Would I be crazy to pay a deposit on an apartment without a viewing

shadowcomplex

The situation is this , there is a 1 bed apartment in an apartment block in Waterford city that I want to move into . From the photos they look nice however there isn't one availed till April and the agent cannot show it to me as there are already people in there , he said they are the best 1 beds in the town but I need to pay the deposit to lock down I get the next one going in April , what you reckon?the apartments are Olympia court in town centre

Mint Aero

Estate agents are sleazy at the best of times. Why on Earth can he not arrange a viewing for you?! So what if there's people in there. If they've given in their notice then the landlord/agent should be able to arrange viewings for prospective tenants. Get that agent on the blower and give him what for.

MarkR

Pig in a poke. Not a chance.

CatFromHue

I wouldn't.

Alot of leases have a clause that within reason towards the end of the lease an estate agent can show someone the apartment. So them saying they can't get in is a warning sign to me.

PropJoe10

If its a genuine estate agent, he will arrange a viewing for you. I wouldnt pay anything until I'd seen it, thats for sure.

syklops

If they are the nicest 1-bed room apartments in Waterford city, the agent would be bending over backwards to show it to you.

To answer your question, yes you would be crazy.

wobbles

You would be absolutely crazy to hand over money without seeing the apartment.

Estate Agents will say anything to get money out of you. Dont believe a word of it. You say there are pictures online, then how did he manage to get those without going to see the apartment so of course he should be able to arrange to view it. Or it could be a show apartment and what your actually getting may not be the same. It could also be that the pictures are old and not up to date. You would be surprised to see how quickly a nice place can be trashed by bad tenants.

Since its not available until April anyway, consider holding off a little longer. Daft will be awash with places to rent once the students have gone. There will be plenty of nice places on the market then. Not all students live in crap holes

CatFromHue

There's plenty of good properties in Waterford at the moment so it's not like you're stuck.

lertsnim

The estate agent is a chancer.

lisaitsurbday

CatFromHue wrote: »

There's plenty of good properties in Waterford at the moment so it's not like you're stuck.

I am looking for a room to rent in Waterford and viewed 8 different properties last Thursday, most were in awful condition, with my mother almost falling through the floor in the last place! Ive tried rent.ie, daft, boards, estate agents, newspapers, WIT college and word of mouth and nothing! So if you have any leads I'd really appreciate it!

CatFromHue

Sorry, I was mainly talking about 1 or 2 bed properties.

I don't know anything about the houseshares.

shadowcomplex

its one of these

http://www.daft.ie/lettings/olympia-court-parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1522041/

http://www.daft.ie/lettings/parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1469068/

http://www.daft.ie/lettings/olympia-court-parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1522502/


http://www.daft.ie/lettings/apartments-to-let-olympia-court-parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1514093/


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=94423214

The agency are these

http://www.michaelguiry.ie/

Mint Aero

If that's the finest Waterford has to offer:rolleyes:

wellboytoo

Yes

CatFromHue

Nah, you can get better if you move out a bit.

1967

surely you can get better then that

Mint Aero

Bog standard stuff.

TrustedApple

shadowcomplex wrote: »

its one of these

http://www.daft.ie/lettings/olympia-court-parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1522041/

http://www.daft.ie/lettings/parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1469068/

http://www.daft.ie/lettings/olympia-court-parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1522502/


http://www.daft.ie/lettings/apartments-to-let-olympia-court-parnell-street-waterford-city-waterford/1514093/


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=94423214

The agency are these

http://www.michaelguiry.ie/

Having rented from Michael Guiry before i would stay well away from them as there places are all in shocking i mean shocking looking from what i viewed from them before i got stuck renting from them. I think i viewed 8 houses and some i walked into and walked out in less then 2 mins. Then they will be looking for money you don't owe to them and saying there going to send a debt collector after you if you don't pay it LoL.

Them not wonting to show you the place is alarm bells right away as if the person is moving out in less then a month they would useable have no problem letting there landlord in to view the place with warning.

But having looked at them photos there probably some of the best you will see in waterford city and thats not a joke as its very very short on clean ok looking places if you plan on living in the city.

FobleAsNuck

no. just no.

natnifnolnacs

I was looking at a house (to buy) last year which was listed with that agent and I found them (him) terrible to deal with. I wouldn't go near him. Unfortunately, he does seem to have a significant portion of the student market..

TrustedApple

natnifnolnacs wrote: »

I was looking at a house (to buy) last year which was listed with that agent and I found them (him) terrible to deal with. I wouldn't go near him. Unfortunately, he does seem to have a significant portion of the student market..

Think the reason for that is he takes any old crap to rent and dosint have the highest standard of places.

And the fact there getting like 1K a month for houses in templers hall off the students is nuts.

Samsgirl

I see one of the properties are being rented by Gregory Fitzgerald. Run a mile!! Have had dealings with him - rented a house from him last year. I couldn't advise you strongly enough against him.

Birdfood

Olympia Court is popular, apparantly the apartments are all owned by the same person and well maintained and always occupied.
It's also difficult to get a nice 1 bed.
So maybe this is why he's confident of getting a deposit from someone without a viewing.
Personally though I would not pay a deposit without viewing unless I was really desperate.

MagicMarker

You'd be crazy to buy a one bed apartment, let alone not even look at the thing first. I mean seriously, biggest financial transaction of your life and you really have to even ask the question?

Birdfood

MagicMarker wrote: »

You'd be crazy to buy a one bed apartment, let alone not even look at the thing first. I mean seriously, biggest financial transaction of your life and you really have to even ask the question?

Pretty sure OP is talking bout renting not buying

Gael23

Absolutely no way would I do this, total recipe for disaster. That goes for any agent or landlord.