Not too long ago we decided to stay Stockholmies for a while longer - there's some good work left to be done here, and we weren't quite ready to leave Sweden yet. But, that meant some serious thinking about our living situation.
In the past year and a half that we have been here, we have lived in three different second-hand apartment rentals. There are pros and cons to this - we haven't had to buy any furniture (PRO) but the cost is considerably higher than getting a first-hand contract. Although our most recent rental situation was more flexible than some before, the reality was that we would have to move again eventually. And since it is almost unheard of that people like us would luck out with a first-hand contract, we knew that that would mean possibly moving a number of times. That notion, quite honestly, made us less than pleased.
I don't mind moving so much, but it takes time, it takes money, and you don't know what you'll get. So we decided to follow in the footsteps of some of our friends and look into buying a flat. With a number of friends, both expats and Swedes alike, taking the same path, we felt like it was manageable. Our only experience was the little we had buying in the US and we just assumed that it would be similar. Thank goodness some friends clarified some points. For instance, the asking price is the starting bid here, and many times sellers are still not willing to sell for that amount. Furthermore,it isn't unusual for the cost of an apartment to go up by almost 1 million kroner from the asking (current exchange is approximately 7.5 crowns to the US dollar). With this is mind we knew roughly when we wanted to move and so took advantage of the lingering winter/very delayed spring to visit open houses when attendance and competition would be lower.
The other bit of information we received from friends was that the turn around from viewing to signed contract is short. Really short. Less than a week short.
Over a few rainy Sundays and Mondays we looked at dozens of places. And then we found a place we liked. It was a lot bigger than we thought that we could get. We loved the original 1920s floors and moldings, the high ceilings, the fireplace, and the space. We saw it once, hemmed and hawed about the decision, and then decided that we wanted it. As we packed for our trip to Istanbul, we sent the broker our offer. But the part that we never bothered clarifying with friends was the bidding process. We left for a short vacation to Istanbul and then the chaos began.
First day walking through Gullhane Park and we were outbid...by SMS. The broker wants to know, by SMS, if we are going to place a counteroffer. We decide to let it sit for a while. Who else wants to bid? Let them duke it out for a while. And the SMSs keep coming, every counter offer being registered and following us on vacation in real-time. After 24 hours there is some calm and so we text our counter and then go have dinner. Repeat a few times and then by SMS we receive notification, essentially, that we purchased a flat. My cell phone never seemed so powerful and irresponsible at the same time.
