Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Why is it so hard to rent a place in Delhi?

We've been looking to rent a place for the last couple of months now. Are these criteria a little too stringent, you think?

*Must be ground floor or first floor only( I don't want to pant up too many stairs to reach Peanut if the lift isn't working), but yet very safe and well-protected ( a veritable fortress)

*Must be reasonable rent (But, of course)

*Must be large and spacious ( Hey, we've lived in Bombay for the last 1.5 years. Enough of feeling cramped)

*Must be in a particular colony where we have relatives (And which is notoriously prime property with hardly any empty flats)

*Must have nice flooring ( My husband has a fascination for wooden flooring. I have no idea why)

*Must have a balcony with a nice view (So what if it is the ground or first floor, we demand an aerial view of the city)

*Must have a servant quarter (I no longer remember why this is important, considering we've done very well without this all our lives)

*Must have excellent club facilities (After all, we see ourselves using the gym, swimming, playing squash and doing aerobics every day of the week)

*Must have plenty of greenery around ( We're nature lovers and Peanut deserves to grow up with a park nearby)

*Must have an easily accessible shopping complex, availability of home delivery for food and other groceries ( We're a busy lot)

WE WANT IT ALL! AND WE WANT IT NOW!

What's unreasonable about that?

10 comments:

  1. So, the said prime property where your relatives are... does that have all the other facilities you listed??

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  2. i dont know where ur realtives r but u may wanna give ridgewood, phase Iv/V? gurgaon, a look

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  3. Somewhere in his or her grave the inventor(-ess) of Economics just gave a rather eerie whoop of joy. It appears that you've finally figured out what they've been saying for 300 years ....
    There are limited resources and unlimited wants.

    But as the saying goes - better late than never.


    PS: All the best with finding a flat. It really is hard. I've only known one person who who had a near perfect living arrangement - fabulous apartment with a great view, lots of domestic help and in a great location. Oh wait. That was you.

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  4. Hey, what's so unreasonable?

    Actually, except for two perhaps (i.e. ground floor and relative proximity :-)))), all of your criteria are met by the flat we offered you. But those I s'pose are your major demands, so....

    HAPPY HUNTING!

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  5. unreasonable?? gee! there is NOTHING unreasonable in wanting everything in a place where you wanna live!

    :p

    happy house hunting!

    cheers!

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  6. All the best! Tell Vijay that wooden flooring is a very big pain to maintain, (and I don't think it's been used much in Delhi- all the punjoos like marble flooring only, and nowadays some of them demand granite here and there).
    And club facilities are used for about a week and then nevermore!
    Baaki theek hai.
    You must be having terrific relatives, by the way!!!!!!

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  7. Y,
    I'd say the wants are all reasonable enough, except for the wood floors - they are really not the best for the Indian way of life...you'll spend so much time darting after stray drops of water and obsessing over who puts down their tea mug!
    We have wood floors here in the US, but that only because tile floor are way too cold for winters here and we needed non-carpeted floors for kids-with-allergies.
    M

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  8. lol@Ganju!!!

    all the best house hunting Y!
    not sure if ur get what Vijay desires ;) but what you want, you might!

    dewdropdream made a really sensible point!

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  9. Dewdropdream: Good question. Yes, except the wooden flooring...

    Anon: Thanks for the tip - but who are you?

    Ganju: Yeah, yeah! Maybe I'll get lucky again. But the Bombay flat was tiny, you know?

    Mash: Thanks, but your flat is just tooo far!

    Mama-Mia: Yes, wanting is fine but it's the getting that's a bit of an issue

    Dipali & M: I will tell Vijay just that! Anyway, I think wooden floors are a fire hazard!

    Sameera: thanks...hope to close something in the next two weeks...

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  10. Authentic wooden flooring is hard to maintain for sure, but there's an alternative. My dad had some wood-resembling tile sort of things used on our study floor and they look marvellous! Maybe you could re-floor your dream house once you find it, in case it doesn't come with wooden flooring.

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Hi there. Go on, say it. Well? WELL?