I hope this isn't against the sub rules, sorry if it is!
I have a barely used bike for sale if any new students are looking for one! Comes with lock, helmet, and lights.
£50 or best offer, looking to get rid of it by 26th August, but happy to leave it locked to a bike rack in town and give the code to someone arriving later.
TLDR: having no luck finding a place, and if anyone has tips and tricks, I would be incredibly grateful to hear them!
My parter and I have been looking for a flat for several months, and we knew the areas we were looking in (city centre, Jericho, Summertown, Grandpont - not negotiable location wise for various reasons) would be competitive but it's just been impossible. I'm registered with multiple lettings agencies and check their websites/rightmove/onthemarket/zoopla 3-4 times a day, and if I see something suitable I immediately call or email to put in an offer (without a viewing, since we're currently living in Scotland and also I know that it's basically impossible to get a viewing before the property is gone). A dozen times now we've put in an offer, and been told we were the first one in, and still lost it to someone else.
At this point I'm just not sure what to do, since we're getting in first and not negotiating on start date/price at all, but still not having any luck. I wonder if it's something to do with our applicant profile, but we have no pets/kids, an excellent reference from our current landlord, and I'd hope we come across well. I (worryingly) suspect it might be that we need a guarantor; even though we will have an income amply sufficient for the places we're looking at next year, we're both coming from grad school right now so our jobs for next year aren't fully finalized (I'm also going to be doing a part-time masters at Ox). If that is the pinch, there's unfortunately nothing at all we can do about it...
If anyone has advice or techniques to be successful in renting a property in Oxford I would love to hear them!