We are now in the middle of a big househunt.  We are still looking for a new place to rent.  We are not yet in that stage that we can buy a house but we are also not satisfied with living in a condo apartment right next to the big old EDSA.

Last week, we almost signed up on a lease.  We found a nice and spacious house with a nice view of Eastwood and Antipolo and is on a high elevation, about 15 minutes by car from our office.  It is located inside a well-secured and  relatively posh subdivision.   We thought we were getting a good deal but one day before signing up, the deal went off.  We kind of chickened out! Here’s why:

• we didn’t like the landlady, she was extremely arrogant and sometimes way too defensive to say the least and we felt kind of pressured to sign the lease quickly because she claimed that there was another family willing to pay 10,000 more than what she’s offering us.  Of course, she says she likes us because we were just a couple compared to the other one which is a big family complete with elderly inlaws.
• we showed the contract to a friend and we felt that 3 months deposit is just too much.  The normal was only 2 months advance / 2 months deposit.  To say the least, we were not comfortable with the whole agreement.
• my cousin made us realize we are a bit crazy to consider the idea of living in a 6 bedroom house with just the two of us.  it’s just not that simple! reality hit us and we saw the light.  And she said, there are a lot of choices around the area and it is not a good idea to do this hastily.  Also, on a lighter note, she warned us to check if someone recently died in that house or is known to be haunted.. hehe you’ll never know if the house comes with someone from the “other side” watching  it day and night. Brrr!
• we became a bit suspicious that she’s hiding something from us that’s why she’s in a hurry

We already saw a lot of houses.  We are quite surprised at the variety of ugly, old, dingy houses at the price range we are in.  Some houses did not even look livable but they said that someone just left it a week ago and it was even a Doctor.   Maybe it was Dr. Frankenstein that lived there who knows.  It’s really really sad what tenants do to houses they don’t own and is equally sad how the owners don’t even care to clean up the mess, and touch it up before showing it to prospective renters.  There was even a townhouse where dead bugs were scattered all over the place!  One of the landlords wanted someone to signup and put up a deposit before they fix the house. I say, forget it!

Not all houses were bad.  However, only about 2 out of 10 seems to be in acceptable condition.  There were brand new ones where we would be the first renters.  The monthly rent, of course was on the higher end of our budget.

This afternoon, it’s househunting time again.  I have a big list of houses to visit and hopefully I won’t mess up the appointments