THE SEARCH FOR A PLACE

One problem I hear of that people often encounter in a quest to live a comfortable life is getting a good apartment. These days, it is now a business for different persons to look for houses for those who want them, which is cool. Here in Nigeria we call them house agents. Unlike before when you have to go around looking for a house in an environment you like or feel it’s conducive. But due to how some people are, it is normal to expect that they will most times want to get greedy and bossy with things like this and that’s what we see almost everyday.

Most of these house agents have made it very hard for just anyone to look for an apartment to rent without going through any agent at all. Personally, I think that is not fair but I also understand that they are just trying to make a living but if it is at the expense of someone else it is no different from those trying to rob people on the street. The painful part is that sometimes the houses might not be as expensive but these agents will call an outrageous price as their commission for looking for the house for people. I have even heard of cases that the landlord had to intervene to save some of his aspiring tenants.

I haven’t really being in a position for searching for an apartment to live in. I find it too stressful and personally I’ll prefer to use an agent but because of some bad agents I have heard of, it worries me to want to go for an agent. Although, I’m very sure there are some good ones out there. But that aside, I think one of the best ways I’ll want to look for an apartment is knowing people in that field and also speaking up and as well asking for help. I’m actually blessed with so many people around me and I’m sure there are some that are specialized in this area of house hunting. So if you have people around you, you will actually be at an advantage more compared to those who like doing things alone.

I remember when I gained admission into the university, searching for a place to stay was one of the challenges I thought I’d faced. Luckily for me, I already told someone about it about a year ago and she kept asking me if I had gotten my admission. When I finally got it, she was one of the first persons I called to ask if her apartment is still vacant and she said yes and that was all I had to do. I knew where she lived and it is one of the best apartments here in this area that every student would want to live in. But thanks to her, I didn’t have to go through the stress of paying agent fee and all.

So one way I go about making the best choice when choosing an apartment to live in is by knowing someone who has lived there before or at least asking previous tenants for reviews first. If they have so much concerns then that would be a red flag. Also, I try to consider things like electricity, water and proximity to things that I feel should be necessarily available. If all these things are in place, I think picking an apartment will be easy and I can be rest assured that it will be at least close to what I envisioned in my mind.

This is my response to the hivelearners topic for this week on FOR RENT.

Thank you for reading through. ❤️