I’m still in apartment-hunting mode. I’ve focused the search on a few areas within the historic centre of Athens, thinking that ‘living in Athens’ related closely to ‘seeing the Acropolis’ on a daily basis!
So with this in mind, I scour the usual sites every day, have set-up my email alerts for new listings, and have spent several afternoons wandering little-known neighbourhoods looking for the tell-tale yellow and red ‘Enoikiazetai’ signs.
My experience so far with real estate agents has revealed a number of definite patterns:
a) Just because a property is listed on one or more websites, doesn’t mean that it is actually available. At least half of the one I’ve asked about have been, miraculously, ‘just rented’.
b) Just because you’ve emailed a response to the ‘contact us’ link on a property listing, doesn’t mean that anybody will call you back. Ever.
c) Just because it says, say, ‘100m2’, doesn’t mean that it might not be, say, ‘90m2’…
d) Just because we’re in a crisis, doesn’t mean that there is a glut of high quality, well-priced properties available.
e) Just because the listed price is ‘x’, doesn’t mean that you can’t get it for 25-30% less.
Having said that, today I had an actual call-back, based on my email contact, from a real-life real estate agent who actually (!) left me a voicemail. I suppose this weekend’s round of apartment visits bodes well…
Until next week,
Jack
In this weekly space, keep up with ‘Jack’ as he navigates daily life in Athens… Anecdotes, stories, hits & misses, the good, the bad and, well, the rest…
