The ideal house and why females are better salesperson..

 

Day 3 in BJ.. and finally saw and found our ideal apartment..

Day 2 was a nightmare..

We walked so much that I in the end, I had to buy new sandals so my feet would not be so sore and bruised. And heck the image.. I am pregnant and entitled to wearing un-glam sandals, with whatever else I have on me. 

Before I go through the house hunting saga, let me share some of our house hunting idiosyncracies.. which explains why it is so hard to find the ideal unit..

- we like clean places (obvious but cannot be taken for granted in China)

- I have shared our view on the locales that are more suitable for acclimatising..  so we figured we will like to be in the more Soho/ IT office district, with lot of tech offices and building like our Sim Lim complex, except newer, classier.. and lots of eateries for the lunch crowd and with Carrefour and Starbucks, McD, KFC, PizzaHut to make us feel like home.. 

-  We wanted greens, lots of them so that the kids can experience the beautiful changing season and for them to work out so we have easier nights!

- I wanted nice toilet bowls in the house, decent kitchen to cook and preferrably parquet flooring so that winter will be warm and it is slip proof and less of a hazard for the falling prone Xuan Xuan.

- I wanted good heating system, and aircon.. to cope with the changing season.

- I wanted a North-south facing unit, so we wont have hot summer months where we have to battle with the killing heat.

And I am ready to compromise the rest.. such as decor, condo facilities etc etc.

The imperfect...

The first unit we went to was the ideal estate. It has security guard, common estate heating which means the whole building will be heated during the winter months and nice building farcade (photos to come). Best part, it is new.. it was TOP in 2005, so it means that the plumbing and pipes are relatively new. There are lots of green, willow trees, plants and stuff, and kids play within the state throughout the day, on their bikes or toddling around.

It is fantastic. But the unit we saw was a bit small, 2 bedrm with only 1 small toilet. It will be a problem in terms of where baby will sleep. We train baby to sleep on their own from young so we technically need 3 rooms. But otherwise the house is perfect. Parquet flooring, clean and new furnishing.. the major drawbacks are the small toilet and the dingy kitchen. And the space, as I won't know where to house melanie if she comes, or if our parents come, much less any other visitor. Dun mistake me, the living room is huge, almost as big as our current one, enough to segment a play area for easel, and toy or bikes. We just need 1 more toilet and 1 more room. 

The nightmare

Then the nightmare began, when we went to the condo near the school town, near lots of cafes, small shops and very near the train station..where they have pool, tennis court etc etc, but all the units we saw were really old.. imagine - masking tape taping windows edge, awful stickers on shelves etc etc... basically it is like a condo rented to students again and again. And the toilets have a strange smell, which we suspect came from the ancient piping.. And we saw SOOO many units.. of different sizes, configuration etc.. cuz it is a 'hot' place for students/ families to stay..

And I told NJ, the estate is just not for kids.. more for teeny booper kids!

More searching

In the evening, we went to see more units at the SOHO estate.. and one was ideal, huge, parquet, bare furnishing but  only drawback for me was that only 1 of the 2 toilets has a toilet bowl, the other was dingy small, dark and has a squatting toilet. I am fearful my kids will fall, slip or play there. And the rent was steep as it was 3 bedroom. But the hall is huge, with a swing on the balcony. And hubby initially had doubts on the trustworthiness of the owners..

And there was a smaller 3 bedroom unit, with with the afternoon sun.. Although that owner is immensely nice, and I find the unit really adequate in all other aspects in terms of meeting our needs.

So we had to battle between the huge 3 room, small 2 room, or one with lots of afternoon sun ..

We did a list of pros and cons when we came back.. and we still cannot decide.

Hubby decided to look for another agent, which is like the wisest decision, on hindsight!

And then the ideal came

With lots of skepticism, and of the view that we will have to compromise some of our expectations and choose between the choices last night, we went to view another 3 bedroom unit.. 

And it was perfect.

Dark parquet floor and warm wallpaper greeted us as we stepped in. Huge living room, 2 toilets with toilet bowls and really decent furnishing. North south facing and the corridor is clean, and less dingy (as China is big on energy saving, so the corridors are all dark and badly lighted, looking scary sometimes)

And also, the agent helped us slashed the price to the a very reasonable with further room to negotiate. 

So it was an ideal unit in an ideal estate. Happy!

Why woman are more POWERFUL salesperson

Then came a bit of problem.. we have to then reject the other units.. and to tell the poor agents, who have all been really helpful that we have accepted another unit.

And there is 1 guy agent and 1 female agent.

And hubby was really apologetic to both, but he really dreaded breaking the news to the lady, as she is very "nice and helpful".. and he felt bad for her. it took him considerable time to finally pick up the phone and say no to the female agent.. hm.. how to leave him in China liddat!???

The intensity of guilt for the poor female is much more than the male agent, who did as much if not more work... (in terms of no. of houses shown)

Hence, I came to the conclusion why female agents/ salespeople are more successful. 

Man apparently have a tougher time saying no to them. And hence, less likely to take the easy way out and go with their offer... 

In any case.. we now have an unit in China, a place I can look forward to bringing the kids.. 

So we went out to have a good Peking duck dinner.. finally heaving a sigh of relief..

Well. anyway, I was enjoying the dinner until Hubby commented that he thinks that one of the people (whose name I can't mention here)  whom I know, who he knows.. has 美色 that is 身藏不"露" until one occasion he saw her wearing short skirt..

that totally spoilt my appetite and the expensive meal that we are having.. I mean, if the gal is objectively a looker, then fine.. this same person that I know, trust me, is not even within my definition of average..

Makes you wonder if the constituents of a male's eye and a female's are really sooo different..  yuk - pui!! (and I am no sour grapes ok..) and that again explains why females really make powerful salesman.. we females have no guilt rejecting a man.. but the man.. always have tonnes of reasons and "guilt" for rejecting or saying no to a female..