I went to see a GORGEOUS apartment last night in Bayan. Classic bait-and-switch, Kuwaiti style. 'How much is the rent?' "450 KD"..... 600 KD in fact (according to the owner - not the realtor). But, they got me in there and the place was amazing: wrap-around, roof-top terrace, jacuzzi, 3 bedrooms, beautiful kitchen, living room that was 2.5 times larger than the one I have now. I want it. Badly.
I am working with a FEMALE realtor now and what a difference! She intuitively knows what I want - and it doesn't include any smelly places. Funk dat!
I'm so sick of working with real estate people (from the land of the pyramids). I'm sorry if I sound prejudice/racist, but in my personal experience, it is always the same thing. They will lie to me and tell me one thing then show me another. The places are disgusting and the prices are through the roof. The building guards at the places that these guys show me are the dreggs of society.
Last night, I saw a building that The Romanian and I had looked at when it was first built - only several years ago. Now, it is a disgusting, poorly-maintained place. The apartment I looked at had a gorgeous sea view, but they'll never get the money that they want for it (370 kd) because the former tenant had "decorated" it in such a manner that it literally looked like a live-fire exercise on a machine gun range. Even the walls on the exterior in the hallway were covered in holes. I can't believe that they would even show someone an apartment in that condition - let alone try to rent it to someone. "We can fix it before you move in." I'm like, 'DUDE! You should have fixed it BEFORE I CAME TO LOOK AT IT.' Why dont' they maintain buildings? Don't they know they are going to lose money? There was even trash in the elevator and the lobby smelled like sewage - this from a building no more than 3 years old. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
I am so sick of looking at places. My friend has been so dear to take me around, but I fear that I am growing on his nerves, so I might have to stop asking him to take me around.
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4 comments:
How about living in my closet?
Yes, I had a feeling it was coming to this, you know Purgatory...
Shame on you! Where is your Arab hospitality? Your Kuwaiti generosity? Why you should move out of the house and say here DG, it is yours!
Lol
I am not hospital, closet is good anyways, people pay big bucks in Amsterdam for closet space.
We ended up with a 3bdr/2bath in Mangaf for 300KD. The Kuwaiti family that live below are professionals (Doctor/Nurse). I agree with the whole "Land of the Pyramid" realtors! This guy wanted his 150KD for the commission portion (no problem), and also tried to get us to pay the owner's portion, or to pay him the rent so he could take what he "was owed by the owner" and give whatever was left to the owner.
The owner let us move in effective August 15th, but we have the keys now, and he is only charging us half rent for August. The real estate agent then proceeded to tell us that since the owner is giving us a break on the price, that we should be "generous with him and give him more money."
It sounds racist, but unforunately, EVERY Egyptian realtor we dealt with seemed very conniving and greedy. One showed us an apartment with dead roaches on the floor in the kitchen and walked over them like it's not even an issue! The audacity of these people!
His partner was smart enough to say he spoke English so I told him that his friend was a liar or a thief and I would be more then happy to call lawyers and police that work with my father. (A partial lie on my part, but they don't know that!)
We had no problems after that... Come to find out though, alot of people (Westerners mostly because they don't know!) pay these people alot of money! One guy paid almost 450KD as a fee/generousity and his rent was only 350KD a month!!!
It makes me sick. Sorry for ranting on your blog, but I know what you are going through.
PS: We dealt with a female realtor as well, from Poland, and she was wonderful! Only showed us nice apartments, reasonable rent, and didn't try to con us into any more money.
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