Are you unable to attend open house inspections? Well this mini episode is for you!

Are you unable to attend open house inspections due to other commitments? Or perhaps hiring someone to attend open house inspections on your behalf is out of your budget?

Well, this mini episode is for you!

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Transcript

Hello and welcome to The Introverted Hermit Podcast. I'm your host Erin Margaret; an Australian born artist and an introverted hermit.

Are you struggling to find a property to rent because you don’t have time to attend open house inspections? Or perhaps hiring someone to attend open house inspections on your behalf is out of your budget?

Well, this mini episode is for you!

Prior to my mother, myself and our senior cat moving into a new home in November, 2024 we had looked at rental property listings in the area where we lived for nearly 6 years but the high rents for a smaller sized rental were out of our budget.  

So, we needed to rent further away from the area.

Since we had to travel further, I decided to email some real estate agents to see if they would be open to allowing my mother and I to view a recorded video walk through of any rental properties we were interested in and apply for them if we liked what we saw via the video recordings. This would save us a considerable amount of travel time. 

We also weren’t in the financial position to hire a person to inspect the houses on our behalf. 

A couple of real estate agents I contacted via email offered to provide a recorded video walk through after the open house inspection for the day.

One of the real estate agents who agreed to email me a short, pre-recorded video walk through didn’t get back to me.

The other real estate agent did make an effort to do a recorded video walkthrough of one little 2-bedroom unit after the open house inspection. 

I was so appreciative and thankful of them doing this for us. Even though it wasn't the right type of 2-bedroom unit we were looking for because the inside of the unit was dark and dreary. There was very little sunlight coming through the windows even with the roller blinds up.

I declined on wanting to apply to rent the property with my mother and our senior cat because I knew we would not be happy living there. 

Then I started applying for 3-bedroom rental properties without any success of my mother and I being approved.  We were told that they had already been rented out and yet when I went on to those same real estate websites, those houses were still on the market for rent.

We figured it was because we were in a lower income bracket than other potential renters who were most likely offering higher rent to bid on the same properties. This was so disheartening. 

My mother Elizabeth suggested we only apply for 2-bedroom rental properties as we were the only two people plus our senior cat Bella that would be living there.

But the third bedroom I desired to have converted into a ‘home office’ so to speak; so I couldn’t help myself from gravitating towards newer 3-bedroom rental houses. 

In my search, a brand new three-bedroom 2-bathroom home outside of the Melbourne area and in a suburb we’d never heard of came to view. It had only been on the rental market for a couple of months and no takers so far. 

It had two reverse cycle air conditioners that we could use for heating and cooling all year round, timber veneer floors in the main living areas, carpeted bedrooms, a nice wide hallway, plenty of natural sunlight, and a small fully fenced grassed backyard. It also had a one car garage with an automatic roller door.

My mother and I took a look at the photos of the inside of the home and exterior on an online real estate listing and I knew immediately that this was the house we are going to be living in without feeling too attached to it because I didn’t want to get my hopes up either because we had already been declined to rent other rental properties. 

Just like a kid, I asked my mother, “could we please apply for it?”

My mother raised her eyebrows and said that we most likely didn’t have Buckleys chance of getting it. 

My answer was, “why not, we’ve got nothing to lose”.  

The property we were living in was going to be renovated in the coming weeks before being placed on the market for auction; so we needed to move out prior to that happening. 

After applying to rent this new home, within a day or two of applying the real estate agent phoned me to ask my mother and I when we could come to an open house inspection. 

When the real estate agent heard me talk about our circumstances and we would have needed to travel at least one hour there and back to attend the open house inspection and with no guarantee the owner would approve for us to rent their property; they agreed to forward our application onto the owner to review our application.

If the owner approved us to live in their house, we would accept the property as is because it had never been previously rented by another tenant. 

Within three days of our rental application being forwarded onto the owner to read; I was contacted via my mobile phone by the real estate agent, but I missed their call. Then they called my mother and told her we were approved to live there. 

My mother said: ‘Really?’ 

We were both in disbelief and were so relieved that our search for a new home had finally come to pass. I was on the verge of crying with happiness. 

The current owner of this property put their faith in us as they knew by reviewing the tenant ledgers that we had a long history of paying our rent on time and are tidy people.  

I feel more real estate agents should consider offering recorded video walk throughs because not everyone are able to attend open house inspections; not only that, there would be a reduction in carbon emissions and traffic congestion.

If you are in a similar predicant as my mother and I were, whether you are introverted or not, I do hope that you find a lovely real estate agent who will be open to offering you a pre-recorded video walk through of rental properties you are interested in applying for.

You will need to agree to accept the house as is based on the pre-recorded video walk through and what has been advertised in the real estate listing. So please keep this in mind before signing any rental agreement. If the house doesn’t meet your expectations when moving in, you will be legally bound to the rental agreement. 

Needless to say, my mother and I are very happy that we took a chance on taking on this new home as is. We have been living here just over two months now. The suburb we moved to is a peaceful multi-cultural neighbourhood. 

Well, that’s all for todays’ mini episode. Thank you for listening. 

I’m Erin Margaret your host of The Introverted Hermit Podcast. 

The information I discussed today was just that – information only. It is not specific advice. If you take action following something you heard today, it is important to make sure you get professional advice about your unique situation before you proceed, whether that advice be legal, financial, accounting, medical or other advice. 

Is there another topic you’d like me to explore in future podcast episodes? 

Email me directly at erin@erinmargaret.co with your questions. 

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