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The Beginnings - An Expat Continues to Tell Her Story: House Hunting and Realtors in Bangalore
Dawn. Been lying awake for a while. When there are so many things to be done, as soon as the slightest consciousness awakes, my mind starts buzzing with to-dos. Although lying awake with to-do’s after we have reached is a lot better than the lying awake with what-ifs before the move. The appeal of luxury in the serviced apartment quickly palls, and we can’t wait to move into our own place with our own things, even though we love the being waited on hand and foot by the housekeepers at the furnished apartment. This complex, Diamond District, is one of the first mega-complexes in Bangalore and has become a local landmark. Built as little self contained communities, the island of concrete and glass we live in has a huge glittering façade of commercial space. Tucked away behind those walls is a giant apartment community with a huge pool, basketball courts, even a supermarket. There is little sense of community though, because as the housekeeper tells me, most of the apartments have been made into corporate guesthouses and furnished temporary housing. I see only a handful of school kids, walking to the entry points where school buses stop. Outside is the bustling road with tiny shops, about the size of a closet, bristling with high tech gizmos and technology. India is a land of contrasts, has always been, but now the gap seems to have grown. The rich are living the life of the rich anywhere in the world, where once they too dealt with power cuts and locally available products. Now they drive Jaguars, wear runway fashions, and flaunt wealth in a way that only the movie stars do in the US. I hear that Nokia is releasing a limited edition platinum cell phone that will retail for over $35,000 available only for sale in India because that is where they see the market for it. In two days just this week, we have eaten lunch at a place where it cost a hundred dollars for a family of four, and one where it cost $3.00 for a family of four. Both were equally delicious. Meanwhile, on my list of to-do’s, house hunting is number one on the agenda. Expecting the aggressive salesmanship of the typical Californian realtor we are taken aback by the detached, almost diffident attitude of the agent showing us around. There is no sales pitch, no proud tour and we ask questions that obviously seem irrelevant to the agent. I have a list of school bus stops and would really like to live as close to one as possible to trim every minute off the kids commute. But enquiries about groceries stores in the vicinity and children in the neighborhood are met with blank stares, and he suggests that we get a car to access our requirements. On the positive front, we find that almost every house we see has potential. Most are airy and clean and the only hitch is that we really want four bedrooms and most places have three. Finally we find an apartment that seems to meet all our requirements, four bedrooms, and 40 minutes from school, the school bus actually drives into the apartment to pick up the kids, and malls and movies are a short drive away. Hurray! Phase two of the move to India: Done. Nuts and bolts of our moveOurs was not a corporate move, and since I was handling most of the details of our moves, I did it the way you would expect a silicon valley resident to: over the internet. Having browsed the rental ads on various real estate websites, I found there were a few firms that understood the areas and housing needs of expats. Several emails flew across the globe, and I picked a realtor sight unseen purely on the promptness with which they replied to my emails. It helped that I had a printout of the school bus stops I could give the realtor so he got some idea of the neighborhoods we preferred. House hunting is a time consuming, tiring job, if you can shed the kids somewhere it would help. After the first day, we started carrying water and some cookies along as the time taken to travel between two points is inordinate. Although Bangalore is a green and treed city, there are open sewers running through several parts of the town, and so the first thing I would do when we reached a house is get out of the car and sniff. Sometimes I didn’t even waste my time seeing the house, if my nose wrinkled just approaching the house, how would I deal with the stench every time I opened the window. This may seem like a weird caveat, but it really is important to check the noise levels, views and smells of every house you visit. We also found that renting a car for the first month was a huge stress reducer. We could take our time not only car hunting, but also in finding a driver. We requested that the taxi company provide us the same car and driver for the month, so we were not constantly trying to explain where we wanted to go. As it was, it turned out to be a blessing in more ways than one, because when we explained our situation to our taxi driver he recommended a friend who became our family driver when we bought our car. Word of mouth is the best way of hiring both domestic help and drivers. Many expats recommend their helper when they relocate and friend’s drivers and maids often have family members or friends they would like to place. The reliability and honesty of domestic help is not to be taken lightly and ideally you should check with previous employers. Corporate moves often take care of these details, but I mention these details for those hoofing it on their own, like us. Looking for web sites that list available houses for rent in Bangalore?KC has compiled this list of websites to help you hunt a house - in no particular order: http://www.expatriates.com/classifieds/bng/housingavailable/ http://bangalore.click.in/manage_post.php?page=3&cmd=view_ http://www.moveandstay.com/property_finder.asp?keyword=India (for corporate housing) http://www.bangalorelocal.com/action.php http://bangalore.craigslist.org/apa/?displayMode=printFriendly
A few good books you should purchase upon arrivalClick here for a Complete Book List for Bangalore Expats.
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:1. Articles related to Content and Outsourcing
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