So this could turn in to a REALLY long post about all the issues we ran in to while in Belgium last week on our house hunting trip...and I will try to highlight some of those...to hopefully help you all understand what it was like, but I want to first start by saying this story has a happy ending :o) We did, in fact, find a wonderful apartment in our ideal neighborhood of Ixelles Brussels!! Phew...insert picture of me wiping a pound of sweat from my brow here...haha!! As I highlighted in my last post I was very apprehensive about this process and if we were going to be able to find something...and unfortunately most of my concerns came true...along with some other unexpected hurdles. The first being that apartments in Brussels (and especially the commune of Ixelles where we really wanted to end up) get rented VERY quickly! We started with 7 appointments in which over half were cancelled because the apartments were snatched up by other eager renters that were fortunate enough to see them before us! I would find a wonderful looking place on line (and of course start imaging us there)...send it to our "relocation specialist" and she would quickly learn that it had already been rented. This was SO frustrating. I kept getting my hopes up only to have them quickly squashed!
Another major issue was the difference in what constitutes a work day in Belgium. We learned that we would get two days for house hunting (which entailed 7 appointments...WAY too few to find something good in my opinion) and that was it. This might have been ok if they were two full days, but the first day was from 10 AM to 5 PM and the second from 12:30 to 4 PM. When it started to become apparent that none of the apartments we were looking at were what we wanted (another issue of getting that point across and re-adjusting so we could view apartments that would meet our criteria was lost in translation) our coordinator negotiated for another day to look...fantastic I thought...until I found out that the "third day" consisted of going to visit 3 apartments between the hours of 2 PM and 4 PM. Are you kidding me! That is not a day...and not enough places to find what we want! We were told over and over again that that was all she could do...she already gave us three days so now we were on our own! I know we all think it is so wonderful to be in Europe...to get atleast 6 weeks vacation time...to have a work week of only 35 hours, to virtually shut everything down between the months of July and August, but when you are on the other end of it and need help...this relaxed life style can be quite frustrating!
Anyway...putting all of that to rest, as I mentioned we did find a wonderful apartment that has everything we are looking for! It is near the city center and all the fun shops, tourist attractions, etc, but also right next to a park, the forest (as they call it), a few lakes, and an open air market with everything you can imagine...fruits, veggies, pastas, meats, flowers, etc. So Autumn and I will be able to walk to just about everything we need which is just perfect for our 1 car family!! Here are some pictures of the apartment now (it's still a little under construction as they clean up and do a little remodeling)! I've already started decorating it and can't wait to get it all cozy and comfy and feeling just like home!
Another major issue was the difference in what constitutes a work day in Belgium. We learned that we would get two days for house hunting (which entailed 7 appointments...WAY too few to find something good in my opinion) and that was it. This might have been ok if they were two full days, but the first day was from 10 AM to 5 PM and the second from 12:30 to 4 PM. When it started to become apparent that none of the apartments we were looking at were what we wanted (another issue of getting that point across and re-adjusting so we could view apartments that would meet our criteria was lost in translation) our coordinator negotiated for another day to look...fantastic I thought...until I found out that the "third day" consisted of going to visit 3 apartments between the hours of 2 PM and 4 PM. Are you kidding me! That is not a day...and not enough places to find what we want! We were told over and over again that that was all she could do...she already gave us three days so now we were on our own! I know we all think it is so wonderful to be in Europe...to get atleast 6 weeks vacation time...to have a work week of only 35 hours, to virtually shut everything down between the months of July and August, but when you are on the other end of it and need help...this relaxed life style can be quite frustrating!
Anyway...putting all of that to rest, as I mentioned we did find a wonderful apartment that has everything we are looking for! It is near the city center and all the fun shops, tourist attractions, etc, but also right next to a park, the forest (as they call it), a few lakes, and an open air market with everything you can imagine...fruits, veggies, pastas, meats, flowers, etc. So Autumn and I will be able to walk to just about everything we need which is just perfect for our 1 car family!! Here are some pictures of the apartment now (it's still a little under construction as they clean up and do a little remodeling)! I've already started decorating it and can't wait to get it all cozy and comfy and feeling just like home!
Beautiful!!! So very happy and thankful that yall found a place you love! Looks like it will work out just perfectly for your needs!
ReplyDelete