My experience with apartment hunting and heartless agents

I’ve long been searching for an opportunity to share my experience with house hunting, but until recently, I never found the right time or platform. That was until I decided to share it with the world through the media.

Lately, I’ve been feeling utterly drained by the entire process, to the point where I’ve started forgetting my phone at home after particularly long and exhausting days. It’s been a tough stretch, and life hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. But like many of us, I’ve had to keep going, especially when there’s the constant pressure of ensuring the essentials, like putting food on the table.

A few days ago, my fiancée and I reached a decision: it was time to move out of our current apartment. The one-room self-contained space had become too cramped for the two of us. I originally rented it when I was a bachelor, never even imagining that I’d one day be planning to marry someone, let alone face the task of finding a new home for us both. But here I am now, sitting in an uncomfortable situation, contemplating the future of our living arrangement.

What seemed like a straightforward task quickly turned into a nightmare. My fiancée insisted that I hire a housing agent to make the process quicker and less stressful. I reluctantly agreed, thinking it might be the fastest way to get things done. However, I ended up paying three different agents a non-refundable 5k each for registration, only to find that the service provided was nothing short of disappointing.

It wasn’t the money that bothered me so much—it was the sheer lack of help and the almost dismissive attitude from the agents. They led me to apartments that were either run-down or clearly in dire straits, clearly intended for tenants under urgent eviction notices or for those who had no other option but to settle for subpar living conditions.

But perhaps the most frustrating, even soul-crushing, part of the entire ordeal occurred when one agent got in touch with another, and together, they took me to a property that wasn’t even finished yet. Can you believe it? They expected me to pay 18 months’ rent upfront for a place that was still a shell. They promised it would be ready in three days, but I knew better than to fall for such a scam.

Adding insult to injury, I was the one driving these agents around in my Keke (an auto-rickshaw), going from one disappointing viewing to the next. After three days of fruitless searching, I finally took my fiancée to a bush bar to unwind. We had a long conversation about everything, trying to make sense of what had been a stressful and tiring experience. Eventually, we came to a decision: we would stay in our current apartment and make it work.

I reached out to my landlady, and she kindly agreed to let us do some renovations, which we’ve started doing ourselves. It’s a far cry from the idea of a fresh new start, but it’s ours now, and we’re making it our own. The renovations have been cathartic and have given us something tangible to focus on rather than the exhausting and frustrating apartment search.

But I’ll be honest, the entire process with those agents was draining. So much so that I ended up losing weight and, for a while, had little appetite. I was constantly stressed, and the emotional toll was heavy. In the end, I felt tested by the agents’ indifference and lack of care—what should have been a relatively simple task of finding a home turned into a battle of endurance.

I’m not the only one who’s had such an experience. I know many people who have faced the same frustration with real estate agents who seem more interested in their commission than actually helping prospective tenants. It’s heartless, and it’s a problem that needs to be addressed. I’m sharing my experience in the hope that others who find themselves in the same situation will feel less alone, and perhaps more importantly, more informed about the potential pitfalls when working with agents in today’s housing market.

The whole process left me feeling emotionally and physically drained, but it also taught me an important lesson about patience and resilience. At the end of the day, we’ve found peace with our decision, and I know that, despite the setback, we are building something meaningful together.

I had to share this, as I know far too many people out there are facing the same struggles. It’s frustrating, it’s exhausting, and it’s a system that doesn’t seem to care about those it’s supposed to serve. But I guess we just have to keep pushing through.

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