A place to call home!

I've officially moved into my new apartment for the year! Taking after my parents...this officially marks the third property that I own/rent at the same time. Still got the house in Rhode Island...still paying "rent" to my landlord/fiance (we gotta discuss the returns on this one...) in Brooklyn...and now my own adorbs 1BR in Lagos!

Of course / unshockingly -- not much about this move was simple. First there was finding a place...then there was confirming a place...then there was moving in. Actually I lied. Moving in was fairly easy. I decided on Sunday "yknow what...I should just actually move today..." and I texted Amadi "yo what's up? Can you help me move?" And he agreed. But it turns out that when he agreed, he assumed that other people would do all the work of getting the suitcases out of my apartment and into his car because that's the life he's used to here. So he was a little upset that physical labor was involved. I reminded him that he was once a college athlete. That made him a little more okay with the physical labor, but not much. And then we drove to my new place and moved in.

Amadi - college athlete

So since moving in was so easy...let's go back and focus on the things that weren't easy...

First...finding a place

• Context: the real estate market in Lagos is primed for some tech disruption. Despite being way ahead of the curve on mobile banking and whatnot...I'd say Nigeria is very very behind the curve on just like...even having a website showing which apartments are available. And the websites that do exist have one outside picture of a building, or sketchily post the same pictures over and over again for multiple listings of different size/different price making me skeptical that any single apartment even exists
• The good news is: everybody knows a guy. Literally everybody is or knows a real estate agent. But agents focus in on different neighborhoods...so you gotta find your guy/gal. And then if your ideal neighborhood changes (as mine did)...you gotta find a new guy/gal.
• More context: Lagos is effing expensive. I am paying about double for my 1BR in Lagos as I do for my 2BR in RI and on par for my part of a 2BR in Brooklyn (granted - my "half" of the rent in Brooklyn is highly subsidized by my landlord/fiance). Economics would tell you that if prices are so high, then demand should be high...demand should be pushing the prices up. But every building that I toured felt creepily vacant and meanwhile, many of my coworkers live 1+ hours from the office. So um...why don't these landlords just lower the prices? There's people who would rent the places, at a lower price, and they're obviously not turning over units how they're currently priced...
• Ah...because Lagos, I'm told. TIA. Apparently most real estate is simply seen as a safe investment where the land/location will be enough for the asset to appreciate...there's no need to get returns on it on a yearly basis. So the top top Nigerians (we've already discussed inequality) just buy up apartments as an investment. They might list them for renting, but only at a high price that makes the hassle of renting worth it to them. They're not super motivated to reduce the price just to move the unit. 
• Oh...also because of me...I'm part of the problem. Expats/foreigners working for international companies, receiving generous housing allowances also drive up cost of living. 
• The process: So all this meant that I spent several days driving around with different agents, mostly sitting in traffic, and then viewing a few aparments. This was actually convenient because it gave me something to do during my otherwise friendly weekends. The agents mostly took me to all the same buildings and sometimes the same apartments. These were seemingly the only buildings that were activley looking for renters. Annoyingly, most of the units they showed me were Ground Floor, which Bray Mitchell was vehemently opposed to -- which honestly made my choice rather easy. In the end, I had actually only seen one unit that wasn't ground floor and was in my budget. It was convenient that this unit was also owned by a guy who owns a furniture store -- so it was actually decorated well and felt like a place I could live for a year. 

My attempt at a side-by-side comparison of the corporate apartment vs. the homier apartment...these are both in the same building. But the pictures don't really do justice. To be clear...this is the more corporate apartment...just couch, table and rug. I think what's not totally captured / which I don't have pictures of...is that there's really NOTHING ELSE in the room...there's a TV that's just on a wall with a cable box on the floor. Cursory curtains. And couch is very corporate.

This is the homier apartment that I'm much happier with. Picture taken at night so unforutnatley no natural lighting...I dunno...there's a bit more to the couch and coffee table...also not captured is that there's another chair, a book shelf, TV stand...like it just feels like a place you'd actually live in. Anyways...this is where I live now. 

Then...confirming a place...I first found that unit on Feb 11 -- so why did I not move until now? Ah -- of course there's a story there too

• First, we settled on a price. Well actually it seemed that the price was set in stone, but I at least negotiated to get things like wifi, DSTV and cleaner included in the price. I sent pictures to my Nigerian friends and they didn't seem to think I was being immensely ripped off so I shrugged and went along with it. 
• Then the drama started. So here's the Season 1 recap:
• Last year, Person A - who owns a furniture store - rented an unfurnished unit in this building of 1BRs
• Person A's plan was to furnish/decorate the unit nicely (because he owns a furniture store) and then sub-let it at a profit
• I was that sub-letter
• The building landlord (Person B) saw the price I was willing to pay for the unit and was like "wait a second...we want that cash...you're not allowed to sub-let...this girl has to rent one of our furnished units"
• So...re-negging on contracts is a thing
• At one point here they also threatened that they wanted to rent out the building in its entirety to a corporate client 
• Remember the story that I had already been shown multiple units all in the same building with different agents? So I already knew I didn't like the furnished units offered by the building -- their idea of "furnished unit" was a bed and a couch -- ta da! furnished!
• But I had to go back to the building to look at one of these sad "furnished" apartments. I held my ground and said I wouldn't be moving into one of them. Started to reach ot to other real estate agents to see about other options.
• Then my real estate agent when AWOL.
• Then he came back to say...Person A just decided to buy the whole damned building...? This part got confusing and I would probably have had to rewind and put sub-titles on...but I had a phone call...and it resulted in me being able to move into the originally furnished apartment that I wanted. Yay!

Then of course I had to sign contracts and pay. Being that I'm in Nigeria...I was very worried about this step. Interestingly, basically NOBODY around me was worried about it. Like I actually read the contract line-by-line and made comments for edits. My agent then just told me to make DIRECT EDITS to the contract and send back a signed copy. Didn't even feel the need to discuss with the landlord. 

At the point that I moved into the apartment...I literally did not have a signed contract from the landlord, nor had I paid for it. Nobody seemed to care. I asked so many Nigerians and everybody was like "why are you worried? Just move in." It took A WEEK after I moved in for them to send me the invoice for the apartment. 

So like...scary place to do business where contracts are not enforced and where you can have rented an apartment with the understanding that you're allowed to sublet, which is then re-negged...but also where people feel comfortable letting others move into an apartment without a contract in the first place...?