Normal people looking for a normal home

I wouldn’t call myself an expert on the topic, but I did survive my share of students’ housing situation and moving strategy, or fail. This is all about to happen again, but I am making darn sure to avoid the same mistakes I’ve made in the past.

moving out and adulting

Some of you have been following me from the very beginning, when I was a Barbs who never left Italy and thought blogs were secret when, in fact, all my friends were reading it. Skip to now, my blog is not secret anymore and I feel like most of you went through the same life steps as I did and are currently sharing the too-real struggle with adulting, thinking of how much better things were back in the day, and comparing life to virtual standards. So, I will let you in on another aspect of life I am approaching with close to zero know-how: moving out.

To be fair, I did move out when I was a student but everything was much easier and better back then.

The first mistake I won't be making again would be not to check out the property in person. Yeah, when I moved closer to my University, in Italy, I barely knew where I was going to live. Luckily, many of my friends were renting in the same building so I took a leap of friendship and everything ended up great! This time there are no friends involved. It's a Tinder date with an apartment! But I won’t rely on those photoshopped photos and intriguing description. Right now, I am telling you I won't care how charming and modern you are, nor if your plan is open and your view is stunning.

Watch me fall for those exact words and book a blind inspection.

The second mistake I am not going to make again, mostly because the boyfriend is here to make sure I won't do that, is to speak to any real estate agent or prospective renter. Given my proven tendency to believe what people say, I could end up buying anything just because it features “a gourmet kitchen and superb bedroom” or because someone else is considering it.

What even is a gourmet kitchen?

Shall I remember you that I signed my rent contract in England even after the owner couldn’t get the door open without kicking and banging on it, even after the fridge with the broken light, the non-existent floor cover, the utterly useless toilet in the backyard, and the missing handrail, because he said they’ll come to fix it before the beginning of the semester.

They never did.

Yet, I survived and hopefully learned.

This time, I am a girlfriend on a mission and I even have a list of priorities. Granted, some are very specific and objective, such as a secure parking spot and not to have the kitchen alongside the whole living area. That’s not an ‘open floor plan’, that’s having only one table where you cook, eat, dump your bags, put your computer, and entertain. Not ideal when you’re sharing the apartment and aren't planning to eat on your laptop.

I am looking for an apartment, not a tiny home!

Other items on the list, instead, are more flexible: clearly I would like a gym inside the building and two bedrooms and a view and a new fridge, but I am realistic, therefore I feel like adding the voice ‘vibe’ to the priority list is a valid thing to do. That gap between kitchen counter and old white-ish stove? Part of the vibe, along with sad curtains, butchered carpet, stoic walls, and endangered bathroom.

At this stage I handle spreadsheets and vibe, while the boyfriend enters in calculator mode and babysits me. We make a great team, don't we? Click here for recent updates.



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