Apartment Hunting Adventures and Insights

Views: Not Again, But Once More

In the past week, we toured two apartments, one just yesterday morning!

💛Apartment 1

A spacious two-bedroom apartment with plenty of built-in storage, located just 5 minutes from Highgate station. It's on the second floor, and from the kitchen, there's a door that leads to a fire escape and an internal courtyard. There's already a little table set up outside, which is quite charming! The photos made the place look very promising.

However, I was quite disappointed when I saw the flooring in person (the cheapest laminate was installed, and it definitely feels flimsy underfoot). Plus, the landlord came up with an "interesting" engineering solution for the windows. Changing windows in such old buildings is quite a hassle—very costly and requires a lot of coordination. So, the landlord installed additional plastic windows inside the apartment. Sadly, the result is rather unappealing. Getting fresh air feels like an adventure, and cleaning them seems like it would be a chore, too.

Overall, it seemed that the main (and not small) value of this apartment was simply its proximity to the metro. We didn’t even submit an application, even though the neighborhood is lovely.

💛Apartment 2

I was so looking forward to viewing the second apartment that I completely forgot to take any pictures inside! So, there's just one photo from the realtor and two random shots of the neighborhood.

It's located 15 minutes from Highgate station, and the location is one of its main advantages. The windows overlook a forest, and it's about a 10-minute walk to our tennis court.

The layout is quite unique—it's a sort of duplex where the second floor is in a different part of the building. The first floor has a spacious hallway with a bathroom and kitchen, while the second floor features three rooms. One of them is a tiny space, perfect for a home office.

The apartment has solid wooden floors (thank goodness!), plenty of windows, and lots of natural light. The bathroom and kitchen are a bit worn, but that’s something we could work with. There are a lot of similar cabinets, chests of drawers, and nightstands. The main room has a non-working fireplace. At first glance, the apartment doesn’t evoke a ‘wow’ reaction, but it holds so much potential for DIY projects... which excites and intimidates me at the same time.

Interestingly, this was the first viewing where we met the landlord in person. He was on-site addressing some gas-related issues. Normally, realtors try to avoid introductions to landlords as much as possible.

It turns out the landlord has a business partner, and we need to finalize the pet situation (he's unsure) and get the green light for all my renovations. The first partner is on board with everything. The apartment is fantastic, but if I'm not allowed to make changes to suit my taste, I’m not keen on renting it as it is.

And, of course, we need to sort out the timeline. They are ready to move in soon, but we have the responsibility of notifying our current company two months before leaving...

Fingers crossed!