kz
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
User status: Offline
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It's driving me insane!
Finally looking to move out of home and in with the missus (both living with our mums atm) I'm refreshing Rightmove 4 times a day lol. So far we've called about 9 properties, seen a couple and been totally duped once  I have to admit she's a lot less fussy than me... I'm looking for 3 things to be perfect really, i.e. location, price and decor. We were originally going to buy but we've decided to rent for the first 12 months or so, and I thought it'd make me less fussy, but knowing you can't change anything inside, it's actually made me more fussy.
I've asked her for 3 more weeks then I'll drop my 3 prerequisites to just 2 of those things 
Any tips or general experiences of your first time renting? Ideally looking for a modern 2 bedroom apartment with a maximum budget of £825 p/m... within walking distance of either work, town centre or my mums house.
Doesn't particularly help that neither of us are driving atm 
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Gary
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Nov 06
Location: West Yorkshire
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Move up north. You'll get a 3 bed semi for that.
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Jimbothebarbarian
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 07
Location: Cumbria..........drunk..
User status: Offline
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To be fair all you should be bothered about is getting in someplace and banging the bird senseless. Be it in the bedrooms, bathroom, over the sofa, over the washing machine, so on and etc....
Worrying about anything else is for later life. Unfortunately you won't realise this until later life when alas its to late...
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evilrob
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Mar 12
Location: Your mum's house
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Try Primelocation - you can add keywords to the search like "refurbished" or "dishwasher" or whatever; gives you a little more granularity than Rightmove.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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quote:
Originally posted by Jimbothebarbarian
To be fair all you should be bothered about is getting in someplace and banging the bird senseless. Be it in the bedrooms, bathroom, over the sofa, over the washing machine, so on and etc....
Worrying about anything else is for later life. Unfortunately you won't realise this until later life when alas its to late...
Yeah don't worry about moving in next to drug dealers and having your windows smashed in...
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--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
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Can't believe how expensive it is darnnn sarffffff
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kz
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
User status: Offline
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I know mate for some reason I looked at areas near where my girlfriend's dad lives (near Nottingham) everything's bloody half price!
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Aaron
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Cottingham, East Riding
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If it's only for 12 months then why worry about the decor, or the fact that you can't change said decor?
A couple of points:
1. You're doing the right thing renting first before committing to a purchase with a girl. I did this and now we own a nice place. My friend DIDN'T do this and now he's stuck in a long fixed term mortgage with a nutter he can't get away from.
2. Speaking as a landlord, yes you can change things with the house you're renting, but you just need to get permission from the owner. You're never going to want to install an extension though are you...it'll just be a bit of painting here and there if anything (but once again, if you're only there for 12 months...what's the need?)
3. Speaking as a former tenant, just make sure you keep the place clean and tidy for potential inspections (if the estate agent do this...mine do), and make sure you report any issues which need sorting. The main luxury of renting is that you rarely have to pay for things which break. Boiler breaks...that's the landlords problem. Front door won't lock...that's the landlords problem. Bath tap won't turn anymore...that's the landlords problem.
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kz
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
User status: Offline
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Yes you make good points. 12 months is the aim... but I can see it going into 18-24 months tbh, she has no deposit saved up and wants time to get some to make a contribution for a mortgage application. We'll see!
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Jimbothebarbarian
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 07
Location: Cumbria..........drunk..
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Ben G
quote:
Originally posted by Jimbothebarbarian
To be fair all you should be bothered about is getting in someplace and banging the bird senseless. Be it in the bedrooms, bathroom, over the sofa, over the washing machine, so on and etc....
Worrying about anything else is for later life. Unfortunately you won't realise this until later life when alas its to late...
Yeah don't worry about moving in next to drug dealers and having your windows smashed in...
You're a bit of a drama queen ain't you sweetie pie xxx
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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If you say so...
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DaveyLC
Member
Registered: 8th Oct 08
Location: Berkshire
User status: Offline
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The rental market down south is mental at the moment, you literally have to decide while viewing and you'll probably even need to offer above the asking price for deposit to secure the place because there is so much demand! A friend of mine owns a few places that he lets out and a few of them are these little poxy one bed studio flats which he says when they come up for rental he has professional people looking for somewhere just outside of London to stay during the week literally fighting over them!
The last one he let there were 5 people who wanted it on the first day so he said who ever pays the biggest deposit gets it.. someone paid a years rent up front FFS!
[Edited on 26-01-2015 by DaveyLC]
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pow
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline
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It is indeed mad, I gave my place to someone who paid for a years rent up front!
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kz
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
User status: Offline
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Yeah someone paid a year up front for a place my uncle was renting @ £1,000 per month!
He drowned after a few months too, rough decision there. But that's another story.
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Generation
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Registered: 7th Jul 09
Location: Essex
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I'm renting a one bedroom flat out for £700 a month near romford. Demand is mental. First two people to see raced EACHOTHER back to letting agency to take it. Had so many calls same day and that was few ears ago now.
I think a 2 bedroom at that price is going to go
So fast, you're either going to
Up your game even more, or up the budget.
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ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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I think your priorities should be price, location and then decor. If it's a rental property then it ought to be fairly neutral anyway - you don't tend to get high design for £825pcm. If location is important then price has to give, if you're not so concerned on where it is then you can save money.
Also, if you find one you like, act fast! Don't worry if you've got appointments elsewhere on a viewing day. Just pay the deposit and take the property! When I last rented, I was viewing and lost two properties because I thought I'd go see the next one first. The next ones weren't as good and I'd lost the ones I wanted within 45mins 
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RichR
Premium Member
Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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quote:
Originally posted by pow
It is indeed mad, I gave my place to someone who paid for a years rent up front!
It's not dissimilar up North. We don't ever have to advertise our flats, they're all one bedroomed and aside from when they've been worked on, they've never been empty. I had a tenant move out last Saturday morning and a new tenant move in Saturday afternoon. Tenant one was paid up for another couple of weeks so I've technically got an overlap of 2 lots of rent coming in for 3 weeks.
Found out the couple in one of my ground floor flats has split up, waiting eagerly for them to announce they're moving out as I have a (semi) disabled guy, desperate for a ground floor, easy access flat who wants to move in tomorrow, today yesterday - if I can get him in, he'll be in for life as ground floor flats don't seem to exist in our local area - been in his current 3rd storey flat for 18 years; that's the tenants you want.
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RichR
Premium Member
Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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Oh, the new tenant last week paid a 2 month deposit and 1 month rent upfront without seeing the flat too-as said, move fast if you like it.
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kz
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
User status: Offline
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Wow, interesting stuff!
All I can say is that reading the above makes me feel like I'm really not all that desperate at all lol. I guess these people racing each other and paying up front without even seeing the place are in different situations to me... where maybe they have to get a place as soon as possible. I don't personally have any kind of rush other than my girlfriend moaning at me, I could easily take another 3-6 months to find a place and it wouldn't bother me at all.
Maybe the above people already got to that stage though 
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kz
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
User status: Offline
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Update: We got the first place we put an offer in for... maybe it's no so crazy round here after all
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