House Hunting Woes and Estate Agent Hoes

T'was the fifth property I've viewed in as many weeks and I'm slowly losing the plot to live. How the times have changed over the past few years thanks to the destruction of the worlds economy by a group of greedy, grubby bankers. Yes, I'm royally effed' off at the state of the property market in these current times as none of us can really afford to sell our homes and none of us are cash ready to buy and begin a lifelong, hopefully worthwhile investment. I've heard gut wrenching claims that the estimated time for the markets to stabilise and improve enough to what it was five years ago could take twenty years. Such a horrible, depressing thought.
So it is now a renters market, with landlords rubbing their cheap hands together with cunning glee and us lot, the tenants. Trying not to be taken advantage of as I do have the appearance of an innocent teenage girl (so I've been told as I look so young), I have been researching my behind off for comparisons and differences for postcode pricing and room values. So far I've discovered that for the price of a four bedroom, standard, small, semi-detached in a rather poor state, I could afford a luxury two bedroom apartment with the plus of a master en-suite, just two streets further out from the city. The age old question when house/flat hunting is, should I be looking for the best house in the worst location, or the worst house in the best location?

Personally, as I'm not in the position of looking for a home to buy and decorate and nurture, I need to be practical. At this moment in time the luxury apartments are looking my best option, as, I don't need all the space of a house, and, I can't afford a house that looks any better than a student squalor squat. So that eliminates one battle, the next being a postcode wars of such with rather farcical price hikes to live as little as two streets closer to the city centre. This is the area in which I'm feeling the strain, as, at times it is infuriating to see corporate greed at work again and making living in comfortable housing an elitist matter. We all have the right to comfortable affordable housing, especially at a time when the rental market is so powerful, you would think there would be more choice. Estate agents are now taking advantage of the potential tenants and charging ridiculous pricing for rents and its nothing but disgusting. Also, is it just me or can anyone see what actual work estate agents do? I would love to hear your suggestions. Viewing unoccupied properties on a selected open house and not even bothering to open the curtains so we can see the property in its best light, along with turning up late, and, either not returning calls or going to the next extreme and calling/emailing/texting you to the point of harassment is just some of the unfortunate situations I've found myself in with these jobsworths. The worst so far? Having to pay an application fee of around forty pounds any time I want to just apply for a property - and thats forty pounds for each potential tenant - with zero guarantee that you will be chosen. As you can imagine, the estate agents will say almost anything to get you to apply, even though they have a pretty good idea of what type of tenant the landlord will want to vacate their property, and that might not necessarily be you.

I had to wait today in the rain for about half an hour for an estate agent to bother to arrive to let me in to view a property. I got wet, then angry as the particular place was as dark as a coven - did the agent even turn the lights on to show me around? Do you really need me to answer that?

Here is a link to use if you are in my position as an almost homeless person and in need of a rental property.
Click here for the information - A Tenant's guide to renting

(image via rose2roses )