I went to the big smoke on the weekend. It was good doing 'city' things like shopping in bookshops, going out to dinner, buying wine in a decent wineshop, going to a concert and to the pictures. Another reason for being there was to buy a city apartment. The Old Girl rents at the moment as she spends about three days a week on average in Auckland and as that looks to be a long-term thing we thought it best to own rather than pay rent. We have seen quite a cross section of apartments from glamourous (unaffordable) to tiny (unliveable). Most are pretty small compared to what we are used to varying from 19 sq.m (true) to 50 sq.m. Our cat loves to sleep in cardboard boxes but damned if I will.
Overseas students and people who have lived in other cities - mostly Asian from Hong Kong, China, Japan and Singapore - are quite used to this and happily spend their days cooped up like lab rats. I find it difficult as I am mildly claustrophobic and like a bit of space around me. The higher the ceiling the better and, if the place is small, windows and a deck are essential. A a result we have found it difficult to find what we want - that is until Saturday. We viewed a 42 sq.m. apartment close to AUT in the 'student quarter'. It was in a good building that is managed by Quest hotels. This meant that it had a good entranceway, well maintained lifts, clean and tidy carpeted hallways etc. It was also fully furnished including all whiteware and had the necessary windows and balcony. We put an offer in and signed the papers. It all looked like a go. Unfortunately we missed out by $3k. This was a shame but it demonstrated our commitment to spend and in our minds underscored how much we are willing to spend. Our offer was $140k from an asking price of $159k which is about a 12% reduction. The apartment sold at $143k which is about 10% below asking price. It is still a hell of a lot of money for a 42 sq.m box but believe me, the standard of some of the boxes some people live in is appalling. We will keep looking.
5 comments:
Something will come up.
Keep your chin up, old man.
Something will come up.
Keep your chin up, old man.
Hey, I said that twice! Aunty does that a lot.
Well, I do have double chins.
I used to live in a tiny flat in Birmingham and commute home to Scotland at the weekends (a round trip of 12 hours).
I hated it. No fresh air, no friendly neighbours, no space. Luckily my company was paying the rent, but from what you describe the money being asked for is just silly.
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