It's a bit late for me to be writing about our house hunting experience and furniture shopping as it's been a few months since we had settled to our new home (temporarily that is). But I think it would still be useful writing about it for reference.
House hunting
We would have preferred to eventually stay at our own place. However after surveying several brochures and trying to anticipate the cost of a housing loan, we opted to rent for the meantime until we are sure which property to buy. We wanted to move to the city as early as possible as heavy traffic has started in NLEX since the MRT extension to Monumento has begun. The commute has been very tiring especially for me since I work in Makati.
We started to look for apartments/houses for rent in Buy and Sell. Our main considerations were location and budget. Unfortunately most of the good deals we find there were almost always already booked by the time we call/inquire. Some we thought were good did not meet our expectations when we make a site visit. That's when we started looking by foot.
We preferred the location to be somewhere in Cubao or Boni and near Edsa. Our budget was to be not more than 7k monthly (for the 2 of us). Most of the units we found within our budget in Cubao were cramped, dirty and ill-kept. There were a few that were good but too expensive for us. We found a lot of better apartments in Boni. One was just walking distance from Boni Edsa around 7k, and the apartment building was well-maintained although the unit itself is pretty small, just enough for 2 people. Another was near the City hall and rotonda. And another in City homes which has a lot of available units. They were around 8k a month.
What we noticed with apartment buildings for rent is that they usually charge additional fees like what they call association dues (just like living in a condo). This they say is for building maintenance, garbage collection, etc. We did not like those with a lot of additional charges. We felt these were unnecessary expenses and a way to charge more even if they advertise the rent to be affordable. There were some who require payment for cable (even if you say you do not have a TV) or charges when you have a phone or internet installed (apart from the connection fee you pay the telephone company). There are some who also charge a huge outright deposit for utility payments in advance. I suggest you ask everything you could possible think would be charged or ask them simply if there are anything else you need to pay with your rent.
We were still not sure with our options although the units in Boni were our best pick. We gave Cubao another try and decided to walk along the streets near Main Ave. There we found a 2-BR apartment for rent for 12k. The house is part of a 6-unit compound. Of course this was beyond our original budget of 7k. But upon checking the unit, we found it was spacious. The 2 bedrooms upstairs were spacious as well, with a lot of windows and cabinets. The location was ideal as it is near Edsa, and the windows are blocked by trees but very windy.
Although originally it was only me and my husband who was looking for a place, we decided to invite his sisters to join so we could all share in the rent. They were also planning to rent in the city by themselves. But of course sharing a place to rent was the most economical option. We visited the unit again a week after for them to check it out. Afterwards we reserved the place and arranged for the move a week after.
(To be continued...)
