Renting a house

For those of you unfortunate folks who don’t have time to read long posts, I’ve provided a Cliff Note version here: we rented a small place in Nelson - two bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and a main living area that serves as the family room, living room, and dining room. It’s located close to town (about 500m) and to the river.
For the retirees and unemployed that have the time to fit this into their otherwise hectic day of reading the entire newspaper, eating, using the toilet, watching tv, and breathing (order determined based on reader) I’ll elaborate a bit more below.

As Angela noted in the last post, we had a game plan of the properties to look at prior to arrival. I will say that in a town of 40k, that didn’t translate to many places. We’re also new to this renting thing so aren’t in tune with what to expect. Anyway, we met with the property manager that Angela had been in contact with over the last few days and she added a few to our list. She emphasized numerous times that her company didn’t charge a fee so they only wanted serious renters – she didn’t want to do any work and get nothing in return (she did say this…at least 5 times). She asked that we drive by each of them first, narrow down what we like, then she would show us the inside. She was fairly curt and somewhat condescending – the most unfriendly kiwi I had met to date – plus she is really tall.

We started this process on Monday and we were looking to get into something by weeks end. We found most of the properties on the map and did the drive by – only 2 seemed to be viable options. Side note: Nelson is surrounded by several hills and considering our shipping container would need room and a fairly level space for unloading, we automatically had even fewer options. Both of the options are close to town and in a good neighborhood. Great – we set a time to see the inside of each of them.

First place is by the river (nice little river walk that doubles as a hangout for all 3 of the town’s drunks) and fairly spacious. Carpet is pink but it did have a nice covered patio that was warmer than the rest of the place. This one isn’t available until Aug 9th so we decided against it.

Next place is a block off the river on a nice cul-de-sac. The area is a bit older (people, not houses) – I envision the block parties consisting of an early bird buffet followed by a vicious game of bingo. Maybe I can get a job rubbing bunions for a nickel; I might even set up a few slot machines, we’ll see. The house is small and was pretty dirty when we arrived (it was just placed on the market and yet to be prepped for showings). Biggest shock was when we opened the door two of the inhabitants were dead on the floor (I know, it rhymes – I may add that to the lyrics of the song I’m writing). I busted out my CSI kit and went to work (another job I’m thinking of pursuing here). After 5 minutes of examination, I determined the ‘vics’ (victims in the industry) were just cockroaches. Yes, 2 of them. Poor guys had been locked in the house with no way to get out. Carpets looked pretty dirty as well but beyond that (and that it is really small) it seemed to be ok. It has character. Pictures to follow but to give you an idea of size: Master bedroom is 9.5’ x 10.5’; Spare is 9’ x 9’; Living area is 14.5’x 14’. Garage will be more for storage than for a car. The upside is that there are appliances included that usually don’t come with a rental – fridge, washer, dryer, and microwave. Also, with such a small place we have less to heat (houses here lack furnaces and central heating and as an added bonus the insulation is minimal so everything is heated by stove or electric heater). Almost no yard – I think the grass section is about 4’ x 2’. Nice. Well, since my parents had a gardener, cook, and guard when they lived in their palace in Nepal, I asked if we could get that package as well. Evidently they don’t have that option here.

We move in on Friday after we pick up Livvy.