The Drought Chronicles - Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

It ain't over until it's over

With the last update on our "drought chronicles" dating from 8 days ago, and can be read here I thought it was time for a little update. Since that update, we still have not heard anything from our landlord (or his brother), so hearing from him personally was more than two weeks ago and his brother's last message 13 days ago.

You probably wonder why we didn't send anything after the e-mail we wrote on that Wednesday but that's because we have a plan. Our goal is not to get it fixed within the next days but to leave effective immediately as soon as we have another home to move into. This moment could be just 1,5 weeks away.

Listings, listings, listings

For weeks, my priority was going through all listings and reply to them, make profiles on the real estate websites rather than replying on the housing website etc. I can't see another listing today, I swear I had enough of people not even responding. It feels like such a waste of time. But one has to be determined to find another home here, so I kept going. Lots of headaches further, I had an idea.

While in contact with the real estate department of our accountant's company, we thought maybe, just maybe they have a temporary home available for us so that we can cut ties with our current landlord before he finally fixes the issue (meaning we get back our deposit as he's not living up to the contract) rather than we leaving after it's fixed and us losing the deposit. We wanted to leave anyway, this whole mess is just speeding up the process x10.

Breach of contract

We were advised not to pay rent anymore, we already paid this month's rent at the 5th of the month though, while being without water for several days. Of course, at that point, you don't expect to be without water for weeks to follow. At the moment they stopped responding, I was determined to leave before the matter is fixed and not follow up on the status ourselves either because it will cost us money if we do and he manages to fix it. We're going to use the situation to our advantage now.

Change of approach

While I've been responding to every suitable (even those with lots of negative points) in another region, I decided this was going to take too long and I had to change my thinking. Without discussing it first, I looked for homes in our area and having pets, only three were available with our filters. Just three! One out of three was a big no, having a balcony with greenhouses as your view, we both hate those areas with emphasize so no way we'd ever move to such a place, lol. The other one had shitty furniture in total so that one was a big no too. The one left had a view to die for and even looked good on pictures as well.

Ticks all the boxes and more

Not only does it have a garage, but also a storage which makes me so happy after years of always having some boxes or suitcases in sight in our rooms. One thing that I already wiped of our dealbreaker list was a pool. Before this mess happened, we said we'd never move to a home without a pool in the building anymore. That demand got wiped a few weeks ago as I felt like we had to act and be more flexible. But that pool is available here!

Fast reply

While I sent so many messages on various mediums, I sent this private owner a message to receive an answer within 10 minutes that she's going to do the first visits the next day with a proposed time for us to visit. Gosh, is this seriously going to happen? The only thing left now was showing it to my boyfriend, who had his objections first, but by now he had something negative to say about every home, none were really good enough if we'd not have to move fast. The home is much bigger than we have now, three bedrooms, a good kitchen and the only things that I don't like are the bathroom and toilet with small bath. But if that's the sacrifice and we live in a much better home, I'll take it.

A day to get used to the idea

While we were both already with our heads back in the other region, we both started to see that this was the best move for us, it would also mean the little one can stay in this school with the difference it will be a car drive every day because then it's not within walking distance anymore. We checked the building the evening before the visit and see how much of an upgrade this is.

Also, a closed community, with a gate, meaning the kids can play within the gated area as well, this is something I've missed here for our daughter. It also means we could finally buy bikes as we have the storage for them as well.

The visit

I admit that the pictures were probably those used for the first ad before the current tenants because it didn't look that great anymore. Yet we both saw this was going to be the best homely home for us available and it would be easy to make our own. The view did a lot too, and my boyfriend already sees himself working with that ocean view, lol. So do I. The landlord was a young lady, very friendly, the feeling was good. We told her about the water issue and that we have a 1 bedroom home now. I think she fell for the cute daughter trap, but you never know if she liked the other possible new tenants as well.

We're now waiting with excitement until (probably) tomorrow when she has feedback from the insurance which is mandatory. It should not be an issue as I've been told before by other brokers, but hey, until it's a yes, it's still not certain.

Hoping to get back to normal soon

Although a yes for the apartment would mean a lot of things to get done such as moving internet and electricity contract etc, not to forget informing our current landlord that we leave as well as making sure we won't have to sleep on the bad matrasses for too long once we have the key. Yet, I feel that once this is all sorted, I can also focus on other things again because the last weeks all my energy and focus went towards listings and getting the matter solved one way or the other. It's insane how that drains a person, the letting go of things and hoping someone else indeed fixes it is something I find hard to deal with.

Thankfully, once we move into this apartment, we know this is our final tenant situation because then it's saving towards a deposit for our own home next. I can't wait to start that journey!

That's all I had to update, thanks everyone for checking in and sending positive vibes our way. I hope the next update is one where I can say the positive vibes worked their magic and we are close to moving to our new home.

Have a lovely Sunday evening and good week ahead, hopefully until soon!

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