They say moving house is one of the most stressful experiences, and that only pressure mounts when you can't find anywhere.
The idea to move to Edinburgh came quite suddenly after an eviction notice landed in my inbox.
My landlord had decided to sell my beloved flat I'd been in for three years in Stirling and naturally I took it as a sign that I needed to move to Edinburgh to be closer to work. I'd lived in there before, I can do it again - Or so I thought.
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I was fully ready to embrace 'big-city-life' again after seven years away from the capital and I quickly typed into Zoopla 'one-bed-flats. Edinburgh', excited to see my future home.
The first flat that landed on the page was a hefty £700 per month. Which may not be unreasonable for some, but I wanted something in the £500 range which, I soon learned, is hard to come by. My next step was flat sharing.
Flat sharing is common in large cities and a quick search on Facebook will show an abundance of flat sharing groups where hopeful housemates are looking for new tenants, while others are begging for leads on a new room opening or to 'buddy-up'.
As I saw a post advertising a room get 20 comments of "DM sent", within two minutes. It became apparent I had stepped into the Hunger Games of house hunting.
Like the others, I put up a post, asking if anyone had a room for my cat. And...radio silence.
I managed to view one flat in Leith. But the main door didn't have a lock, - a major red flag for me with my past experiences - the close was like a maze with other corridors going out from it, and was told there had been fires set in the stairwell in the past. I was slowly watching my plan fade away.
And that was the one and only flat viewing I had managed to book. Everything else it was either 'it's gone', or they simply weren't accepting any applications or giving viewings, and I refused to put any money down for a place I hadn't seen.
By this point, the eviction date had passed and I had moved in with family and was left wondering what on earth I was meant to do. I admitted my budget was low, extremely low and unrealistic for Edinburgh, but I didn't see the point in spending most of my income on rent and the ever rising bills and be left with nothing in a city that certainly isn't famous for its budget restaurants or pubs.
I enjoy going out, I enjoy seeing my friends who are all dotted about the central belt and I like to save. This simply wouldn't be doable if I was to rent in Edinburgh, and with each estate agent or fellow flat-sharer who emailed me back 'sorry this flat is no longer available', I admitted defeat.
I now live in a town in Fife and the train takes around 30 minutes to get into the city centre, which is about the same time it takes some of my colleagues to get into the office from their own home in Edinburgh. With a lower rent and regular trips to the city, I don't think I've got a bad deal.
But that hasn't stopped me from looking at the flat sharing Facebook groups to gage the situation. Each day, multiple posts flood the pages, with people asking in desperation if anyone has a spare room.
The housing crisis in Edinburgh is transparent on these pages. For each post asking, there is very little interaction, but when a post comes up advertising a room or flat, the comment section comes alive, with 20-40 people showing their interest.
According to a study by CityLets, the average rental price in Edinburgh earlier this year hit £1,191 per month for two-bed accommodation and £813 for one-bedroom properties. With such high rents, and more people coming to work and study in the city than there is homes, I feel lucky to have a roof over my head just across the water.
And the train journey over the Forth Bridge has yet to bore me.
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