Let the Negotiations Begin

Continued from last time...

Despite the tacky furnishings and plethora of teenagers in the flat when we visited, Rico and I were able to recognize that behind it all lay a fabulous opportunity. Three bedrooms, lots of natural light, wooden floors, and the perfect location. We squeezed each other’s hands in silent approval, then sat down to negotiate with Dona Flávia.

An interesting thing happens here when it comes to rent prices. Mozambique has been at the top of the international aid list basically since the civil war ended in 1992, and as a result there is a large expat workforce here with the cooperation agencies. When arranging housing for the expat employees, the main concern of these organizations is to find a secure, well-kept, convenient house or apartment. Price is literally not an issue as long as it falls within the agency’s budget for rent, an amount usually based on American or European standards for housing. As a result, landlords here are able to name their price and be certain that somewhere there will be an NGO or cooperation agency willing to pay, no questions asked. This phenomenon has created a rent market where a 3-bedroom flat, depending on the neighbourhood, can range from US$ 500 to US$ 2,000 per month. Hello, this is Africa! Apartments in New Mexico aren’t even that expensive.

The worst part about the inflated housing market is that if you are a white foreigner, many Mozambican landlords will assume that you are coming to the table with an NGO budget behind you, and this makes it next to impossible to knock the price down. But if anyone can negotiate, it’s Ricardo (seriously, he has an uncanny natural talent for this kind of thing), and after a good discussion with Dona Flávia we were able to bring her down from the original asking price of US$ 500 per month to US$ 450 per month – nothing short of a miracle given that this flat is awesome and the neighbourhood is very nice. We signed a 2-year contract, and even got Dona Flávia to agree to discount our rent for the improvements we make in the flat. For example, if we spend US$ 200 to replace the cracked sink in the bathroom with a lovely new one, we’d only pay US$ 400 in rent for the next 4 months. We even convinced her to buy back the appliances we’ve purchased (oven, refrigerator, etc.) as long as we leave them in the flat when we vacate, something we intended to do anyway.

While Ricardo was able to negotiate us a great deal on the rent contract, all the manipulating and pleading in the world wouldn’t have been enough to get Dona Flávia, her kids, and her stuff out of the flat by the date we were supposed to move in, originally set to be March 2nd. Dona Flávia was confident she could find a new apartment to live in by the end of February, giving us all a couple days to move furniture, purchase appliances, and scrape together the money for the standard pre-payment of 3 month’s rent at the start of a new contract...

Obviously you know that our move was delayed by a good 10 days. But the details? Oh, good friends, you'll just have to wait! Ricardo and I are flying to Brasil tomorrow with an overnight stop in Johannesburg, so it may be a couple of days.