That's right, we made it! Despite all the stress, the sleepless nights and the house-and-soul-searching episodes, we were able to find a suitable suite in time. No sleeping in the woods for this family, except when we go on a planned camping trip this summer, phew! And with the move already dealt with (watch for a blogpost on that topic soon!), it is time to look back at the whole process and savour some of the sweeter moments.
Having lost most of the anxiety I experienced before signing our lease, I can actually appreciate the fun, and at times even inspiring, parts of our quest. Typically, our house hunt would go like this:
1) we looked on craigslist to find available suites
2) we would contact the one who posted the ad and set a date for viewing
3) the whole gang would view the apartment
4) we filled in the application form
5) we got notified that someone else got the place
Now, in general, things started to get interesting from point 3 onwards. As with all craigslist-ads, there is the expected discrepancy between what is written in the ad and what reality looks like. Being an experienced craigslist-scrounger, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the scope of this discrepancy. Boy, was I wrong.
Our best/worst experience in this respect was the following: We found a basement suite on campus, for "only" $1600 a month. Aside from the excellent location, it offered ample square footage, natural light and luxurious carpets...at least, that was what it said in the ad. We met the realtor on site. He waited for us in the living room of the main house, peaking from behind the veil curtains like a nosy 85-year-old. He took us to the basement suite and immediately I understood why he had preferred to wait upstairs.
The place was damp, moldy and smelly. True enough, the bedrooms were big. The carpet was luxurious, especially if you took the generous serving of mouse-droppings in the corner as a sign of "welcome home" from the rodent family you were apparently sharing the suite with. After the 2 bedrooms, there was a lot of square footage left. Which was great...except for the fact that there were no suitable living areas left to assign these square feet to! The only part of the house that could possibly be the "living room" was a rectangular box-like space with concrete walls and floors, without any windows, heating or wall sockets. But the kitchen was the real seller on this one! It was big and spacious and the only part of the house that actually got some natural light. Too bad the view was blocked by a ginormous boiler that was placed smack in the middle of the space. The heating vents and pipes were all exposed and several power cords were crisscrossing the concrete floor. Overall it had the welcoming atmosphere of a prison kitchen. Oh, how I was looking forward to hosting dinner parties in such a cozy place! Then again, to prepare any kind of dinner, one would need at least a stove...which was missing...as well as a hood, a sink, any kind of countertop space or cupboards. Perhaps the truly inventive way to cook here would be to create a short-circuit in the exposed wiring and electrocute a steak until it was done.
Meanwhile, the stench got to Nori and she voiced our collective opinion by continuously shouting: "Peeeeehhhjjjooooooowwwwww, it STINKS in here! (waves her hand in front of her nose) Urngh, I really hope we are not going to live here because it is SMEEEEEELLLLLLYYYYYY! (pinches her nose shut and does a massive eyeroll) Yuck yuck yuck!" Now, usually I try to keep Nori from offending people, but this time I felt rather smug with my opinionated girl ;-)
Which brings me to the second fun part of looking for a new house; looking for a new house with 3 children in tow, our children in particular. Now, taking the Vancouver housing market into account, looking for a house is almost like a talent show. You want to impress the owner and make him consider you as a tenant. Right... Now, try looking your best while dealing with a stubborn toddler, a can-I-climb-this?-Nori and a let's-ask-some-frank-questions-Jura.
I still cringe at the memory of standing in the kitchen of a nice 2-bedroom basement with an owner that was just explaining how he liked his peace and quiet...with Jura and Nori in the backyard yelling at the top of their voices: "THIS IS AWESOME!!! THIS IS THE BEST YARD EVER!!!" Turns out the use of the yard was not included in the rent anyway, so no losses there. Another prime example of the embarrassment I had to endure was Jura asking each and every suite owner whether we would be allowed to have pets there. Including the suites that clearly stated in their ads that they were not pet-friendly. Or Jura trying out all the beds in a house and commenting on how comfy they were...or Jura snuggling up to every student, male or female, that showed us the suites they had been living in and sharing her day, and her biggest secrets, with them.
Nevertheless, we must be doing something right. Or maybe I am once again simply struck by the generosity of Canadians. Because although step 5 should have been the worst part of the house hunting process, it turned out not to be that bad. And this was due to the way the news was brought to us. Just some examples of what we read in our emails, hearing we did not get the place:
"It was great to meet you and your wonderful family, your kids have touched my heart"
"You have an amazing family and nothing short of wonderful will be in your future"
"I don't know much about children, but your daughters are very, very sweet" (from a Mathematics PhD student ;-) )
"It is so difficult for young families to find housing in Vancouver and it pains me to see a family like yours having to go through this ordeal"
Now, this may sound like bragging about how nice our kids are. But truth be told, it has puzzled me why people would take the effort to write something like this. It's not as if these people owed me anything or would ever have anything to do with me again. The last remark I quoted was even made by a lady that I had only emailed with and never met in real life! Perhaps it is just home-owner etiquette to write rejection emails like this. But it sure as hell made receiving those "sorry-we-picked-another-applicant" a lot easier to bear. It made me feel as if there is a human side to the crazy housing market in Vancouver. That people understand how frustrating it can be. And that some kind words can go a long way. Either that, or we are just good at making first impressions as a family...
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