I am from the U.S. and have just been offered a long term "family status" assignment in Shanghai. I am married and have two daughters (ages 10 and 14). My job will be located in the Shanghai Chemicals Investment Park. I am interested in getting feedback from this forum on where to live in Shanghai.

I am looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom villa that would make life as easy as possible for my family. Preferably located close to a Carrefour. Also would like to have an oven, if possible. I have been given a maximum allowance of $5,600USD/mo for furnished housing. Will this be in the range of what I would need?

Many Thanks....

Green Hills in Pudong on Yun Jian Road. i live there and the expat community is thriving in our little compound. lots of places to run for the kids (i have a 3 year old and many families have at least 2). its a five minute cab ride to the Carrefour and i know many of the house have ovens.

Good luck.

Hi

My name is Cyril James Nahon and I myself grew up in the states. I have been living in Shanghai for 2 years now and I work in a company specialized in the residential relocation of expatriates to Shanghai.

We offer a lot of villas around Carrefour Pudong/schools in which kids grow up in an international family type spirit.

In addition to our housing services, we also provide a comprehensive after sales service for free.

Feel free to contact directly me at cyril@joannarealestate.com.cn if you would like further information.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Cyril James Nahon
Business Development Manager
Joanna Real Estate Consulting Co., Ltd.
Mobile: 13061757231
Tel: 021-51099888 Ext.855
Fax: 021-52286608
E-mail:cyril@joannarealestate.com.cn
www.joannarealestate.com.cn

Hi there,

After checked your post, i think PuDong JinQiao would be a good place for your family to dwell .As a realtor, i am willing to help you for your home tour here .

My name is christina Deng from Suchas Real Estate Agency Co., Ltd, whose headquarters is in HongQiao and having 9 branches in various district of ShangHai .And my department is located in former French Concession ,close to metra station for HengShan Road.

I specialize in providing expatriates with service of accommodation lease ,moreover, all orientation services we offer are all free. Due to around two years experience of lease housing ,i 've known much about relevant information on properties ,situated in different areas,and i 'm versed in those area. i will provide my clients with related proposal according to specifics of their requirements,hence pls contact me at:christinadeng510@hotmail.com or 13301952903 if you don't mind looking for your house through a realtor.

Thanks in advance

Christina

expatengineer,

Due to my husband's relocation I just moved out of Shanghai after living there for two years. I also had two children, however they were a little younger. I'm currently in Chicago, although I'm from Boston.

I would reccomend you narrow down your choices to schools before you focus on housing. Shanghai has tons of houses, and your budget isn't bad, especially if you have a hard working agent who's able to get leads on great privately owned places. My kids went to the school on the property of the Emerald, which was a great place with foreign teachers - be sure you visit it!

As far as agents, I would generally reccomend you AVOID agents who have time to fish for clients on these boards. Most expats in the city can point you to the excellent hard working ones. I was lucky to have Michael Vrielink (sp?) take care of our family. I know he had to leave China a few years ago, however I have heard he still consults in the United States to families relocating to China. Agents like him can give you overviews on all the areas, arrange and escort you on school tours and likely show you properties below and above your budget, just so you're comfortable with your decisions.

Email me at johnsonalyce @ gmail.com and I'll see if I can be of further help! Good luck - you're going to love it!

Alyce

Seasons Villas in Pudong are very nice! You can get a townhouse or an apartment there, if available. The grounds are expansive, and they have a lot of activities, incuding a huge clubhouse and indoor (heated) swimming pool. Your kids would love it!

Here's the link. Good luck. (And no, I'm not getting commission on this).
http://www.seasonsvillas.com.cn/

Oops, you've already played your trump card.....$ 5,600/month is a lot to spend on housing and will certainly attract flies ('helpful' agents with enough time to surf this board). Make a wish list of your requirements (as johnsonalyce said: school probably on top of the list) and check earlier threads on this site on the same topic. This will help you a lot to select housing targets and prepares you well to negotiate with potential agents. $ 5,600/month is easily spent here, the real challenge is to get excellent value for it! Good luck

(last tip: translate it into RMB 46,000/month. If you compare your monthly rent to the current housing prices and correct for amenities and the fact it's being furnished, the reference housing price range you can compare to your potential villa should be about RMB 3.5-4.0 mio if its just newly built, RMB 5-6 mio. if its >3 years old. (based on the assumption that investors/owners should have a 12% r.o.i.

Pushed the 'enter to early'. Probably it's also possible to get houses in the RMB 7-8 mio range, as Pudong has overbuilt luxury villas, especially outside the 'central' areas (close to Lujiazui). As you will daily head for SCIP, there's plenty of choice, you will commute opposite to the traffic jams.

You're at a good budget, similar to mine. You can either get privately owned really nice new places which have other expat families nearby, or you can get older villa complexes with management (usually poor). We have a German landlord who's fantastic and we have a house comparable to many $8000 places I've seen!
A lot of this has to do with hitting the right agent, or right property, so don't be rushed into anything after seeing 4 or 5.
Also, watch the traffic. You don't necessarily want to be way out by the American schools.

CC






Caroline