Here's an update on the househunting situation. I've been looking for a houseshare in north London, preferably not too far from University College London campus. I kept to a budget of roughly £400 pcm including bills. I thought that was pretty reasonable considering what I wanted. At the start of my house hunt I didn't have much success; I had trouble finding the right kind of housing to fit my needs ( a lot of what was on offer was up the east end of London and too far to be practical to get to university quickly).
I scoured the housing websites looking for potential digs and just recently I hit upon a goldmine. I visited the website easyroommate.co.uk and they have a huge variety of rooms available for students and young professionals in London. They also had a tool that maps the room vacancies so you can see instantly where the houses are so you can cut out all the places that aren't suitable straight away.
One downside to the website, however is that after not so long the system that it uses to send your emails to landlords blocks off access to those people under the guise of the landlords becoming premium members of the website. To get around this, simply give your email address with the initial interest email to the landlord and you can continue your investigations without the need for the website.
I really liked this website because it allowed you to directly contact the landlord / agent instead of going through a whole heap of middle-men programs. This allowed me to get in contact with a few people and arrange some viewings. It's going to be an interesting Saturday as I'll be roaming around north London viewing the rooms I've lined up and doing some reconnaisance to find the local shops, restaurants, hotels ( for family), etc. I like going to new places and getting to know them. I hope this works out well and I can come back soon with some good news.
