We've found a flat! 


Great news! Heike and I managed to find somewhere to live practically in the centre of York. It's a great little one bedroom flat on the first floor of a brand new building, close to the river and about half an hour's walk from the university. In fact, it's so new, it doesn't even have a postcode yet! We signed the contract yesterday and are very much looking forward to living in the city, as the place I'm in at the moment doesn't really feel like it's part of York at all. Plus, it's very handy for buses and trains as the train station is just around the corner, which will be useful for Heike getting to and from work, wherever that turns out to be… 

We were actually incredibly lucky to find this place, as we only came across it by accident when we bumped into an agent from a different property company while waiting to see another flat elsewhere in town. They asked if we were looking for accommodation in York and told us about a new development that had just come on the market, and so we booked a viewing straight away and decided to take it later that day. Last time I was looking for a house I saw over 20 properties in the course of about 10 days before finding something I liked, but this time we only looked at five and found the perfect place in just one day!

We later found out that another couple had seen it on the same day and wanted to take it for a higher rent, but our agent convinced the owner to let us have it because we were likely to be staying there for up to two years, and so they would benefit from not having to re-let the property after the first six months. Although the rent is still slightly more than we had originally wanted to pay, the flat is absolutely superb, and the location couldn't be better. The river Ouse is about 20m outside our front door—although there's no danger of flooding as we're on the first floor—and the train station is only 5 minutes walk away. There is no car parking, but this isn't really a problem as my car is currently out of action and destined only for the scrap heap (sorry Dad!), so instead I'm planning to buy a bike and cycle to university, although there's also a bus that goes from just round the corner in case of inclement weather (which unfortunately seems to happen rather often, even during the summer months!).

Because no-one's lived there yet, the inside of the flat is immaculate and has brand new fixtures and fittings, a fitted bathroom with a hotel-style power shower (luxury!), and a polished wooden floor throughout the spacious living area, which includes a kitchen-diner at one end with all the mod-cons (bloody hell, I'm starting to sound like an estate agent!). I have no idea if all our stuff is actually going to fit in there, and it's going to be a challenge trying to figure out how to successfully combine work, study, music making, art and everything else that we do with just two rooms, but I'm sure we'll figure it out. Rumour has it there's even going to be a garden in the courtyard at the back, which hasn't been built yet, and the same goes for the bike storage area, but hey, you can't have everything!

I must admit that I've spent the past few days looking for the catch, but so far there doesn't appear to be one, other than the price. If all goes according to plan then we should be in by the end of the month, and I'll be keeping my contact page updated with the new details as soon as I have them. We hope to be ready to receive guests by mid-August, so let me know if you fancy a trip to historic York this summer and we'll pencil you in! :-) 

Posted on Thursday - July 07, 2005 at 06:47 PM            

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