Oh A Hunting We Will Go!

Did anyone else sing this song in school as a child? It goes like this, Oh, a-hunting we will go, A-hunting we will go; We'll catch a little fox and put him in a box, and then we'll let him go! Well I'm not out to catch a little fox, but I am about to catch a little apartment so perhaps you'd like to come along for this great adventure?

If you watch House Hunters International on HGTV perhaps this will be your kind of thing. Caitlin Holcomb from NICE gave me this great idea to pretend I'm on House Hunters and take you with me to Germany to help me find my next apartment. Are you in? Okay so obviously I'm officially on the search for a new apartment. We're not buying anything, just renting for now, but since I heard that I can take photos when I go to look at apartments then well this blog is about to get a little more exciting for us both! How about I document my progress? It will be fun, at least I hope, for you to see what the average German apartment looks like and maybe even a learning experience for you if you've never lived here before. It will definitely be a learning experience for me.

This process is new for me as the current place we're in belonged to my husband's grandmother and we took it after she passed away. This time, it's a different playing field. And let me tell you, the field is highly competitive here! So far, the apartments I've looked at have been "open house" style except for one, and during this open house the landlord or realtor sizes everyone up and then you say whether or not you want to rent it and they say that they'll think about everyone, pick the best candidate, and call that person to offer the flat to them. Scary! One must also (usually) pay 3 months rent as a deposit, 2-3 months rent as a realtor's finding fee, and then we have to install a kitchen and hire mover's to get us from here to there... so this wild ride will begin as soon as this weekend as I have two places to view -- one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. I promise that if they allow me, I'll photograph them no matter how ugly (ha ha) so you can catch a glimpse and we can dish. Sound good? I honestly need to do this for not only my records to document everything but because I think you all will be a great resource for me and also just plain fun to discuss things with. By the way, the photos shown are of one apartment I found online that is too small for us and I don't like the kitchen, but it gives you an idea of what is available here. It's pretty standard to find white with tiled kitchen and bath and then for the main rooms and hall, parquet or laminate. In this case, hardwood that appears to be original. My goal is parquet or hardwood. I really, really dislike laminate though it's pretty and durable, it's very cold in the winter. Okay enough. Let the apartment hunt begin. Eep! xo, Holly