Since December I've been living in a great place in Turner with some really nice people - in many ways it takes me back to my better house sharing days in Melbourne in the 90s. Good vibe, nobody is overly uptight (which means that the house is perhaps a little slobby but not unhygenic), we hang out together and have a laugh.
It's also one of those houses that people are in and out of a bit - international students heading home, people moving in with their new lurrves and the latest to move on is Tim, who is heading for Europe.
Which means that for the last week or so we've had some ads up for a new housemate.
Now if you're not in the rental market at the moment, you might not be aware that it's extraordinarily tight - the vacancy rate is around 1% and so rental properties and share houses are at a bit of a premium.
Couple this with the fact that January is a busy busy time in the A.C.T with new students at ANU (in the suburb next to Turner) as well as an influx of graduates taking positions with various government departments and there's even more of a crush on than ever.
Which is why it's a bit of surprise to get emails like this one:
I'd like to see the room to rent today or tomorrow. I am a postgraduate student. My phone number is (04blahblahblah)
Now don't get me wrong - I'm not expecting grovelling or out and out sucking up in these emails but I think if you're in a position where you want people to think you would be cool to live with, you might be just a little friendlier. No "hello", no "how are you", no "cheers", no "hope to hear from you soon", not even a name (other than the one in the header of the email).
Eric made the point that at least he didn't ask for more information about the house and for this he gave him half a point in our out of 5 scoring system. (Giving him a grand total of .5/20). (Panel was myself and Eric, Tim - who is leaving - and Steph, Tim's gf)
Ok, so maybe he was just responding to the tone of the ad I hear you thinking. (Oh yes, I can do that). Well, in the interests of fairness, here are both of the ads. Yes, they are a little brief perhaps but surely not to that extent.
Suburb TURNER
Rent $150.00 per week
Bond $600.00
Ensuite? No
Furnished? No
Heating? Yes
Car Accommodation? Yes
Air Conditioning? No
Built In Wardrobe? Yes
Smoking? No
Available from: 14 Feb 2007
Contact Name Colin
Contact Phone
Contact Email myname@myemailaddress.com
Additional Information Modest room in a large house with study area, to share with 2m & 1f. Looking for someone easygoing and relatively mature (creative would be a bonus). Close to ANU and Civic, quiet street
Modest sized room available in a large house in a quiet street in Turner. Close to Civic, ANU and O'Connor.
We are 2m & 1f and are looking for someone easygoing and reasonably mature. (Creative is a bonus)
We have a study area (of sorts), ADSL2 and a smallish backyard.
Both of these are based on a bit of a template that the respective websites have so there are limitations to how much you can say and I guess we probably should have mentioned unfurnished in one of the ads (this is a big thing with international students) but overall, surely there's enough, right?
Anyway, as I mentioned, to sort through the contacts we've had, we sat down last night over a drink or two and read through the emails, rating them out of 5. (We briefly changed this to a tick/question-mark/cross rating but realised that this was too snaggy).
I'll spare you the details of everyone but might just mention a few of the more eyebrow raising lines as some vague kind of public service. :)
Hi,
I am going to do the Master of Finance at the ANU and have a few months work experience in this area, so I think I qualify for your requirements.
My initial response to this was - ewww, Finance. Tim made the point that it reads more like a job application and we should write back offering a position in our Loans dept. (.5/20)
The next one rang alarm bells as soon as we saw the email address - dsto.defence.gov.au. (Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly nice people in defence, I just haven't met any yet and the ones I have met and/or shared with have just been a little bit to - well - defensey.). Signing the email with your full work title as well just didn't seem right either. (Points were also lost for slab-text - not breaking eight lines of information up into paragraphs - though this is probably more my issue). (2/20)
Next.
I can also arrange for a friend in Canberra to inspect your place.
Ok, so it would be hard arranging a place from OS (New Zealand) but this email essentially said that the guy would like to move in on the 12th. Nothing about meeting us beforehand - although we could meet his friend and presumably make a decision on that basis. Bub - bowwwwww. (4/20)
(I really hope I'm not working up a mess of bad karma here - I'm not trying to be mean or arrogant, these are just the things that didn't work for us)
The next one is probably something that many people would like, it just didn't quite read right to us.
We are very quiet and clean and tidy and considerate and work and study a lot.
I guess if we call a spade a spade, we are generally considerate and relatively quiet but the rest, um, not so much. Emphasising clean and tidy (yeah, I know it's an expression) probably didn't help either. (10/20)
And then there was the travel agent.
I am a 21 year old Aussie female.
Aussie? Female? Ok, so she's young but after the recent nationalism furore, identifying yourself by race just feels kind of wrong. As for female, well I know that a lot of country people say this instead of girl/woman but in tandem with the other, again, bub-bowwwwww. (2.5/20)
On the other hand, these ones seemed a little more appealing.
moving to Canberra to start a job with AusAID
Ok, so this one wasn't much more personable than the others necessarily but I know a few people at AusAID and they seem like a nice bunch. Unfair perhaps but the fact is, you will bump up against the ideologies of your prospective new housemates and it's nice to live with "fellow travellers". (12.75/20)
This also worked for the next girl, who's about to start work for the ABC.
I'm a tidy non-smoking Latino music-liking coffee and interesting tea-addict, the last place I lived was Newtown in Sydney and I can give you the numbers of ex-housemates if you'd like to run a background check.
It was nice to have a little more detail here - personalising the experience a little more. The Newtown thing worked for the ex-Melbournians (Newtown being as close as we can see to Little Melbourne in Sin City) and while we weren't sure if the background check thing was tongue in cheek or not, it appealed on either level. (15/20)
I'm really into a relaxed, friendly house that's clean (but not over the top), good for studying and relaxing. I play piano when I can, am into music, cooking (would love to have a little herb garden) and going to theatre (and the pub)
Again, it's the extra detail here that makes the person more interesting. While we don't expect massively personalised emails in this process, putting some detail about yourself in your form-letter goes a long way. The fact that this girl is also studying French (Eric is French and I have a smattering and would like to learn more) also helps in this instance. (16/20)
Similar story here -
Anyway, a little about me:
- I'm 32 years old.
- Work in the web field but an not a geek (not in the classic sense anyway)
- Big on photography, music and movies
- Am a writer, when I can get myself motivated
- Struggle to do something about my fitness from time to time
It's personal, addresses the whole "creative is a bonus" part (my personal preference and not an overriding factor but something nice) and we have shared interests. It also included a link to his website, which is really impressive. (17/20)
Ok, so now we get into interviews and seeing who is still looking and so forth.
I'll keep you posted. :)
