Rent a place

Hunting for a place to live has turned out to be a difficult event. There is not too many properties available in Chennai, which meet Western standards and can be described in three categories:

1. Upmarket houses in the city center around the boat club area
2. Apartments in the city
3. Houses, villas along the East Coast Road

The scarcity of offer in the real estate market together with lots of foreigners coming in has lead to a price increase of around 50% in rental prices for expat housing. I have seen fabulous houses for 50,000 INR per month rented three years ago and really bad stuff for 120000 INR per onth rented out this year. With companies normally willing to pay whatever the expat in India demands, the local landlords are just hiking the prices on a monthly basis and have to open their wallets to fill it with money. I came accross stories, in which the landlord wanted to kick out the expat, if he would not be willing to pay 50% more rent.

As I have experience in a house along the ECR as well in a city center appartement, let me explore the advantages, disadvantages of both.

Beach houses:

• Am I willing to travel around one hour to the city one way, as the ECR can get pretty crammed?
• It is phantastic to live two minutes walking distance from the sea side
• What about cobras (snakes) in the garden? Do I have a provision for an antitoxin in my fridge as my neighbours do?
• How much piece and dark do I stand?
• The more you go south the worse the infrastructure will be. We had times of two days without electricity, therefore a back up generator is a must have! Forget about DSL Internet connections down south and seek as well, where the water comes from in your shower.
• Am I ok, that there is no garbage removal, but everybody burns their waste in the garden, which can stink heavily
• Does your family like insects, who share the space with you, such as cockroaches, ants, etc..?
• Any allergy against lizards?

Dont forget you choose the jungle to live in - it is great to live in midst of wild exotic nature at the beach, but be also prepared for exotic adventures!!