Usually, we are pretty fast when it comes to deciding where we are going to live. Not sure what's going on this time, but committing to an apartment has been harder this week than it's ever been. Maybe because we have seen some fairly nice places but none of them has been entirely perfect. I'm not sure I have ever had a home that was entirely perfect, or even close to it..but it's worth trying for, right?
And maybe this isn't exactly the right city for such high habitat hopes....we have so far looked at about 25 apartments. We started a week ago with three on the first day I arrived. I think we were out looking with agents every day since except for Sunday. We have had four agents. On Tuesday, the "we" became "me" because John got too busy at work to come with me, and he left it up to me to choose. I guess he has forgotten that I am the woman who mistakenly thought the house she bought in Newfoundland, some years back, had a garage and two bathrooms. Glad to know he trusts me again!
When choosing a place, anywhere, location is one of the primary considerations. Then there's layout and size to consider....how many bedrooms...what's included...stuff like that. Here in Baku, you have to like the furniture because 99% of apartments come furnished (right down to the knives and forks, and the bedding). If there is something you really can't live with (and most of the time there is something hideous), then you ask the landlord if he would remove it should you decide to rent. Accommodating landlords seem to agree to take out anything you want....and then there are some who whine about where they can put it. Of course, there are those like ours in Dubai who agreed to take things out, and never sent anyone to pick them up. Since we have some furniture of our own, one of the considerations is how we can incorporate what we have with what is there. No matter what apartment we choose, we are definitely going to have an eclectic mix....just trying to keep the "IKEA- meets-Arabian Nights-meets-the-Marie Antoinette" down to a dull roar.
You also have to like the wallpaper because 100% of apartments are wallpapered...because wallpaper is classy and expensive, so a classy expensive apartment is going to have wallpaper. If one is lucky the wallpaper is a textured vinyl in a neutral color.....gold is popular. Most likely, though, the paper has a pattern and there is a good chance it's a bold pattern. Might as well spend that money making a statement. If it's a really classy brand new apartment, there will be a sparkly sprinkles in the wall paper. I've seen this at least a dozen times in bedrooms...often with a bold pattern to go with it.
The next kind of funky thing around here are the common areas. Since street frontage is valuable commercial space, no apartment building has an entrance from the street on which it sits. To access the "lobby"....a term I'm using in its loosest possible sense....you have to wend your way to the back of the building, past the kids playing soccer on the asphalt, past the haphazardly parked cars, past the security guy out having a smoke.....All to get to a tiny, four person elevator with no air conditioning.....sometimes there is a light in the "lobby" and sometimes you have to turn it on yourself if you can't see anything. Fancier places use reflective, polished marble floors and walls which helps in the dim light. Hallways aren't typically lit either....you flip the light on when you get off the elevator and it goes off on a timer. Can get a tad creepy.
Since the owners of apartments essentially just buy a box from the builder and in a lot of buildings there are no covenants requiring that the unit be completed in any particular time frame, it's possible to get off the elevator and see one or two nicely finished wooden doors and a couple of steel ones covered in plastic. Most of the time the hallways are just painted concrete, decorated with gas meters. The trick to apartment hunting in Baku is to put on your blinders until you actually get inside the unit. First impressions can just kill the joy if you don't....because inside there can be something pretty spectacular. Getting past that outer crust can be hard, though.
By far the nicest apartment we have seen is a penthouse in the area of the U.S. Embassy. It's beautifully finished with high end appliances, really spacious rooms, lots of clever storage space, a very accommodating landlord who has agreed to amend a couple of design issues for me. It comes with the lowest price tag and a million dollar view.
BUT.....it's got no neighborhood.....take this place and move it ten blocks and the price would double. It's still on the list and will be the last one we see tonight. It's been a week since I've seen it and I wonder if it will seem as amazing as it did on first viewing. If it does, then I'm going to have to ask myself how important it is that I be able to go out and walk around in my neighborhood. It's not like that's something I've really been doing all that much over the past 5 years or so.....and with the savings on this one, I could pay the monthly salary of a driver to take me where ever I want to go walking anyway.
The next apartment still in the running is a three bedroom in the building above the Sahil Metro station. For location is can't be beat. It's got shopping and proximity to more shopping....coffee shops and restaurants, the pedestrian street and the seaside boulevard are all within 2 blocks. It has great views of the Caspian from its three balconies. It's clean, it's modern and the current occupant even happens to be from Newfoundland. (Not that is really matters once he is gone). The only thing is.....all that convenience comes at the price of crowding. the street is always packed with people and cars. I imagine there's a pretty decent rumble, too, as the Metro train arrives in the basement.
The last possibility is a two bedroom duplex....which mean 2 levels, here, not 2 places side by side. It needs a lot of work but the location is fabulous! Downtown but across from a school and a park which makes it a lot quieter than some. According to the agent, the landlord will fix it up and it could really be a spectacular place. John hasn't seen it, though, and it doesn't look like he will get the chance before we leave for Dubai.
And maybe this isn't exactly the right city for such high habitat hopes....we have so far looked at about 25 apartments. We started a week ago with three on the first day I arrived. I think we were out looking with agents every day since except for Sunday. We have had four agents. On Tuesday, the "we" became "me" because John got too busy at work to come with me, and he left it up to me to choose. I guess he has forgotten that I am the woman who mistakenly thought the house she bought in Newfoundland, some years back, had a garage and two bathrooms. Glad to know he trusts me again!
When choosing a place, anywhere, location is one of the primary considerations. Then there's layout and size to consider....how many bedrooms...what's included...stuff like that. Here in Baku, you have to like the furniture because 99% of apartments come furnished (right down to the knives and forks, and the bedding). If there is something you really can't live with (and most of the time there is something hideous), then you ask the landlord if he would remove it should you decide to rent. Accommodating landlords seem to agree to take out anything you want....and then there are some who whine about where they can put it. Of course, there are those like ours in Dubai who agreed to take things out, and never sent anyone to pick them up. Since we have some furniture of our own, one of the considerations is how we can incorporate what we have with what is there. No matter what apartment we choose, we are definitely going to have an eclectic mix....just trying to keep the "IKEA- meets-Arabian Nights-meets-the-Marie Antoinette" down to a dull roar.
You also have to like the wallpaper because 100% of apartments are wallpapered...because wallpaper is classy and expensive, so a classy expensive apartment is going to have wallpaper. If one is lucky the wallpaper is a textured vinyl in a neutral color.....gold is popular. Most likely, though, the paper has a pattern and there is a good chance it's a bold pattern. Might as well spend that money making a statement. If it's a really classy brand new apartment, there will be a sparkly sprinkles in the wall paper. I've seen this at least a dozen times in bedrooms...often with a bold pattern to go with it.
The next kind of funky thing around here are the common areas. Since street frontage is valuable commercial space, no apartment building has an entrance from the street on which it sits. To access the "lobby"....a term I'm using in its loosest possible sense....you have to wend your way to the back of the building, past the kids playing soccer on the asphalt, past the haphazardly parked cars, past the security guy out having a smoke.....All to get to a tiny, four person elevator with no air conditioning.....sometimes there is a light in the "lobby" and sometimes you have to turn it on yourself if you can't see anything. Fancier places use reflective, polished marble floors and walls which helps in the dim light. Hallways aren't typically lit either....you flip the light on when you get off the elevator and it goes off on a timer. Can get a tad creepy.
Since the owners of apartments essentially just buy a box from the builder and in a lot of buildings there are no covenants requiring that the unit be completed in any particular time frame, it's possible to get off the elevator and see one or two nicely finished wooden doors and a couple of steel ones covered in plastic. Most of the time the hallways are just painted concrete, decorated with gas meters. The trick to apartment hunting in Baku is to put on your blinders until you actually get inside the unit. First impressions can just kill the joy if you don't....because inside there can be something pretty spectacular. Getting past that outer crust can be hard, though.
By far the nicest apartment we have seen is a penthouse in the area of the U.S. Embassy. It's beautifully finished with high end appliances, really spacious rooms, lots of clever storage space, a very accommodating landlord who has agreed to amend a couple of design issues for me. It comes with the lowest price tag and a million dollar view.
BUT.....it's got no neighborhood.....take this place and move it ten blocks and the price would double. It's still on the list and will be the last one we see tonight. It's been a week since I've seen it and I wonder if it will seem as amazing as it did on first viewing. If it does, then I'm going to have to ask myself how important it is that I be able to go out and walk around in my neighborhood. It's not like that's something I've really been doing all that much over the past 5 years or so.....and with the savings on this one, I could pay the monthly salary of a driver to take me where ever I want to go walking anyway.
The next apartment still in the running is a three bedroom in the building above the Sahil Metro station. For location is can't be beat. It's got shopping and proximity to more shopping....coffee shops and restaurants, the pedestrian street and the seaside boulevard are all within 2 blocks. It has great views of the Caspian from its three balconies. It's clean, it's modern and the current occupant even happens to be from Newfoundland. (Not that is really matters once he is gone). The only thing is.....all that convenience comes at the price of crowding. the street is always packed with people and cars. I imagine there's a pretty decent rumble, too, as the Metro train arrives in the basement.
The last possibility is a two bedroom duplex....which mean 2 levels, here, not 2 places side by side. It needs a lot of work but the location is fabulous! Downtown but across from a school and a park which makes it a lot quieter than some. According to the agent, the landlord will fix it up and it could really be a spectacular place. John hasn't seen it, though, and it doesn't look like he will get the chance before we leave for Dubai.
