Saturday, October 27, 2012

The House Hunt begins...

One would think that after four separate house hunts in a city like Mumbai, finding a place in Thoothukudi will be a breeze. Well, apparently not. Because there are about seven houses available for rent at any given point of time. Of those three will be on the fringes of the town where it's pretty deserted, two will have a dingy feel to them, one won't have place to park a vehicle, and one will have water problems. Anyway, RANT OVER. I didn't want to sound discouraging at all, promise. But I have to share my first hand experience, don't I?
In Tuticorin, the key is that you need to know a guy who knows a guy. It's all word of mouth, and there ain't no 99acres or magicbricks to help you. Perhaps because the options are limited. All this said, it's not impossible to find a house in Tuticorin to your tastes. It's all about the timing, if there's a house around the time you're looking, then you're lucky.
Some of the areas we've seen and liked are Bryant Nagar, and Teachers Colony. The beginning parts of Millerpuram are nice too, but not so much the interiors.
Since the town has a radius of about 5 km, you're never too far from anything, but it helps to know which areas are nicer to stay in.
There are brokers/agents who show you houses, but not all really care about whether you like the house or not; it's about their commission. I guess that's the case in any city, but we had some not-so-good experiences here in particular, what with one guy actually saying "there's one house in the area where you don't get regular water supply, it's a huge bungalow with excellent furnishing. Do you want to see?" I stopped listening at "no regular water supply". Simply because there are areas where there is a regular water supply! What a way to sell something! Dude, atleast be subtle. Clearly the brokers here could do with a lesson in Sales and Marketing.
A lot of houses here have the provision for an inverter to be installed. You remember the horrific power cuts we discussed? People here seem to have resigned to the fact that they are not going to be at the receiving end of too much electricity supply for their houses. "Too much?" you may ask. But well, it's all relative.
We've only just begun the search. Let's hope something clicks soon! 

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