Hello 
I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.
Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...
Five AM
The sunlight was streaming through the curtains this morning, as I lay wrapped in a duvet on the floor in Harrogate. Frank (the cat) was running around with a piece of paper he'd "caught", and the dull thud of a cider and wine headache was starting to creep into my forehead.
A couple of ibruprofen down the hatch, and I was ready to grab the last few hours of kip that I felt I deserved.
But.
Argh
Don't you just hate it when you can't get back to sleep in the morning? My mind refused to wander back into the surrealist dream-like state that it always does as I'm dropping off. Instead, it circled around Things Of Importance™, chugging through the events of yesterday and the necessities of today.
Yesterday, you see, I went to see a flat. I think I mentioned it the other day — a spontaneous and idle "hmm, let's just have a peek at what's available"-type poke on the internets had yielded what seemed like the most fantastic space in a rather fab area of Leeds. And against my normal 'idiom' I'd actually followed through and booked an appointment.
It's massive. Two huge bedrooms, an enormous living room, a decent bathroom and a kitchen, spread over two floors above a shop. The area is full of restaurants, cafés, shops, pubs (woo hoo!) — there's even a wine warehouse just up the road.
I was making happy noises the minute we walked into it, and before I knew it I was at the Estate Agents offices picking up an application form.
Ah. The application form.
Mostly it's OK — the usual stuff like "Can you afford this?" (I can) — but there are one or two boxes that I have to tick that aren't going to work in my favour. "Are you a smoker?", "Do you have pets?", "Are you a complete financial disaster who made some stupid mistakes in the past that are forever going to haunt you and bite your arse every time you try and do something with your life?"
But hey. Today I'm going to go down to the bank and take out the money for the application fee (when did that start happening?) and go talk to the Estate Agent about some of the tricker parts of the form.
There's one thing particularly confusing me: the bit where I have to give the details of my current landlord.
That's me isn't it? 
...
Anyways. Wish me luck. I can really see myself living in that flat, and I think the kittens will love it too.
As a landlord myself, I don't know anything about application fees. Certainly, it's normal to pay an amount which is used when you cease the tenancy to make good any damage you've made, but in your case this sounds like an estate agent rip-off.
That would be a first!
But you need to get your house on the market. This is a really good time to sell (I put my Lancaster house on the market yesterday). Houses look nicer in the summer than the winter (and it could take a few months to get completion — you don't really want to be paying for two properties, do you?).
The flat sounds wonderful! I shall be keeping my fingers crossed for you 
Yep, the application fee will be for finance checks/pen pushing in the office in case you don't make the grade on the place.
Also, to help pay for the flashy offices that all the agencies in Leeds need to have these days........
At least it seems like they finally got rid of the "Are you are transvestite?" bit of those application forms. 
Rachel
you don't really want to be paying for two properties, do you?
Very true. However, I have budgeted for the house being unoccupied for a considerable time — not because I want it to be unoccupied, but because (for once in my life) I decided to err on the side of caution.
I'm not selling it BTW, I'm going to be renting it out — at least for a year until I manage to settle down a little.
Good, important to keep a rung on the property ladder.
However, you do need to inform your mortgage provider. They will normally allow you a year on your standard mortgage before they switch you to a buy-to-let mortgage (if, indeed, they will do that — ask me about it some time).
Lot to think about and do, but it's all reasonably easy — phone calls and emails should cover most of it.
...renting it out...
I assume you've considered letting your place via an agency? A friend of mine did that and it was all 'hassle free'. Ok, so they take a 'cut'; but it's worth it if saves you from becoming 'septic-knuckles the rent-man'!
I assume you've considered letting your place via an agency?
Oh, totally. I want to be able to just walk away from Lancaster and not have to worry about things. Yeah, they take a cut — but I think it's worth it.
That's really exciting! Near a wine warehouse? I predict trouble (and serious hangovers)!
I don't suppose the agent that is letting the flat you want also has offices out in Lancaster do they? They might be a lot more accommodating (excuse the terrible pun please!) if they could get your place to let out. Good luck with it all. Paws crossed here for you.
Good luck — it sounds like a step in the right direction — I'm sure there must be plenty of space for another mac.
Shops, pubs, european winelake — God you won't stand a chance!
Leeds is the in place — my eldest just got his A levels today and starts in September!
I like the story about your screensaver yesterday — I've had that with my SL pics! — but its easier to explain away SL pics rather than RL pics!
You'll have to write a ppt script (no not powerpoint) but Passwords for Paranoid Trannies 
Exciting Update!
I dont think I've got it. Excuse me while I'm grumpy for a few days
I dont think I've got it.
Whatever happened to thinking positively eh?
.
...Or has the fat lady sung?
hugs
If you haven't got this one then I am damn sure it's because something far better is waiting for you.
Sorry to hear that!
Why do you think that? (Sorry, I don't mean to pry.)
And do you get your application fee back? If not, I'd be calling the consumer protection people. (I should know what they're called, but it's not coming to mind, right now.)
House and apartment hunting is such a fraught business. I hated it when we did it in Brooklyn; so many "issues": the previous tenant in one place was a drug dealer; another, the apartment was infested with roaches, no pets, no this, no that, no breathing while in the apartment (or was that breeding?) and so on. It's why we ended up buying a house! Heck, even finding this place in southern Jersey took looking at well over 50 houses, and making bids on 3. (Third time was the charm.)
So just keep at it. Is it a renters market, or a landlords? That can help you figure out how you're going to approach it all.
Keep at it, and don't get discouraged. Something will turn up!
Carolyn Ann
That's a new one on me, but it's not like I'm a frequent renter so what would I know. Perhaps they run background / financial checks on prospective tenants and get them to pay for it?
Anyway, fingers crossed for you. If it stops you having to flog your arse up and down the motorway, it's got to be a Good Thing™. (That's 'flog' in the sense of 'haul', rather that 'sell' b.t.w.
)