Current location:	in the shared flat
Current mood:	demanding
Current music:	Gotan project
Entry tags:	everyday fluff: 2008, house, polls

Boring people. A users guide. 1: House hunting.
Currently I must be the most boring friend in the world. Whereas I usually am an enthusiastic and spiritual conversation partner in topics as varied as my students, languages, Norwegian language, Latin language, Greek language, etymology, Finnish language, second language acquisition, science fiction books, science fiction films, lack of women in science fiction in general, badly written woman roles in science fiction films, badly written women characters in science fiction books and science fiction and languages, I currently have only one topic; house hunting.

All right house hunting topics can be broken down into various topics;

Economy; How much capital do one have, including debate on BSU, a Norwegian home investment saving scheme with tax deduction for young people. How big a loan can one get. And even more important, how much will the interest rate increase, or will it decrease? Discussion of national and international financial politics may ensue. Also I get to talk union politics, since I get a lower interest rate as a union member. Related topics, renting versus owning.

The house hunting itself; Currently I think most of my surfing time is spent here, browsing for apartments. When I have found some that seems reasonable, well not too unreasonable, I make a list and go to the viewings. I have realised that the people who take pictures for the brokers are really fond of the wide angle lens, there is also a photographer who likes to take pictures of the bathroom in a bird perspective. Most of the flats I have a look at have been styled. Which means that it in no way resembles a flat I would ever inhabit. I have seen one - ONE - flat where they had bookshelves. Some of the stylists have certain strange ideas, one likes to have a guitar in the room, one likes to arrange pillows on the floor in a corner, and there is this one stylist who obviously likes dragging the hide of a dead cow around. I am also slightly puzzled by the fact that most flats seems to have been refurbished within 12 months of selling it. In general I think many of the new refurbishments are ugly and boring. Current trends are the colour white, downlights and open plan kitchen/living room (is that what you call it? When the kitchen is a part of the living room). I am not a fan of either.

What I want; After three months of viewings I have decided that I have a lot of things I want in a flat, but I have some thing that are absolutes:
* I shall be able to walk naked from my bed to the bathroom without meeting or being seen by anybody. This is the result of sharing a flat for 8 years. I do not want to buy a new bathrobe.
* I want a separate kitchen. It don't have to be huge, but I want a separate kitchen, preferably with a door I can close and a window I can open. I like to cook, I don't like cooking grease on my books.
* I want a separate bedroom. I have had too many people occupying my bed without offering having sex with me. Friends should sit in the sofa, at the kitchen table, not in my bed.
* I don't want to live in a cellar. I have lived in a way to humid flat where I never had to water my flowers and I got systemic pneumonia. I don't want to live below ground. Preferably not at ground level either, but this is renegotiable.
* It should be within walking distance to the centre of Bergen, but preferably not in the centre itself. And accessible to my workplace, NHH, without changing buses

Obviously these are difficult demands, especially the kitchen one it seems. Mostly the market is going slow, excepting just the kind of flat I am looking for, I've found two that where great, both in the same area (Solheimsviken, an area built 1930-1960, which means a separate kitchen is the norm), and the same price 1.2 - 1.4 million kroner i both went approximately 200.000 kroner above the estimate, whereas most of the other flats are currently going below, if at all. 1.2 seems to be the loan one gets without any savings.

So I was contemplating, what are your absolute demands in a flat - or do you demand a house?

Poll #1170432 Absolute house
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I must live in

Absolute demands

I would like (but must not have):

I want to live (check all that sounds reasonable)

What have I forgotten to ask about?

Is mummimamma too demanding?