Hi there,

Our family will soon join the Int'l community in Shanghai from Denmark in early 2007. We are looking for top-end nice aparment in Pu Dong area.

I've been told that Shi Mao riveria, Yanload Garden and Skyline Mansion are the good compounds. We have 2 kids (age 3 and 1). I really appreciate if any of you could help to advise me on:
1. the best way to find a 4-5 bedroom apartment in these 3 compounds
2. if we go through a real estate agent, how much can we negotiate on the rental price?
3. are these compounds kids friendly?

Thanks a lot,
moving to china soon,

these are all very nice compounds. Skyline mansion is the newest but has the least as far as compounds go. Yanlord is great for kids, lots going on. I dont know that much about Shimao Riviera but have a friend who lives there with her kids and likes it. All of these are in the Lujiazui area of Pudong. There are many kid friendly compounds farther out in to pudong if you are interested. The best way to go about getting a place and not getting ripped off is to go to the realtors office around the compound and ask about what they have. depending on the price you can negotiate however you really end up negotiating more on the furnishings and such. Feel free to PM me if you need any more help.

Hi Xiedan!

wellcome to Shanghai , I am from Scandinavia too...

we live in Shimao Riviera, no complaints so far. The English level of the staff (girls at the lobby, management office etc.) is not great, but they do speak some English.

Living in an appartment building is always different from living on a villa compound. We just moved from villa area to Shimao 6 mths ago. At Shimao you have fantastic outdoor swimming pool, a small outside pool for small kids, an inside swimming pool and a playroom. You also have some "green area" behind the buildings (there are 7 of them in Shimao). This is different from villa areas where you might have large outdoor playareas for kids.

I haven't lived in Yanlord, but we checkd the appartments there too, so I know the outside area. It's bigger than Shimao's and there seemed to be more kids running around, and more foreign kids than in Shimao (just guessing, not a fact). 2 years ago Shimao was a very Chinese compound, now there are more foreigners living here than before.

About Shimao, I am not sure if you can find a 5 bedroom appartment here, the biggest one I know has 4 bedrooms.

And, try to include a parking place in the garage (if you have a car :--)), satellite dish and the club membership (otherwise you can't use the pool etc) in the rent.

Those are very nice apartments in pudong. Its in Liujiazui area which is right next to the river and near financial district. I current live here as well. The other areas of pudong (more deep into it away from the river) is considered more family friendly and schools with availabilities of stand alone homes. Seems to me like families with heavy children activities like the deeper part of pudong as expat families congrate in those areas with many events and social activities for moms. The perk also include more western restaurants, supermarkets and it even has farmers market held every wed. and friday? mornings in one of the apartment building located in seasons villa.

It comes down to your personal choice which area you want to live. The quality of life for both areas in pudong is similar yet deeper part of pudong tends to be more children focused.

My view: Shimao Riviera has the best facilities of the three developments you mentioned, including a small wave pool which runs in the summer months. The downside is that there is a huge coal depository between the compound and the river.

Yanlord Garden has lots of families so finding playmates for children should be easy. Some people find Yanlord a bit gloomy as the timber flooring is dark and many landlords put in dark wood furniture to match. Yanlord is the oldest of the three compounds but is well maintained.

Both Yanlord and Shimao are higher density in that there are upwards of 3,000 units within each compound.

Skyline Mansion is the newest compound, with the first residents having moved in only in 1Q06. It has the least facilities (although there is still a pool, gym, two tennis courts, children's playground) but given that there are only about 550 units (Phase 2 will add more units but they have not even commenced work on that yet), there is not much crowding at the facilities. This is expecially since the place is probably less than 50% occupied even now. Withb the exception of the penthouses, Skyline does not have units with more than 3 bedrooms and a maid's room.

Of the three compounds, Skyline would be the least easy for children to adapt to since there are very few families with children, or rather, very few residents, full stop. Shimao has a significant percentage of young singles as they also have lots of smaller, 2-bedroom units. For a family, my personal preference amongst the three will be Yanlord.