Errands!
admin January 25th, 2008
Whoa, how exhausting!
2 entries today… but what the heck!
After this phone call, the parents came back and took me to the bank where they asked for a Chinese customer service rep while I withdrew some money. A lady stood in front of the line making small talks to everyone; young, middle aged and older. This made me think, “banks are so much better than real estate agents”. Made me feel a little better you know?
So the parents were still waiting to be served. Not long after, a Chinese lady by the name of Kelly ushered us into the cubicle. We had a talk, discussing the various choices, accounts and everything. Then she required many different type of proofs of identity, making sure everything was alright… yada yada yada.
The service was really great, and she was very attentive, patient and explained everything really well, but in the end, that consultation lasted about 3 hours!
Dad bought some random stuff to eat, went home and had our lunch while I searched for agents to visit and the houses we were going to rent.
First stop, Belfield agent. We wanted to leave a deposit on the house since it was still available for rent. The lady told us we couldn’t. Apparently, under the new laws, we needed to inspect the unit before renting. New learnt #1. So we were given the official day and time of inspection for that property and an application form, and we left.
With the application form, we had a master plan of filling them out, and then going straight to the agent right after inspection, and it’s ours!
Dad wanted to see the house before all others because it seemed like a good area, and it rent was $250. So we popped by Gould street, parked the car and walked around. Outside isn’t too bad, I thought.
A person drove in at that point, and they asked if we were looking for someone in particular. Turned out he is the current tenant of the one we were looking to rent. We made small talk, looked at the unit and found out they were renting the place for $195. As we were coming out, mum made a slightly regretful remark about having to leave our place and that this place was quite very below average.
Feeling very disappointed, we went to the the next destination, the one at Marlowe street for $240 at Campsie (same one I inquired about this morning), walked around. Ok, outside isn’t too bad, I guess. A tick on our list to visit their inspection, even though the lady receptionist SUCKED.
So next stop was actually home.
Because we didn’t know about that policy (inspection before deposit), we decided to pop by the agents to grab the dates and application forms before checking out the places because we wanted to be the ones ready for this renting game.
We picked Brandon up as well, and headed off to the agent in Campsie. What? We can’t grab the application forms? Damn! New thing learnt #2. That makes things a lot worse.
Never mind, we’ll visit the place again.
We got to the one at Park street for $240. Oh no no no no. Got in the car, and drove away to Beaumont street ($235). Not too bad, another on our list. So we have 2 inspections to go to now.
Next stop, the Lakemba agent. We parked the car 10 minutes away from the actual place since we thought a few agents were it. Got there, got yet another disappointing remark.
“Gone.”
“Oh!”
Might as well pop by the other 2 agents.
“There isn’t any.”
“No, there isn’t any.”
This was harder than I thought! Definitely.
By the time we got home, it was dinner time, but no dinner. So we went out to eat at Campsie. Turned out my parents knew the owners (they started their business a month ago). They gave us a really good service, and a very very big bowl of vermicelli to me as she thought it was dad’s order. Couldn’t finish it, but the food was very good. Didn’t cost too much either!
Got home. Ah, finally!
Started making calls to various agents again, even calling the ones that are a tad more than what we hoped for.
“Hi, I’m just wondering if the $300 Campsie one is available for rent.”
“It’s taken.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Just wondering whether the $280 unit at Campsie is available?”
“Gone.”
“It’s gone”
“No, it’s gone”
“Gone”
God…
One word: Stressed.
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