we're moving to shanghai spring 2008...there seem to be a lot of apartments for rent on craigslist and cityspace. any reason to use an agent instead? how do agents get paid?

on a side note, any tips on dealing with pollution? i'm coming from LA, and am still shocked at shanghai smog. any cleaner neighborhoods on the puxi side?

thanks for the help!!

We had very good luck with craigslist. We ended up with a great apartment at a good price with a wonderful landlord - HOWEVER - we had someone in Shanghai who was able to come check the place out for us and negotiate for us, I wouldn't have trusted doing this by Internet only. You'll find that many of the craigslist listings are fronting for agents.

I would have thought that 95% of the listings on Craigslist would be agents. I couldn't imagine that many local landlords being able to write/speak English and even knowing of Craigslist or Cityspace for that matter.

Agents fees are either fully paid by the landlord or shared between the tenant and landlord. There's a vague law that says each party should pay 35% of a month's rent to the agent however as it is a buyers market, most tenants don't pay. But it does depend on the agent and the landlord's agreement. Check this out right from the beginning.

I guess the less smoggy areas would be either in the more greener part of the French concession or Hong Qiao area. But it's hard to escape as the number of cars are growing at a daily rate.

Adrienne
http://www.shanghaiprops.com

thank you both!