I have no experiences with real estate agents because my company has always taken care of these kind of issues.

Now I need to find several reliable agents because my son is moving to China, with his girlfriend and he wants to find a place for 5000RMB for two persons and I advised him to stay in Puxi. He is aiming to get a job in Lujiazui so probably line 2 metro station will be a requirement.

Anyway, if anyone has had any good experiences with reliable agents, please do share this information. They do not want to live in my place, so that is not an option (thank goodness).

Thanks!

hi LaVecchiaSignora

there's no way about to put 'reliable' and 'agents' together here in SH.

maybe what you can do is just pick up an agent randomly close to the area where you want to rent the house, then ask them to get one for you. about reliable, i will never trust any agent, either real estate agent or travelling agent or any kind of agent in my life anymore in SH. Even 21 Centry are full of liars.

but anyways, good luck and hope your son can have fun here.

Klj

It seems that you are in Shanghai yourself and therefore you would likely be aware that there lots of agents to choose from which is good.

I am not as skeptical about the honesty of agents as the previous poster as I used to be a real estate agent in Shanghai myself and I know that I was never dishonest. So there are good agents out there but I do take the point that it is worth being wary.

I can't recommend a specific agent as in my opinion the ones that are out there are all probably as good as each other and it will likely come down to the place rather than the agent.

As per my previous posts on this forum I would however advise against dealing with Space Property as I was ripped off by Scott, the American guy who runs that agency, in business dealings with him in th past. That is not to say that you would deifinintely have problems with them, but given the number of other agents around it would probably be best to avoid one that has a bad reputation.

As far as location it seems that Zhongshan Park through to Jingan Temple might be good choices as there are a lot of new properties within the price range there, and it is a straight run over to Pudong.

wow, someone up htere sounds jaded. While i agree that there are an over abundance of bad and inexperienced agents out there, i have been fortunate inought to have meet a few I liked and even one or two that i trust. But they only speak chinese. So if you need the info, pls PM me.

cheers!

I have just PM you for the agent's info. thanks in advance.

who needs an agent anyway...

just browse through the ads on internet and free magazines.
spot the ones that sounds interesting and go there to directly talk to the management.
You will of course need to bring a friend/colleague who speak mandarin.

With minimal negociation, I ended up (twice) saving 1 month rental fee as the landlord didn't need to pay the usual commission.

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Zhongshan Park will probably be the best bet in the 5000 RMB price range. Although there are some places near Nanjing W Rd (ShiMen Er Lu) metro that will probably be in that price.

Does the property agent need to speak English? From what I've heard, the best way to find a good apartment is to identify the area you want to live in and then go to an agent nearby. The large relocation agency my company used showed me a very limited number of properties until I specified which ones I was specifically interested in.

Hi, I'd like to recommend Shanghai Choice Homes. You can visit their website www.shanghaichoicehomes.com or write directly to becky@shanghaichoicehomes.com to specify your requirements and make prior appointment to view the selections when your son arrives Shanghai.

I also got my apt through shanghaichoicehomes.com. Their great. The company is run by expats so they speak english and know exactly what we expats go through looking for a home. My agent wasn't even chinese... And I must say, not all agents are liars... that's just like saying al mother's are good, all girls have long hair, all men are cheaters etc... you get the drift.