Dear fellow lover of back scratches,
How are you? Itās a scorching Sunday afternoon. Iām perched very comfortably in a cafe, all by myself, wearing brown-tinted sunglasses (thought you should know); everything looks like Mexico⦠or the Middle East. Norah Jones is playing on loop and sounds as relevant as ever.
The past few days have been exhilarating and tiring in equal measures. My wife and I started house-hunting (so that we have a place to live in and also a place in society). It seems like the beginning of a long and arduous task. We were aware that real estate prices have soared in this region, but not to the extent it has! This is all thanks toāas one post on Instagram put itā"the great migration of 2020", when folks who worked from their tiny homes in Tier 1 cities, moved to greener pastures such as this. Here, the place that shall remain unnamed, they could work from homes that overlooked sprawling fields amidst splendid greenery, all while paying half of what they paid in big cities. I write in past tense because those days of āhalf-priceā seem to be long gone⦠and we seem to be late to the party.
I had anticipated that rental prices would be back to pre-pandemic levels, as I had read that migrants had begun their return. But as someone who has never rented or knows nothing about real estate, this turned out to be wishful thinking. This rental market is nowhere near ācorrectionā. If anything rents continue to soar to dizzying heights, surpassing Tier-1 cities even.
Like any other newly married couple that believes the world owes them something, we started our house hunt by taking our time to elaborately explore locationsālong walks and longer drives in areas we liked. Itās worth noting that we know nobody here: no friends, no relatives and no contacts. Starting from scratch is ideal, and hence also challenging. Besides, knowing people isnāt of much help; localites donāt have any idea of the rental market (unless theyāre renting) and migrants quickly move on to the next problem once they find their own home. So the only people who can truly help are those who are in the business of helping you find a homeāreal estate agents.