Apartment Hunting and The Tale of Two Stephens

Before we leave for our trip, I figure I should tell the story of how we came about getting our apartment.

It was Saturday, only a few days into our trip, and Melissa and I found ourselves with 3 apartment viewings on the same day, quite a tall order for two people who barely knew their way around the city. Our first viewing was in Ballsbridge, a little east of the city centre, but within walking distance and apparently a very nice area from what we had heard. We arrived early and sat across the street from the building and ate scones and pretended like we already lived there. We watched as a couple walked towards the building, and we cursed them under our breath, knowing they were there for the viewing as well. We got up pretty quickly and walked across to make sure no one else could get in line in front of us. It turned out the apartment was on the ground floor, had a musty smell (which a French guy behind us said was probably from it being on the ground floor) and the front door was built by circus midgets, with just enough room for a child to walk through. Fine, we thought. It's the first viewing and we just want to get as much experience doing this as we can. We gave the person showing the apartment, Stephen, our info and references and he said he would contact us later in the day.

We moved onto the second viewing, in an area known as Ringsend, just a little walk north of our first viewing. This must have been a sign that we did not want to do business with the landlord, but he put down the wrong address on the apartment listing. We went to the wrong address at first, and after speaking with a nice Irish lady who let us know we were not the first ones to come by that day for a viewing, we called the landlord and he mumbled something to Melissa for a minute or so, and then mentioned 100 Gordon Street. His listing said 100 South Lotts Road. Eh, it's Ireland we said. So, then we met up with the landlord and were floored at how nice the apartment was. The neighborhood was desolate, to say the least, but the apartment was totally renovated and everything was new and spotless. We still weren't sure how we felt about the landlord, a 20-something guy who looked like he just came from a pub, but we once again gave our info and references and hoped for the best. After leaving I received a text from Stephen, the person showing the first apartment, and he said they selected another couple for the apartment. Oh well, it's only our first day we said, and the place smelled and we didn't want to have bars on our ground floor windows anyway.

Our third viewing was in a neighborhood called Portobello, a little southwest of St. Stephen's Green. As we arrived at the apartment, we saw a line stretching out the front door, about 20 people deep. Figuring we had no shot being at the back of the line, and wet from a downpour that happened as we were walking there (my umbrella broke during this, but luckily Melissa had one), we waited our turn. We climbed up the steps to the top floor and looked around the apartment as the landlord was sitting and talking with a couple. When they left we sat down with the landlord, Stephen (lots of Stephen's, no? Remember this.) Now being pros at the viewing game, we handed over our info and references and talked ourselves up, making sure I mentioned my Irish heritage. Stephen was very nice and said to contact him on Monday, and he would let us know if we were selected. We left and hunted for a place to eat.

About 5 minutes later I received a call from Stephen and he said, "I don't normally do this, but after contacting the couple I selected for the apartment, their references did not turn out well. You were my second choice and I was wondering if you would like to take it." Thinking quickly, I said that Melissa was not with me (she was right next to me) and that I would need to talk it over with her. Now, it's important to note that at this point I think I'm talking to Stephen #1 from Ballsbridge, since he texted me earlier and said they were renting to someone else (and I'm thinking that their references were bad), and also because Stephen #2 from Portobello said to contact him on Monday. After talking it over, Melissa and I decide not to take the apartment and we call back Stephen (once again, I'm thinking it's Stephen #1) and tell him thanks, but no thanks.

Fast forward to Monday morning. We didn't hear from the landlord in Ringsend, so we figure that place went to someone else. No worries, we still have the Portobello apartment as a possibility! I call Stephen #2 and ask him if the apartment is still available. He seems really confused and tells me that I already turned it down. "Huh?", I say. So, after a minute of going through the details of Saturday, I come to the realization that I confused the two Stephen's and that we turned down the apartment that we actually wanted. So, at this point I'm killing myself on the inside, but luckily Stephen #2 said that even though he was going to show the apartment the following night to someone, if we came by that night with our deposit we might get it. And we did. But not after some hassle getting money from the ATM's because of the daily withdrawal limit. Nothing comes easy I suppose, but our good luck continued and we got an apartment after being in Ireland for 6 days. Not bad.