I‘m suffering from RSF: Rental Search Fatigue. This is a totally made-up condition that you won‘t find in the DSM, but I have it anyway. This summer we‘re doing a house swap in England, but first we‘ll spend a week in London, and I‘ve been looking on AirBnB and HomeAway for a place to rent. I think I‘m close to actually confirming a place, but it‘s felt brutal.

First, London is expensive. I knew that, and I budgeted for it, but it still kind of kills me to spend the money it‘s going to take to get a place there for a week. It’s going to take more than a couple hundred a night to get a place for five people that isn‘t in the far suburbs. We have a week, and who knows when or if we‘ll ever get back to London, so I want to see as much as possible. And that means spending less time on public transport.

Second, we‘re slightly on the late side, but we’re just finalizing the details for the house swap. About half of the London properties are gone, which seems about right for five months before the trip.

Third, I know next to nothing about London, so everything was a research project. Is this neighborhood safe? Is this tube station on the central line? Is it Zone 1? How far to the tube station? Even getting to those questions took significant research, including creating an Apple Map with locations we might want to visit (mostly filled, I’m afraid, with pubs, coffee shops, and chocolatiers!).

Most aggravatingly, we had a bait & switch from the first place we tried to book. I had saved a bunch of places, based on some estimated dates, and when we went back with actual dates, most of those were gone. The one that was left was significantly more expensive than the others, but it had a great location, so we went ahead and requested to book. And then the owner raised the rate by $180 a night! That‘s a difference of over $1000 for the week. When I asked why she did that, she replied, “I’m sorry, the rate hasn’t been set correctly.” No thank you!

That wasn’t the only inaccuracy I found. Another page was listed as 3 bedroom, but the narrative said something nasty to the effect of, “Our bedroom will be locked. Don’t try to get in it.” I reached out to ask if it was a 3-bedroom with two available, or a 4-bedroom with three available. Turns out only two bedrooms were available, which probably means they have some very unhappy renters when they show up. Another common irritant is that listings will say they have two bedrooms, when actually they have a bedroom and a living room with a sofa bed. That is NOT what I’m looking for when I search for a place with two or more bedrooms, folks.

After the bait & switch I started the search again, and I actually found some really good places. Last night I requested to book one with an excellent location, and the owner came back with a clarifying question. I responded to that this morning but haven’t heard back. It’s currently evening in London, so if I don’t hear back soon, it will be tomorrow at the earliest. And I’d like to have this done, so I can start recovering from my RSF.

(Apologies to Doctor Who fans who know RSF to be the Republican Security Forces.)