Friday 2nd of August, 2019
Blog – The Great Apartment Hunt #12 and #13
Wednesday 31st of July, 2019
Blog – The Great Apartment Hunt #11
Monday 29th of July, 2019
Blog – The Great Apartment Hunt #8, #9 and #10
Monday 22nd of July, 2019
Blog – The Great Apartment Hunt 🤔
Sunday 21st of July, 2019
Blog – The Great Apartment Hunt #7
Thursday 17th of July, 2019
Sixth Apartment – Click link below to see the apartment
Wednesday 3rd of July, 2019
Fifth Apartment
This place has too many rooms, above budget, not near tennis courts, not furnished and to far away from metro.
After speaking to my agent in Minhang, where he showed me another apartment which was three bedrooms and outside my budget (see above) as well as one apartment he had already shown me before, I feel that he has limited apartments available.
I am basing this on a conversation where he told me that he has shown me all that he has available in the area near my school.
I asked about apartments nearby areas like XuHui, but the agent was very dismissive of this idea saying that Minhang was the location for me. I strongly suspect that he is only has apartments and works in this particular area.
This means that from the properties that he showed me, 3 are not in my budget, 1 in my budget but is not really what I am looking for and the other is now gone to an airplane pilot. None of these were near any tennis courts / centres either and seems like I was being pushed further away from the area I want to be surrounded by. Further to this, these apartments might not even be available by the time I arrive in Shanghai. This leaves me with very little choice to choose from.
I am starting to get a strange gut feeling about this particular agent. I have given him a list of requirements that I am looking for in an apartment and a majority of apartments that I have been shown do not fit my requirements. Plus I have had to repeatedly remind him what my limit is. This maybe because he is after a bigger commission which is a well known tactic that is used.
After speaking to Judy in HR about my concerns, she has given me another name of an agent who looks after Xuhui area. I have made contact with this agent to see what she has available. I will be interested to see how this agent goes. I will keep communications open between both agents to try and give myself more options of apartments.
Monday 1st of July, 2019
As it is getting closer to my move to Shanghai, my attention is now focused on hunting for a suitable apartment. After speaking to my real estate agent in Shanghai, he sent me a few apartments to look at.
The First Apartment
Positives
- Nice
- Clean
- Good size (95m2)
Negatives
- Cost – 8500RMB (outside my budget)
- Ground level
- 3 bedrooms
The Second Apartment
Positives
- Close to work
- Good size (88 m2)
- 11th floor
Negatives
- Cost – 9000RMB
- 3 bedrooms
- Not that close to metro
- Possibly a toilet shower
After looking at the first 2 apartments, I had to message my agent to tell him that both apartments were unacceptable due to price and bedrooms. Once again I had to remind him what my limit of my budget was and that I would not go over it.
The Third Apartment
Positives
- Good size (85m2)
- 11 floor
- 2 bedrooms with double beds
- Nice lounge room
- Cost – 6800RMB
Negatives
- Kitchen – no oven
- Bathroom – unsure about the shower area
- To far away from tennis centres
The Fourth Apartment
My agent also sent me a video of another apartment.
Positives
- Clean and neat
- Third floor
- Nice rooms
- Close to metro
Negatives
- Cost – 7900
- Tennis court location
I did speak to my agent and asked if the landlord would come down to my price or otherwise I am not interested in it. I am hoping that the landlord will see that having the apartment rented out for two years at my price is better than shorter stays. I also mentioned to the agent that I would look at the third apartment as well. I am hoping that a few more apartments will become available to view during July.
This apartment is now gone.
The Man In The Pink Hat 