by mswp » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:18 pm
You'd be nuts to pay 3500 for 40m2 anywhere -- just take some time to look. Lowball your budget because the agents will upsell you. It only takes 3 seconds outside a real estate office for someone to come out. I've heard of people seeing 20-30-even 40 places before choosing.
Taking a local Chinese person can help. If they are familiar enough with western cultures to know the kind of standards you have, they'll weed out a lot of dumps before you see them.
And always, always counteroffer. No matter how much you love the place. There are places in my building being offered for 4000rmb more than I'm paying. Sadly, someone may be uninformed enough to pay the asking price. Renting to westerners is desirable. There's less wear and tear (fewer people living in an apt), we tend to do less Chinese cooking which means it's cleaner (no greasy smoke sticking to everything). And we're not going to quibble over 100rmb here or there. If the landlord doesn't see the benefit of having a foreign tenant, then find another landlord.
And be picky - 1) check the condition of the washer 2) make sure all the rooms have air conditioners 3) open the air conditioners and look at the filters, if they are really grungy, odds are no maintenance has been done and you'll end up dealing with repairs 4) check the water pressure, including flush the toilets 5) the gas hot water heater should have a little inspection sticker on it, check the date and turn the flame up/down to see if all the knobs are working properly 6) insist on a microwave 7) make sure the building maintenance fee is the landlord's responsibility... there's more, maybe someone else can add to the list.
I don't know if this is accurate, but from reading this site, I get the impression that on higher priced properties, only the landlord pays commission, but in your price range, you pay commission too, so the real estate agent is okay -- 35% of 3,000 is not a bad wage in local terms. There are plenty of people who will be willing to work with you.
Most importantly, don't count on an English speaking agent -- take your own translator and deal with Chinese speaking ones. And if you don't like the agent, move two doors down, and talk to the agent in that office.
