Following my first three posts, I found myself flat hunting in Amman, which subsequently led to the difficulty in re-establishing Internet connection, so it seems now that I'm reconnected, it would be a good time for me to brief you on the challenge of flat hunting in this part of the world.
While Jordan may have taken a while to switch on to the online revolution, it has indeed joined social networking, online gaming and online marketing with vigour, although somehow this lifestyle change seems to have bypassed the real estate market. One website does advertise over 1000 beautiful homes for rent and for sale, the vast majority of them listed as "available now" and many of them meeting my requirements. I was much excited to find this website and spent hours trawling through the pictures and elaborate descriptions clearly written by cheesy estate agents, but nonetheless sounding attractive and suitable. Having narrowed down the 1000 potential new homes to about 10, I completed the online contact form and waited for the call back.
Armed with the reference details of each of my prospects, I did indeed get a phone call a few days later from the agent, and informed him of those that I was keen to view. He asked of my requirements and immediately suggested some that, despite the budget I had just informed him of, were way out of my price range. I turned the conversation to the apartments that I had so carefully and thoroughly studied, although, I suppose as all estate agents do, he kept steering the conversation towards the more luxurious and severely overpriced dwellings. Having let the conversation go to-and-fro for long enough, I put my foot down and asked directly and fairly adamantly about the apartments that had caught my eye. "I'm sorry, Madam," he said, "Those apartments have been on our website for years, but there is a technical problem which means that we cannot remove the old ones from the website." "Take it with a pinch of zaater," I thought to myself, as I ended the conversation as politely as I could amidst my frustration.
With just over a week left before I needed to vacate my current property, I rounded up my housemates as we hit the streets to scour the buildings for the "For Rent" signs posted outside the available residences. Driving up and down and round and round the areas that we were interested in, jotting down the phone numbers on scraps of paper as we made notes on the location of each property, seemed to be the only way that we would find anything.
As it was Ramadhan and fast was not broken until around 7pm, it was almost impossible for us to arrange any viewings before 'Iftar', which limited the time that we had to flat-hunt to a couple of hours each evening. We made around 20 phone calls, before we found an apartment in a suitable location that was within our price range. The number we rang connected us with a man who agreed to show us the property we had found within 20 minutes of speaking to him. All excited, we waited outside the building which bore the "Furnished Apartment for Rent" sign, chatting about the benefits of the location until the gentleman arrived. Eventually, a rather stout looking man in a very dilapidated old Ford arrived, and we greeted him politely and shook his hand. "Follow me," he said, as he returned to his car, and we followed closely behind him, wondering where we were going. This man turned out to be an agent with several properties up his sleeve. Confused that we were not being shown the one that we had waited at, but still optimistic, we arrived at another building in a slight less appealing area.
He explained that the first property actually exceeded our budget as he opened the front door of another building. We climbed the stairs a little disappointed, as we all recognised the scent of cockroach killer as it filled our nostrils and we looked at each other a little disheartened. Upon entering the apartment, we instantly realised this was far from the image of the comfortable home that we had had in mind. The cracks in the walls and stains on the carpet that we saw as we entered the living room sank our hearts a little lower, and we quickly informed the agent this was not suitable for us. The little man, eager to make a quick buck, reassured us that now that he'd met us and spoken to us, he had a better idea of what we had in mind, and would take us to see another place. We were hesitant, but with such little time left until we had to leave our former home, we were also beginning to feel rather desperate! We followed him a little further up the road, although alas, the second apartment, while cleaner, still looked more like a disused brothel than anything inhabitable.
A few more days passed with us trawling the streets calling all the numbers that hung outside the apartments that seemed appropriate from the outside, until we found one in a lovely area, beautifully furnished and within our budget. Relieved, we informed the agent that we would like to sign the contract within the next few days, and he agreed to contact the owner and prepare all the necessary paperwork. A couple of days later we returned to the apartment, our pens at the ready and all the cash that we needed to secure the property, only to be told that the contract was not ready and we would need to wait another day. The next day we did not hear from the agent, as he did not answer or return our calls. The next day I contacted him from an unknown number, and he answered the call, only to inform me that a Korean family had offered about 50 Dinars per month more than we had, and the property had been let.
With less than two days left to find a new home we were back on the streets calling every number that we saw now. Finally, we saw a lovely property and were shown into the lounge by the owner's sister, her husband, her brother-in-law and her mother. Renting a home seems, at times, to be a family affair here, although as the place was perfect and the mother instantly warmed to us, we were happy. They needed to contact the owner who was abroad although felt confident that she would be happy with the terms we were asking and would confirm in the morning. Alas, it was not so. The owner insisted on the tenants signing a one year contract and we could only commit to six months.
Our spirits dampened, and having almost given up hope, we returned to the streets until my housemate found an old, locally-distributed newspaper outside a property that we stopped to look at. It was old and whithered, but through a stroke of luck the classified pages were still in tact and there was one apartment listed that sounded suitable. We dialed the number and went to see it, and, as fate would have it, it was just right for us. We signed the contract there and then with the owner and her husband, and moved in the next day.
We have been here for over a month now, and have settled in wonderfully and have made our house a little home. Following our adventure, I, for one, am left certain that everything in life happens for a reason... although I am seriously considering starting an online property finder for places in Amman!!!
