Hiatus Househunt Firestorm

I must say, this blog is a lot of fun to write for. So far my posts have touched 6 continents and my articles read almost 2500 times since I started the blog in December. I’ve been bringing you guys a dedicated 2 posts per week now for 16 weeks. Just to give you guys an idea to the dedication to my blog/readers, for the last 6 weeks I’ve still been churning out 2 posts a week despite working 45hrs/week and commuting 2+hrs a day. Unfortunately due to circumstances you’ll see below, I now need to prioritize getting a more permanent place to stay. At the same time I’m very thankful for my mates who’ve allowed me to stay while I look for housing.


This past weekend I couldn’t help but be enraged, and here is my story. Recently, after moving out of the hostel and staying with some friends in the West End of the city, I’ve started looking for more permanent accommodation. A friend of mine sent me a lead that someone was looking for a roommate to share her house for a decent price in a good suburb.  I phoned her up and set up a viewing, the place was nice and had everything I’d need. Everything was looking good, phone manners were good, friend of a friend, all signs pointed to yes. Set up to move in over the weekend after my camping trip. Well to my surprise my phone buzzed on Saturday with the following:  

Useless...

A text? Are you serious? I’m not so much mad at losing the place, but more at how I’m being let go. Why is she thanking me for wasting my time? In a way it’s a blessing in disguise as with this lack of class I could just imagine how things would have been living with her. While I can imagine the effort and hard work at trying to write this obscenity, it still doesn’t cover up the lack of respect. In the end I suppose I was lazy as I went into this without having a plan B (my bad! lesson learned!). Anyways now I’m in a tailspin as I need a place, and soon. Hunting mode engaged! Thankfully I came across a place Monday afternoon that fit all my criteria and more!

There it was, a place in the city centre, minutes from the trams that take me to work within 20min (rather than >1hr of trains and trams), fully furnished, 30 floors high with nice views. All that for $600/month holy shit it’s on like donkey kong. Within hours of sending my message with my number and a request to view the place, I get a message asking me to send them an e-mail to their private e-mail. Weird? Yeah, but I’ll go with it. E-mailed her my number and asked for a viewing, instead I get an e-mail with more info about the place, more pictures, but nothing on viewing the place. Reply again, here’s my number, when can I drop by to view the place? Then I get the following:

Dear Matthew,

Thanks for writing back again,, i would have really love to show you the  two vacant rooms in my three bedroom flat  in person but  am presently in Philippine on an honey moon with my husband that is why i need just two decent flatmates because i don't want to leave my apartment empty before my arrival by of  April,2012

My property solicitor who is a busy person advice me to package my apartment keys and made the deposit of keys at the FEDEX OFFICE .There is a car space which has already included in the bills including water and there is no extra fee in the $150  per week for  you and $600 for bond per room with no extra charges in the electricity, gas, cable, phone and internet.

Since you are really interested i can contact my property solicitor to make arrangement  for you so that you can proceed on how to reserve the room for yourself before my arrival

Attached is the pictures of me and my husband in our lovely honey moon over here.

Regards

*Redacted*

Wow, this looks just as legit as my winning the UK Lotto every other week (according to them I’m a BILLIONAIRE). Seriously where to start? In a previous e-mail The girl mentioned that she was looking for a “gay-friendly” housemate yet she’s obviously not gay if she’s on a honeymoon with her HUSBAND. Gay marriage isn’t legal here in Oz so it’s obviously not her female partner (she also sent pics of them making out? she’s ugly so no it wasn’t pleasant to look at.) The “solicitor” and FEDEX key deposit are key scam indicators. While I can’t help but feel angry about all this, in the end it’s part of the experience that I signed up for. Oh well gotta keep hunting...

As much as I love writing for you all, and the feedback I’ve been getting, I have to take a break. I’m not necessarily going to stop altogether, but for the time being posts will not be regular or as frequent. On days where I post I usually get to bed at around 1am or later. I can’t help but feel as if the quality of my posts has suffered in the last little bit. So bear with me while I get my shit together. I’ll be active on twitter and the comments section. Do you have questions about my posts? Want more details? Leave a comment, I will reply!