Moving On, Moving Out
Mar. 10th, 2003 12:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coalescentI started looking at rent prices this weekend. I went through the local paper, and I visited all the estate agents in the town centre and picked up their lists of properties to rent.
It was a somewhat depressing experience.
The lowest rent for one-bedroom flats or apartments or bedsits around these parts seems to be UKP500 a month. More commonly, it's UKP600 or higher. The nice, in-town properties are another couple of hundred pounds again. On my current salary, allowing for food, bills and the monthly car payment, I think I could just about afford UKP500 a month, if I was really careful. The trouble is, I don't want to be really careful, and I'm not even sure I quite trust myself to be able to be really careful.
Obviously, sharing is cheaper. For a two-person flat, you're looking more in the range UKP700-800 a month. I don't know many other people looking for a place to live, but there are a couple - Gary, for instance. The problem with this option is that I'm not sure I want to share. I've grown quite attached to the idea of having my own space (and anyway, I'm not sure I'd be such a great housemate).
So now I'm back to waiting for my three month contract at Healthworld to finish, to see whether they want to keep me and how much more they'll be willing to pay me if I'm a permanent employee. On the upside, I'm cautiously optimistic that they'll want to keep me around; my first month review seemed to go well enough.
The other thought I had was to investigate mortgages. I know next to nothing about how they work, or what sort of amount I could expect to pay on a monthly basis, or how much I'd have to be able to put down as a deposit.
Maybe there's some kind of local property listings that I'm missing. I'll have to investigate that further, as well.
It was a somewhat depressing experience.
The lowest rent for one-bedroom flats or apartments or bedsits around these parts seems to be UKP500 a month. More commonly, it's UKP600 or higher. The nice, in-town properties are another couple of hundred pounds again. On my current salary, allowing for food, bills and the monthly car payment, I think I could just about afford UKP500 a month, if I was really careful. The trouble is, I don't want to be really careful, and I'm not even sure I quite trust myself to be able to be really careful.
Obviously, sharing is cheaper. For a two-person flat, you're looking more in the range UKP700-800 a month. I don't know many other people looking for a place to live, but there are a couple - Gary, for instance. The problem with this option is that I'm not sure I want to share. I've grown quite attached to the idea of having my own space (and anyway, I'm not sure I'd be such a great housemate).
So now I'm back to waiting for my three month contract at Healthworld to finish, to see whether they want to keep me and how much more they'll be willing to pay me if I'm a permanent employee. On the upside, I'm cautiously optimistic that they'll want to keep me around; my first month review seemed to go well enough.
The other thought I had was to investigate mortgages. I know next to nothing about how they work, or what sort of amount I could expect to pay on a monthly basis, or how much I'd have to be able to put down as a deposit.
Maybe there's some kind of local property listings that I'm missing. I'll have to investigate that further, as well.
