiswick. Which we heard was about to receive an offer.

Finally about 6:00PM, we heard from Eryll. The property estate agent on the Cobham house called him and told him that the woman decided she wanted to pull the house off the market. Her agent was furious as she should be. A total waste of her agents time, Erryl's time and our time. Luckily, Erryl immediately called the agent for the Chiswick house and told them we wanted it prior to calling us. We are first in line and we've offered asking price. So, now all we have to do is wait. Since it was so late in the day, I'm sure we won't know anything until Monday. So, stay tuned! AND KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED!!