Our first house visit - The good, the bad and the ugly

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The good - Several things!

The apartment itself was as displayed in the ad, spacious and everything furniture seemed fine. Plus there was enough space to have a double office or use two bedrooms as office/sleeping space. Honestly, I think if we find a rental of this size we will be very pleased!

The best thing about the visit was that the real estate agent did not speak more than a few words of English, and we don't speak Spanish fluently yet. To me, this is not a reason to say sorry but we won't check this apartment because I'm afraid of miscommunications. Not at all, I see this as a healthy challenge to up my game and if I want something, I will get it, so there's no way I will not check out this place without trying to maneuver myself through the conversation.

Upon arrival, I noticed fairly quickly that I understood the agent a lot better than my boyfriend, so I did most of the talking. I was in doubt a few times but with a little more explanation and usage of other words, I'm confident that I understood what he was trying to tell us. The real estate agent was very friendly and not impatient at all, mostly curious about why we wanted to live here. I made it clear we weren't happy in Budapest and longed for Spain but this time the coast, and so here we are.

My boyfriend told me afterward that he saw me listen and understand him as well as answer him and that he was proud that I could manage my way through the whole conversation without much trouble. I honestly feel proud too, I mean, I admit that I was very nervous when we drove there but proud afterward.

Not the actual apartment, just for entertainment purposes. Source Canva Pro

The bad

When entering the building, at the end of the hallway, there was a tiny corner I don't think you could even fit a buggy through it, and the elevator was barely wide enough to let our daughter stand in it. Like it was made for very tiny people but even that was not done properly. As if they didn't have any space left in the building but still needed the add an elevator.

Let me be clear, I'm not afraid of elevators in general as I've lived in a high building most of my life where I needed to take the elevator almost to the top floor daily. But this was making me feel claustrophobic instantly. I even took the stairs up while my knee really is not meant for that anymore and often causes horrible pains, I was willing to risk it this time, lol.

Another thing we really don't want anymore is an apartment where we can't open the windows against each other to at least let a breeze flow through the rooms when it's so hot and humid as it is now. I am willing to compromise in case the windows can open in each room, which is already an upgrade compared to last time, but I'm not willing to compromise in case we're all built-in by other apartment blocks because then I already know this heat will go nowhere.

This is not that bad when you have properly working air conditioners, but the one in the living room was on the full half hour and could not even cool that one room down for 20% meaning we'd be locked up in a spacious apartment we loved but all overheated so we already agreed soon enough, this was not for us. Even though we had the feeling it was when we saw the ad. This was another reminder that pictures don't show you the full story.

The ugly

Even before we arrived at the building, when we stepped out of the van, the streets were very similar to our district in Budapest and that's something we absolutely don't want anymore. No horrible smells on every corner and dirty-looking sidewalks with even more disgusting abandoned property everywhere. I was kind of hoping that the apartment had flaws from that moment as I knew I would never be able to convince my boyfriend to rent it there if I'd like it. "Thankfully for me" the entrance of the building was a red flag right away, I never saw a weirder elevator situation as I saw here.

The verdict

This place was not our home. We loved it so much on pictures, but there you can't see the surroundings can you? We are totally new to the area so it's also impossible to explore all districts and know exactly where we don't want to live.

When I declined I asked the agent to let us know in case he has one in a better area, and he instantly sent me one that looked great in the ad. We will be checking out this one next.

Fingers crossed!

Previous parts of The Expat Diaries

• An early morning walk and breakfast with my tiny human
• Internet so slow that it should be illegal
• Food with a view - First homecooked meal in Spain
• Groceries in Spain vs Budapest
• The beach near us - Just touched the water once
• Holiday Inn Malaga - Food Approved!)
• Bienvenidos a Málaga! - Welcome in Málaga!)
• The smoothest security process ever - Our flight to Spain
• Our final day in Budapest
• The final countdown - It will never fit!
• The sound of an almost empty home
• Narrowing down our life to 5 suitcases
• When the universe aligns everything perfectly
• Catching up and saying goodbyes
• We're closing the kindergarten chapter sooner than expected
• Finding a place to live in Spain
• The countdown is real - The last times in Budapest
• Our life in 6 suitcases - sorting, selling & giving away our belongings
• Moving back to Spain very soon!