Apartment Hunting...

…in India.

Paul has started the search for what we will call home for the next few years. Sounds like an easy enough task until you actually see what’s available. ‘Flats’ can be rented unfurnished, semi-furnished or furnished. Unfurnished means you get the basics (walls and floors); semi-furnished includes appliances and air conditioners; and fully furnished will get you furniture, though most of it looks like it came out of a cheap motel.

Here are a few pictures from the apartments he looked at a week ago. I know they're small and not the best quality.  I think Paul re-sized them before emailing them to me so the file wouldn’t be too large.  (I'd ask him to resend them at a higher resolution, but he is incommunicado at the moment.  He's in Romania...via Istanbul and Hungary.  I hope he eats some beef while he can!)

In India, the flooring is usually tile or marble:       

                                                                         

Note the ‘unfurnished’ kitchens; not even cabinets!

The bathrooms there are quite interesting.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but a lot of them have the shower head in the same area as the toilet and sink (i.e. the whole bathroom gets wet, not just the person taking the shower).

One of the apartments was a penthouse with two levels.

Though the layout was nice, there's no guaranty they'll really fix the things that need fixing, like the mold on the walls or the water problem on the terrace.

The other day he looked at a few more in the same complex. Here are a couple of views of the area.

The following video is of the flat he hopes to rent. It’s completely furnished, including the TVs. Though the shower in one of the bathrooms has no curtain, the other has a separate shower stall! The kitchen is large and not only has cabinets, but they’re nice (and some of them are red; my favorite color). If you pay attention you’ll see there’s a washing machine in the kitchen, but no dryer…thus the laundry hanging on the balcony (which is quite common). The woman who owns this unit not only had an architect friend make some changes to the plans, she also kept it in top shape because she’s been living there (apparently she needs to relocate for her job).

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hannameters?feature=mhum#p/a/u/1/_DjvqIxXmlo

Keep your fingers crossed for us because not only is it furnished and clean with great views, we would be able to keep her current staff and not have to attempt the hiring process ourselves. In India, largely because of the caste system, if you can afford to hire servants you do. To read a post I came across about hiring servants in India click here.

Namaste~