We've lived in our current apartment since we first arrived in Cairo back in August 2008. It's a good apartment - not the smartest or best furnished we know - but it has everything we need, the location is great and the rent is reasonable. However, the apartment is up 4 flights of stairs and there is no lift in the building. We'd happily stay here next year if our circumstances were staying the same, but having the baby will make this current apartment completely impractical due to the 'no lift' issue. Consequently we're looking to move.
Over the past couple of years a pattern has emerged which sees people having a baby move out of Maadi to a place called Rehab. Rehab is lovely. It's a gated community where everything is clean and tidy. It's quiet. There are gardens and wide paths linking the apartments and it's only 15 minutes away from school. However, we really like living in Maadi and don't know if we want to leave. We know plenty of people in Maadi with young children and they are very happy being here. The reality is that it's impossible to compare the two places as they are just so different. Where one might score highly on a feature, the other will be at the opposite end of the scale...and vice versa.
Consequently we've been looking at apartments in Maadi since that's easy for us to do while trying to line up viewings in Rehab. Over the past week we've seen fifteen apartments. It's fair to say that within a few seconds we can sense whether it's made it to the shortlist or not. Our key 'wishlist' features an apartment on the ground or first floor, OR an apartment higher than that but with a lift. We'd ideally like a 3-bedroom apartment, but if not then a 2-bedroom with good sized rooms that will adapt well for visitors. The living space needs to be big. Outside space (garden or balcony) is a bonus. Reasonable rent.
Obviously the location matters as well - both in terms of noise/traffic but also in terms of proximity to places. This latter issue led me to hack together a map of Maadi. I drew two circles - the red one centred on the BCA, and the green one centred on the CSA (both places where we'd spend a lot of free time) - and drew the radius coming out to our current apartment shown by the black dot where both circles meet.
Guess what? That's right - nothing really fits. All the apartments fall short on at least one of the criteria. If it's a nice apartment then the location isn't good, or it lacks outside space, or it's too expensive. If the location is good then the apartment isn't. And so on.
Last Wednesday we met an estate agent who showed us 6 apartments. Things didn't begin well when he took us into a building, we went upstairs in the lift, and then he looked around and said, "I'm sorry, this is the wrong building."
Things got back on track after that, but everything we saw was right at the top of our price range, and although nothing really
grabbed us as ‘the one’, there were a couple we might consider. They each had a small balcony, big enough for a couple of chairs but nothing else. However, they did have large windows that would throw a lot of
light and fresh air into the apartment. They were also three-bedroom and fitted with air-con
throughout, so we wouldn’t need us to spend any money on anything new to make it
what we want (which therefore makes the price a bit more manageable).
One we did see – a duplex (i.e. spread over two floors) – was mind-blowing. It’s on the 2nd floor (if you count ground, 1st, 2nd...) and is enormous. It’s basically two 2-bedrooms apartments in one. Both upstairs and downstairs have 2 bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen! The upstairs is enormous – the living/dining/kitchen room is about the size of our entire current apartment. The kitchen has a bar that comes into the main room; it feels like the lobby to a hotel. There’s also a roof terrace about the size of our living room. Seriously, it was amazing. We had to strike it off the list before we even finished climbing the stairs, but it is going to make an amazing apartment for someone.
There is another apartment we struck off the list because of the circumstances surrounding it. It's a great location - virtually next door to the BCA - and was quite a
nice apartment next door to the landlord. Normally I wouldn’t be
too bothered about that (the first one we saw, which is one of the ones we’re
interested in, had the landlord directly downstairs), but this landlord struck
me as a bit ‘whoa!’ He came to the door and his crazy little dog burst out; it
had a hacking cough and cataracts. Then the landlord came out in his pyjamas to
show us the apartment. It was hard to take him seriously as he shuffled around in his slippers without his teeth in. I had to rush-look at some
of the apartment because he stopped me and regaled me with stories.
"Where are you two from?"
"We're from England."
"England, good. I have lots of my money there. HAHAHAHAHA! Well, some of it. The rest is in apartments in Cairo. And some in France and some in Germany. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, here's a nice big kitchen for your wife to do the cooking."
Hmmmm.
We agreed that although the apartment was nice, there’s no way we could live next door to him. However, we were shown another apartment he owns which is the 2nd
of the 2 we put on our list. With a bit of distance from him it
could work, but I think we’d go mad if we lived next door to him!
Throughout our visits we were
constantly comparing to a 2-bed with a large terrace that a friend is moving out of, and to be
honest it was hard to compare properly since although his is smaller internally, the roof terrace makes a massive difference. Also, there is a huge difference in the rent which would have a large impact on us and which we can't really ignore. We felt a bit let down by the agent as we told him our budget and he pitched everything right at the very top limit (if not slightly above). I'm surprised he didn't show us anything a bit cheaper.
The next day we arranged to see some apartments through the lady who organises such things at work. We met the agent she uses in Maadi and he took us round three apartments. Two were in the same building and it was very useful to see them since, although they had the same floor area and were both going for the same price as our friend's apartment, one was a 3-bedroom and one was a 2-bedroom.
If anything, it made us realise that, while 3-bedrooms would be useful for when we have visitors, a 2-bedroom would be more practical on a day-to-day basis and could still be very adaptable for when people come to stay. It also helped that the 2-bedroom apartment had a family living there. What would have been a third bedroom had originally been opened up onto the living area as a dining room, but they used it as the playroom for their kids. Consequently the living area felt enormous and really usable, where everything could have a separate area rather than it all being chucked into the same cramped space. Imagine knocking down the walls to the guest bedroom in our current apartment to open up the living room. The area where there had been a narrow balcony had also been covered over so that it became part of the living room, extending the living area but keeping large windows to let in lots of light. Both bedrooms were large, and each had additional storage space too. The apartment only had one bathroom, though, which would also have a major effect on what happens at 'peak times' when people visit.
The 3-bedroom apartment in the same building demonstrated some of the trade-off. It had three large bedrooms and one bathroom plus an extra toilet, but the living area was much smaller (about the size of our current apartment) and so not as useful on a daily basis with a baby. The 3-bedroom apartment was also on the other side of the building, and this combined with the heavy wooden furniture, made it seem really quite dark inside.
Comparing these apartments to the larger, more expensive, 3-bedroom apartments we saw previously it was clear how much you pay for extra space. The living areas in the more expensive apartments were the same large size as the extended living area in yesterday's 2-bed, plus they had the bedroom and an additional bathroom.
That night we were called again by the first agent. He said he'd found a great place, but we were worn out and told him we might look at it in a few days. We'd also arranged to visit Rehab on Saturday and so didn't want to have to rush around to get back to Maadi for another viewing.
We got to Rehab about an hour before our first appointment in order to visit the 'Food Court'. This is one of the 4 areas that people describe as being a key location. It felt like a stretch of restaurants in a resort hotel. It was gorgeous with beautifully manicured lawns and even a water feature with a little bridge. It was clean and functional with wide pathways perfect for a buggy. However, to us it lacked character. Most of the 'restaurants' were fast food chains and those that weren't had generic menus with the same view. On the flip side, they were all very child friendly.
We ate a light lunch at the Lebanese restaurant there, and then met the estate agent for our first few viewings. He showed us 2 apartments in the same block, owned by the same landlord. They were each 3-bedroom apartments and had a reasonable, but not enormous, living area. The prices were in the region of the 3-bedroom apartments we'd been shown in Maadi, but the living area was much smaller. They had a couple of small balconies, but were directly opposite a large mosque with one of the speakers directed straight into the apartment. He then took us to another apartment quite a long way from the main area in Rehab. It was a very green area, but the apartment was East facing and so didn't get much sunlight after the morning and was about 20-30 minutes' walk from the nearest shop. We immediately ruled it out.
The agent dropped us back at the Food Court, and so we wandered down to 'Mall 2' to meet the lady from work who arranges apartments for staff. We spent half an hour in the mall, which reminded us of the Grand Mall but cleaner and with a supermarket in the basement. We also took a wander aroudn the 'souk' - an area similar to Road 9 in Maadi, but without the potholes in the road. We were taken to the apartment of a couple of colleagues who are moving into a new place, and took a look around. It was really nice - ground floor with pretty good light and a small garden. However, this was still a good 15 minute walk from the nearest shop.
We sat in the mall as we waited for our taxi and mulled over the options. We liked the peacefulness, cleanliness and space in Rehab. The layout was very family-friendly, and we felt it would be 'easy' to live there with a baby. On the flip side we felt that it was a bit too clinical and could feel claustrophobic. There's some lovely people living there, but all our close friends live around Maadi. It's a good 45 minute drive into Maadi and so we're not sure we'd end up visiting very often. On the flip side, you could spend all day walking around outside if you wanted to as the entire settlement is like one giant park since there's so much greenery and open space.
We got back home and texted a friend who had a baby here a few years ago. She's stayed in Maadi all the time, and we felt it woudl be worth getting the low-down from somebody who had 'done it'. The people we know in Rehab all commented on how difficult Maadi was with a baby, but we figured they were talking about their occasional visits to Maadi and were comparing it to their daily routine in Rehab where it was more buggy-friendly.
The next day we met with our Maadi-based friend for coffee, and she reassured us about our gut instinct. There's no doubt that some things in Maadi can be frustrating - especially some of the roads with a buggy - and it can be a long way from school, especially if the traffic is bad. However, Maadi does have a number of positives. We left feeling that our minds were made up - we'd stay in Maadi and see how things go. If it does turn out to be too difficult in any way then there is always the option to move out. We felt it was worth giving it a go.
We got back in touch with our first agent and asked to see a couple of the apartments again. He said he'd also arrange for us to view two other places, including the one he'd wanted to show us a couple of days previously. We met him the following afternoon while it was still light, in order to see the apartments in the daytime and check on the light.
When we stood outside the first place we weren't sure. It's just along the road from us on the corner of 206 above a bookshop called Volume 1, and we know the road is busy. However, once inside we had a really good feeling about the place. It was on the 6th floor with a lift, and had a large living area with an enclosed balcony. The third bedroom had been converted into a 'snug' area with a TV and a set of free weights (!) but could easily be turned back into a nursery. The kitchen was large, light and well fitted. It felt great. He told us the rent was $1,100 - at least 10% more than we budgeted for, but we'd spoken about maybe being able to stretch a bit further for the right place.
He then took us to another apartment round the corner. Both of them, he said, had dropped their prices significantly since last year. There just isn't the demand any more, since all the big money - the oil companies and the diplomatic sector - cut back their staffing following the events of last year. Consequently the only big market now seems to be teachers, and as we all know we don't have the same money as the oil companies! This meant that while the second apartment was large and modern, the price was reasonable. We again had a good feeling about the place.
We followed these two 'new' viewings with a visit to our favourite 2 apartments from the previous trip. We were glad to have revisted, as we were abel to dismiss one immediately, but spent a while in the second. Everything we felt was good about it from before still felt good, although we were a bit frustrated that the price we'd been told now came with a comment that the agent thought he could 'get it for that' - the actual asking price was higher.
As it turns out, that comment re-emerged the next day. We spent the evening considering all the options, and headed out to look at the streets around those apartments. The road alongside the one on the 6th floor turned out to be much quieter than we thought, while the other one - which we thought would be quiet - had the feeling of being a bit of a rat-run. Based on that, plus our consideration of what was in the apartments themselves, we plumped for the one on the 6th floor. So, yesterday morning - the day after viewing - Alice called the agent, who now decided that the price he told us was - again - what he thought he could get it for; he hadn't todl us the actual asking price. Alice told him to call the landlady and say we'd take it for the price he'd originally said, and left it at that.
Later yesterday evening we had a text message, which we followed with a phone call. The landlady is coming to Cairo today, and the agent would meet her around lunchtime. However, she is coming to Cairo because she's arranged to meet somebody else at 5.30pm - somebody who has said they want the apartment.
Quite why the agent is meeting her, when she's already arranged to meet somebody else and sign the contract, is beyond me. I don't feel happy about the idea that we could be pushing in front of somebody else in the queue, especially as they've already verbally agreed to have the apartment. I'm also uncomfortable that it could lead to a bidding war. We're already right at the top of our budget, and although I really want this apartment I don't think we can afford to pay more. Additionally, I'm frustrated by the 'what if' of the situation - the agent called us 4 days ago with news of this apartment, but we left it until now to view it. If we'd seen it earlier, perhaps we'd have acted earlier and woudln't now be potentially losing out on it. Similarly, if we had called the agent yesterday morning rather than when we got back from work, we could have been first in the queue. The waiting also puts us at risk of missing out on others we like - 'what if' somebody else takes those while we're caught in this to-ing and fro-ing?
At the same time, I'm very conscious that our 'wish list' is quite demanding. We always knew we were unlikely to get everything we wanted, especially if we were to stick to our budget. A lot of these apartments are actually really great places, and I know that if we had seen them on the internet and taken them without actually visiting, we'd be very happy walking in the first time. That's how we got our current apartment, and we've been here for nearly 4 years. Maybe I just need to chill out a bit and say 'that'll do'.
Whatever happens, I can say one thing for certain - the whole experience is exhausting.
