Do you recognize this man??! He is Steve Hubert ( Steve oooo-bear!) of RKS relocation and realtor on HHI. We were watching an episode set in Brussels, Belgium and this lovely agent was helping the family find a place. I googled him and discovered that he did relo and shot him an email. He moved quickly last week to get things set up for us...in Belgium you have to pay someone to liaison with all the different agents because each property is listed separately. We spoke by phone and did lots of email as we toured schools and made our choice, thereby narrowing down our house search area. Final arrangements were made and we met him outside our hotel at 9:30am.( you bet I was up earlier and out at a cafe to fuel up!) Steve was as kind and friendly as he was on TV and the phone, and we set off in his car. Throughout the day he shared tips with us about things to look for..how is it heated,oil,gas,or electric? Are there day and night metres? Yes the tenant does the yard work, and no the properties do not come with lawn mowers/rakes/etc! At each house we met with the agent and Steve asked him all the questions. At one place he was able to tell us that the land lady had a bad reputation and she was planning to try to sell the house, though she claimed to want to rent it, so steer clear. There were a couple we were able to knock off right away, do to unsafe stairs for Molly, super far from the school for Danny, huge yard- which Jerry and I don't want to care for...but many more that were strong contenders. I really though it would be easier. We happily to a lunch break at Le Pain Quotidien, and got the soup bowl of coffee and potato onion soup for myself and Steve, and tuna tartine for Jerry. It was so nice to sit and chat with Steve about his family and job. He has 2 kids, one age six and one baby girl 9 months old. After lunch we were back at it, viewing more houses with more agents. We had a lot to choose from and think about, each one had good things and some negatives. After sitting down at the hotel and reviewing everything we decided to go back to one house and look at it from the outside again. While there I said "let's just call the agent, maybe he can come over and let us in again" and he did! He actually left us in the house, and said to close the door on the way out, which was awesome. We were able to walk around slowly, and really talk about the rooms. This place was cutting edge cool about 40 years ago, so now it is "retro-cool?!" Who cares! The staircase and showers are Molly friendly and it is the closet one to the school. He is also letting it partially furnished, and since furnished is impossible to come by, this is the next best thing. Much less to bring or buy. Danny will be able to sleep til the last possible moment, a good thing as he enters those teen years. We emailed Steve and asked him to negotiate on our behalf, and now we wait to hear from the owner, perhaps tomorrow. I am excited!! I will post pictures next!
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