Moving on up

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We're giving up our current flat in Cartagena on the last day of this month and we've just found a new flat for the next academic year.

This is our new barrio
We went to ask at an estate agent on Friday afternoon, saw four flats and tootled off to think about it. On Saturday we went back into town, strolled around looking at "To Rent" signs and eventually returned to the same estate agent and signed on the dotted for the first flat we'd seen.

The standard system here is that you pay three times the monthly rent when you take on a flat through an agent. The agent gets a third as a "finders fee," the landlord gets two thirds - made up of a month's rent and a returnable deposit. The finders fee is always a bit of a wrench, giving away money for nothing, but that's the way it is unless you can find a private deal.

So, from September, we'll be right in the heart of the town - about 100 metres from the High Street with an underground garage space for the car as a part of the package. We're both looking forward to being within strolling distance of nice bars, theatres, exhibitions, parades etc. For me it's probably slightly less distance to work than from the current flat but for Maggie it's going to be a bus ride.

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