Archive for the ‘Moving’ Category

Moving Tales II – Finding tools that work

Posted on February 12th, 2010 by Mel in Moving | No Comments »

I’ve been meaning to write a post about my progress of looking for a suitable flat for quite some time but couldn’t get around to it. Now, a few weeks later, it’s definitely time for an update about where we are.

We’ve visited seven flats until now, had, in addition to that, three visits cancelled on us because the flats were taken prior to our meeting and there is another visit scheduled for this coming Sunday. Of course, using immobilienscout24.de, we’ve done a thorough pre-selection according to our criteria explained in a previous post. In the end, all flats we visited are located in the area close to the main station but not too close either. Four of the eight flats are ones we’ll apply to – applications will go out this weekend – and there’s a clear favourite. Question is now only whether our application can convince the owner that we’re great people, totally calm, totally willing (and able) to pay the rent every single month and that we won’t be a bother for them. We’ll see, I guess.

Now, to the tools I used to get us where we are now: just before beginning to seriously search for a flat, I discovered Evernote 3.5 and immediately put it to use to store all information relating to the possible flats in addition to opening an account with immobilienscout24.de to save the flats. Using Evernote, despite the web clipper, was a bit of work, but it allowed me to use tags to sort through the images and text files and made it easy to find information quickly. It also has an iPhone app and since my spouse has a new iPhone, we tried that out as well. It worked reasonably well, but sifting through a couple hundred files – I had stored other information in Evernote by then as well – was painful, since the tags are useless in the iPhone app. One can’t search using them, one has to go merely by image or title of a file to find what one is looking for. At least, it allows to group files according to notebooks, but that is, alas, not sufficient to really use it for consultating files.

Eventually, it became too bothersome and just wasn’t practical while on the move – as weird as this may sound. So I returned to a little more oldfashioned tool: Excel. To draw comparisons, a spreadsheet really is the best option. Plus, you can easily print out the tables. :) Carrying around a piece of paper also doesn’t put you in danger of running out of power, making it impossible to jot down notes. So it’s an Excel table that I use during the flat visits as well, taking down important information about the flat.

A few days ago, I also noticed a functionality within immobilienscout24.de which is not obvious on the first point of view. When you click on “My notes” on your list of remembered flats, there’s a pop-up where you can check boxes whether you have already contacted the realtor, set up a date to visit the flat or have visited it. There is also a field to enter a comment. I’ve found this to be extremely useful and have noted general impressions about the flats after visiting them. Of course, for setting up the appointments, I used Google Calendar.

In the end, a basic Excel sheet, a calendar and some well hidden functionalities of the realty website are quite enough to organise the flat hunt. Of course, once we actually do get one of the flats, the fun part will start: arranging furniture. :)

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Moving Tales I

Posted on January 22nd, 2010 by Mel in Moving | No Comments »

It’s been a while since I last posted, but after a brief stint to Paris, city of my dreams despite all the negative aspects, and a relatively busy week, plus a horrible 2009, there are finally some good news: my spouse has found a job. Yay. :) Since the job is in another city, we obviously have to move. Our choice fell to Düsseldorf, famous for its Altbier and the rivalty with Cologne. Though it’s not the city my spouse will be working in, it’s nicer and bigger and we actually have friends there which made the decision easy.

The first thing I did when I learned about the job was to go to http://www.immobilienscout24.de to look for flats, something I’ve been greatly looking forward to ever since we became unemployed. Finding just the right place to live may be a chore for some, but it’s something I enjoy. Looking at pictures of flats, checking out a particular neighbourhood and, best of all – when available – looking at floorplans and beginning to think about how best to furnish the flat.

Aside from rent and size (at least 60 sqm), we have another wishlist with items that are more or less important to us:

  • the location. It needs to be relatively close to the main train station or at least easily reachable by public transport. A supermarket should be in the vicinity as well. We don’t have a car and we also we don’t want to haul groceries through the public transports. It should, of course, also be safe enough.
  • the general condition. We don’t want to move into a flat that first needs a complete overhaul before it is livable.
  • electrical outlets. We both have computers plus assorted accessories like printer, scanner, cell phones, external hard drives etc. most of which require electrical outlets to work or for recharging. Not to mention  the usual household appliances like fridge, TV, washing machine… all of which need outlets. In modern flats, that shouldn’t be an issue, but older ones may be lacking in that regard.
  • an extra powder room. That doesn’t sound like such an issue, but apparently, Germans don’t usually consider that important. During my first search at immobilienscout24.de, I found 130 flats that matched the general location (i.e. relatively close to the station) and size requirement. When I narrowed the search to include only those having an extra powder room, the number of matchs dropped to 30.
  • good water pressure. I’m probably totally horrible with that, but there’s nothing worse than a shower from which you have the impression that the water basically trickles down onto you. It then not only takes ages to get soap out of your hair, but you don’t exactly feel clean afterwards as well. I know that if the water pressure in any given flat isn’t how I like it, it’s enough of a major point for me not to take this flat even if it’s perfect in any other aspect.
  • a bathtub would be a plus. Not for me this time, but for my spouse. I could live with only a nice shower. :)
  • if possible, no already equipped kitchen. Even if that would save us some money in the end, standard kitchens have a standard height which is too low for me. I’d prefer to invest some money into a kitchen that doesn’t make my back hurt whenever I cook or do the dishes.
  • not on the groundfloor. It’s not only that people could peek into your flat, but I’d never feel safe enough from break-ins.

Then there are some things that would be nice:

  • two bedrooms so we can sleep in one and put our computers into the other.
  • one large living space that includes a kitchen would be practical at times. Or at least with the kitchen close to the living space where we normally have dining and living room furniture, which of course means that the living space should be big enough for both.
  • since there are people who come to visit us regularly, we need the possibility for them to sleep at our place. We don’t necessarily need a bedroom just for that, but at least a living space large enough for a sleeper sofa.

As you can see, we’re not all that difficult. ;)

In order to find this perfect flat, I’ll continue my search within the next few days. Contacting realtors and such. I’ll keep you informed of the progress and result, of course. :)

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