Any one with good experience with agents or company please post here.
whats the rental range for a 1 -2 bedroom in Jing an area usually like?

thanks

http://cityspace.shanghaiexpat.com/

listed price is negotiable

My company uses CBRE. I used them in my recent search and found them to be pretty good. As far as i know they don't charge you as a client, they get a commision from the landlord. rental range can be huge depending on what type of compound you are looking at.

http://www.replusrealestate.com/Product.asp

http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/index.php? ... us&bus=111

anyone used the above?

thanks for the replies

"good honest housing agents" = oxymoron

is it to say that housing agents are never good / honest?

carbonv wrote:is it to say that housing agents are never good / honest?

Yep, that and they're usually morons.

Or at least pretend to be.

You: "Why are you showing me a 1-bedroom apartment when I specified 2br with a study?"

Them: "Oh! I didn't think that was a RULE... Oh, this one is VERY GOOD-uh, though.

You: "No it's not, it's not what I wasked for. Plus, it's double my budget - I TOLD you, my absolute limit is XX thousand a month. It's XX thousand plus X thousand!!!!"

Them: "But maybe you can get more money. It's very good-uh."

You: "And it's in PuDong - I said I wanted to be in HongQiao." I even specified the compound."

Them: "But PuDong is very good-uh."

Repeat endlessly (or at least until you strangle them to death). Feckers.

oh man.... thats why i did the right thing to ask for recommendations.. and the best part is that some just disappear if the budget isnt worth their effort.

Unfortunately, what Bluebag says CAN be pretty close to the truth.
You can waste a lot of time being shown places that were NEVER going to fit your requirements.
I will p.m. you with an agent who will NOT do that.
John.

carbonv wrote:http://www.replusrealestate.com/Product.asp
http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/index.php? ... us&bus=111
anyone used the above?
thanks for the replies

They are thieves so I heard, definitely avoid them

Bluebag wrote:

carbonv wrote:is it to say that housing agents are never good / honest?

Yep, that and they're usually morons.

Or at least pretend to be.

You: "Why are you showing me a 1-bedroom apartment when I specified 2br with a study?"

Them: "Oh! I didn't think that was a RULE... Oh, this one is VERY GOOD-uh, though.

You: "No it's not, it's not what I wasked for. Plus, it's double my budget - I TOLD you, my absolute limit is XX thousand a month. It's XX thousand plus X thousand!!!!"

Them: "But maybe you can get more money. It's very good-uh."

You: "And it's in PuDong - I said I wanted to be in HongQiao." I even specified the compound."

Them: "But PuDong is very good-uh."

Repeat endlessly (or at least until you strangle them to death). Feckers.

Man. I have to say you had bad luck. I don't think most of agents would do this or they might not understand your needs well, as a result of bad english communication.....

I'm an agent too, but with Savills. I think if you need to find an agent the communication is important. You don't want to talk to someone who understand culture or english a little. Second is the person needs to be honest. I understand there are lots of agents who are not honest. So try to use your first judgement about if he/she is a good person/honest. Third is you need to see if this person is experienced. This will helps you a lot when trying to find your ideal apartment.

There're lots of people on the world and some of them are good and some of them are bad. But there're always good person around,right? Do not use career as a judgement for good/bad person. The judge of justice sometimes is a bad person.

does your company do housing rentals in shanghai ?

Yichao wrote:Man. I have to say you had bad luck. I don't think most of agents would do this

Bad luck? Perhaps.

I'm only just now back dealing with these slimebags after four and a half years of living in the same location, but the score when I was looking around back then was 100% liars/fools (out of six different agents).

So far, in the last few days, I've been looking again for an apartment, and the score is...

...100%!

Yichao wrote:or they might not understand your needs well, as a result of bad english communication.....

No, this latest go-round was after the agents had been carefully briefed by my friend (a Shanghainese) - with special reference to this dictum:

"Show me anything out of the budget/with the wrong number of rooms/in the wrong place, and you're out. No second chances. You DO understand this, right?"

The agents assured my friend that they understood.

So, then they get me to haul my arse around for an afternoon showing me places that were either too expensive/too small.

Yichao wrote:I'm an agent too, but with Savills.

Erm, so therefore an "unbiased" party, right?

Yichao wrote:I think if you need to find an agent the communication is important. You don't want to talk to someone who understand culture or english a little.

什么?

Yichao wrote:Second is the person needs to be honest. I understand there are lots of agents who are not honest.

Not more than 99.999% of them.

Yichao wrote:So try to use your first judgement about if he/she is a good person/honest.

Why should I have to? Should customers REALLY have to get an estate agent to take a polygraph test before you do business with them?

Yichao wrote:Third is you need to see if this person is experienced. This will helps you a lot when trying to find your ideal apartment.

And you are to judge this exactly HOW?

Yichao wrote:There're lots of people on the world and some of them are good and some of them are bad.

And the bad/devious/incompetent ones quite often become estate agents.

Yichao wrote:But there're always good person around,right? Do not use career as a judgement for good/bad person.

Nor assume that every Laowai customer is an idiot, as Shanghai property agents do.

Yichao wrote:The judge of justice sometimes is a bad person.

You forgot the "Confucious say..." bit.

We've used Joanna real estate and are extremely happy.

I'm sure it depends on who you use with them, but our agent has gone above and beyond for us on a few occasions.

We are happy with our deal, but then again we were after a mid market level of housing- I'm not sure how they are if you want a cheaper place or top end.

Like anything in life you get what you pay for.

A cheap location = low commission = probably a lower standard of service.

I found talking to my colleagues and Chinese friends very, very helpful in knowing what I should pay. I'd definitely do that before talking to the agent as well.

Happy hunting!

Glad to hear you were happy with Joanna Real Estate, OZDave, since that is the agency my husband's company has hooked us up with. So far, they have seemed very responsive and listened well to our preferences. We are coming to Shanghai in a couple of weeks for a scouting trip, so I'll be able to give some feedback after that, but so far I would have to give them a thumbs-up.

We did the same thing 2 months ago.

I had been coming here on a monthly basis for a few years on business so had some idea, but being in hotels is very different to finding an apartment.

Joanna gave us a great welcome pack- maps, taxi cards, that sort of thing.

They also helped set up tv, internet and phone so it was all ready when we moved in and they picked us up from our hotel in a van to help transport all our suitcases.

We started in a serviced apartment for the first few months to get a feel for the area rather than sign a 12 month lease from the start.

I'm really glad we did that- although it will be a pain to move in the coming weeks, it makes a difference where you live here and I love my area now that I know it well, but it may not have turned out that way.

I would definitely recommend getting an idea of price from local before you sign a long term lease (my company pays my rent with no impact on me whether it is high or low, but ultimately i'm responsible for the P&L so I don't want to go crazy).

Good luck with it- moving here was really very simple with their help; the hardest part on a personal level was finding where to shop and what food you are comfortable with. That said it just took a few tries and now we are fine.

I would read the section someone posted yesterday about what things are available here and what things are not- you'll be well placed to keep some space in your suitcase for a few necessities which are either extremely expensive or unavailable here.

Adnimistrator wrote:"good honest housing agents" = oxymoron

Yeah, if you ever find one take a picture.

I moved recently and had a good experience, picking one of the real estate agents out on the neighborhood I wanted to live in.

Not saying that it is easy, just saying it is possible, and I rather focus on the positive side here...

I have had good experiences with JRE and Shanghai Properties. They got me what I wanted each time.

I agree, hc, about liking to look at the positive side....we are getting the opportunity to do something that not many people get to do. Sure, living in another country is difficult, sometimes a real pain in the a**, but you only live once, and I certainly don't want to spend my whole life in a rut stuck in one place, with the same people day in and day out, eating at the same restaurants...blah, blah, blah.
The whole Real Estate process is just part of that experience, both the positive and the less positive. Nevertheless, I'm still glad to hear about another good experience with JRE.
Now we just have the task of convincing our kids that it will be exciting....

There is no such thing as a good and honest agent. There is such thing as a good due to need to make money therefore sincerely tries to please type of agent.

picking one of the real estate agents out on the neighborhood I wanted to live in.

Yeah me too, 100% recommended. When I see those half-page agent ads in expats magazines I always wonder how many suckers a month they can get. One or two max. imho.

looks like its agent hunting before house hunting.

I thought or firts agent was very good! They also picked us up at our hotel in a van, then showed us a lot of places (we have a kid, that time 3 years old and they knew he would go to school and even so they pick some places like Silver Tower (a serviced apartment near Xintiandi - no schools nearby; or another complex at HuaiHai road near Hengshan road - very good for a couple, near bars, restaurants, but and school??).
Ok, after we looked around and with no way to find a house/townhouse for us$2.700, we choosed Seasons villas apt. They help us with our luggage, very nice. Then, never more!
After everything and everyone was set up here, I start to search for villas prices and after 2 years living in Seasons we found the townhouse where we are living, for us$2.700, but of course, agent said it was impossible they had a townhouse for this price. We change the real estate, as company worked with 3, and after hearing the same excuse, I told her that I already had spoken with the landlord and the price was correct (a lie, but worked), then they show us the place.
Our landlord was always asking about the possibility to deal without an agent if we renew the contract, because they were all thieves. So, finally when husband changed company we were able to deal with no agent, and our landlord is quite happy and doing a lot for us.

So, based in the agents I know, they are all %&#**, but this is my experience, and I'm sure you can find some good ones here.
In this site we have Adrienne, that seems to be nice and know what an expat needs. The problem here is that most expats can't choose the agent, because is the company that choose them.

We also used JRE and were happy with them at first. Then after the lease was signed, the agent suddenly have no time to follow through with their after-sales service. To be fair, they do have an after-sales dept which you can call but most times they can't help much if it has anything to do with a deal struck between the agent and landlord. They can help with information such as where to buy furniture, where to buy appliances, translations, etc

I don't know if it is just the agent or if it is with all agents. It seems at times, we were shown only some places and not the others although the other places met our budget & criterias. It was after we did our own research and actually asked to see such & such a compound/units that we are actually taken there. Then there were the moments when our friends tell us that there were a whole bunch of places available for rental in their compound while the agent told us everything has been rented out!

hautumncloud wrote:I don't know if it is just the agent or if it is with all agents. It seems at times, we were shown only some places and not the others although the other places met our budget & criterias. It was after we did our own research and actually asked to see such & such a compound/units that we are actually taken there. Then there were the moments when our friends tell us that there were a whole bunch of places available for rental in their compound while the agent told us everything has been rented out!

my friend experienced this as well, whats is it for them not to show houses that clients wants. I dont understand why

Just like agents in the US, and probably elsewhere, they prefer to show their own listings - more commission. It takes some convincing to get them to show other agents' listings, or listings by a private landlord because it's more work for less money. Prior knowledge of what is available and what you are looking for is very helpful, which is why people like me relentlessly ask questions before we come to look at housing!

haha probably i could help you as i just found my new office via talking to 20+ real agent. if you find 20+ people, you could compare and know who is good and who is not good

suggestions: try as more as possible people

monalisalee wrote:Unfortunately, what Bluebag says CAN be pretty close to the truth.
You can waste a lot of time being shown places that were NEVER going to fit your requirements.
I will p.m. you with an agent who will NOT do that.
John.

And I can pm you the name of an agent you should AVOID