Today's weather: High = 23 Low = 15
Rain and miserable
Hopefully new teachers and other expats in Shanghai can benefit from this post.
Good news on the house hunting front -- lined up a potentially awesome new dig, and proceeded to find a way to get out of my current place without penalty. More on the details in upcoming post. The story was just too coincidental to be a coincidence, it was one heck of a small world let me tell you
Nonetheless I haven't signed anything yet and am still thinking it over. I may still end up saying no to this. I've also said NO to at least a dozen places during the house hunt over the past two weeks -- even a firm NO to places that otherwise would have been good but had the slightest negative thing going. The logic being that if it wasn't perfect, then forget it. This was in contrast to the past where I would settle for a less-than-perfect place in order to end the uncertainty of the hunt. The way the house hunting game works here in Shanghai, it is EXTREMELY TEMPTING to pick places just to end the hunt, but then you regret it down the road, as I have experienced time and time again.
So lesson #1 is the most obvious but it bears repeating: don't say yes to a house that you can identify negative things about on the first glance. As mentioned above, it better be perfect and meet your requirements or else give it a pass and don't feel ashamed about it. The reality is there is a TON of shit out there, and you're going to be saying no a lot more than yes.
The way it works is that an agent lines up a place for you, calls the landlord, and you all look at the place together. It's a very brief look, and I've experienced it from both sides. That is to say I've gone looking while other tenants' leases are almost up, and I've had future tenants come looking while my lease is almost expired. Given that this quick little 5-10 MINUTE SURVEY determines whether or not you sign a ONE YEAR LEASE, you better make damn sure you can identify as many things as possible in the look and focus on the negatives, negatives, and more negatives.
The unfortunate thing is that it's very difficult to 'try before you rent', i.e. stay there for a week and check it out, thus allowing for a longer survey. It's also very difficult to sign a short-term lease, say 3 months. Why? Lack of trust, obviously, and the way the Chinese culture is based on no trust. Maybe landlords allowed 'trial rents' or short-term leases in the past, but this kind of system could be easily manipulated, twisted, and taken advantage of. Sadly, we know all too well how the Chinese are professional experts at system manipulation, both in their home country and all around the world.
Meanwhile, the failsafe that developed in the housing market was this: sign a one-year lease, pay 2 months deposit and all the rent for 2-3 months at a time up front.
Like it or not, you're given a brief period of time to see the house and make a decision. Here is what I suggest you check for:
1. Neighorhood survey. Hopefully you've already done this. If not you can do so on the way to the compound. Things to ask: is the house close to a subway station, what is in the immediate zone, what bus lines go by, shopping malls, coffee shops, markets, etc. etc. etc.
2. Compound (xiao qu) survey. What is the overall compound like, new, old? Quiet, loud? Tall buildings, modern, old style, local, etc. What is the security like? Where is the house in relation to the compound? The best ones are in the interior. If it faces the road or train tracks, this house could fail before you even go inside to check it out. One thing that has burned me twice before is if the house is *above* a subway line. The absolute worst case is when you are between two subway stations, in which case it is a long walk to either station and the goddamn trains still rumble by your house. A quick check on Google maps will tell you if you'll end up getting burned by this, which I should have done but failed. Even the 5th floor is not high enough to escape that underground subway racket. Other pontential noise makers: being near a school ... DISASTER!! The morning exercise racket will wake you up for sure. Being close to a sports stadium is also a fail, along with being near an army barracks. Try also to avoid compounds that collect noise with wide open spaces and tall buildings, as the fireworks racket will also get you on this.
3. House survey. This is where you go nuts. Check all appliances to see if they work. Many will be broken. Check the plumbing and shower heads. Check the gas stove in the kitchen. Look at the condition of the floor and walls, be on the eye out for peeing paint, mould, and warped floors. Watch out for strange smells. A 5 year old building can easily show signs of wear and damage. Check the condition of the rooms. If a room has recently been renovated but the building is only 5 years old, then this is a HUGE disaster because it means other neighbors will be doing the same, and there will be nonstop construction noise. You don't want to move into a new building that has just become an old building, and everything needs a total overall and change, only to break down and repeat again and again and again. If you get a sense from the landlord that he has a laissez-faire view towards things breaking down or he laughs about it, then the place is an automatic fail
Lesson #2 then is to define your requirements carefully. The better you can define them, the better it will go for you. For example if you have a conscious or unconsious list of requirements, then you can pinpoint more specifically how a potential house meets them, or you can specifically list where it fails. The above should be plenty of examples of that, and I have barely even scratched the surface!!!! In a city of 25 million people, even very strictly defined requirements will still give out plenty of choices to sift from
Lesson #3 then is to be prepared to house hunt for a long time. I would say that 2 weeks should be a minimum, and to view at least 20 houses. Even that is not really enough, but it gives you a sense of the market and you learn a ton of stuff for future reference.
Lesson #4 is not to do business with agents who pressure you into signing a lease right away, or who say any of the following lines:
-- "This is such a good deal, other people are going to snatch it up, you better put a deposit down or someone else will rent." If an agent sees 10 people and they all look at at the same house, then he's going to tell the same thing to all 10 people, and it is impossible for all 10 people at once to put down a deposit to secure a pace, and so this argument not logical.
-- "The price is already very low." Rubbish, he's only saying it because he wants a higher commission (35% of the first months rent is standard). Negotiate.
-- "You're only renting for a year / for one person, don't be so picky." A local wouldn't stand for this ridiculous argument, neither should you
-- "This compound has few places to rent, we don't have others to show." If that were true, the agents wouldn't be in business, and they shouldn't get your business if they argue this way.
-- "The traffic is really convenient" You decide if a 15-20 minute walk to the subway is close or not. I don't think it is.
Lesson #5 is if you do find a place you like, make it look like you don't. Try not to mention money or prices until the very end, and add that in as an afterthought, only to the agent, and without mentioning it to the landlord. This works like a charm every time. I've often done that and found the initial offer this way is very close to the market price, as confirmed by using the internet and the research from all the former house hunting.
Lesson #6 is to use references and get others to help. A friend from Jamaica has lived in Shanghai for 15 years. Incidentally, she is living in the same compound that she recommended to me which I'm now just about to sign, but not quite yet. If she recommends this compound, then it must be pretty damn good.
Lesson #7 is to negotiate longer-term contracts. I got this idea from my Jamiacan friend but it only makes sense. By law, they can't change the rent during the contract so you can 'lock in at a lower rate' this way, by signing 2-year contracts. Highly recommended, and a win/win for you and the landlord. The agents tend to like this approach as well so I see this as a triple-win.
Besides, you wouldn't go through all this trouble anyway if you were only staying for a short time.
Rain and miserable
Hopefully new teachers and other expats in Shanghai can benefit from this post.
Good news on the house hunting front -- lined up a potentially awesome new dig, and proceeded to find a way to get out of my current place without penalty. More on the details in upcoming post. The story was just too coincidental to be a coincidence, it was one heck of a small world let me tell you
Nonetheless I haven't signed anything yet and am still thinking it over. I may still end up saying no to this. I've also said NO to at least a dozen places during the house hunt over the past two weeks -- even a firm NO to places that otherwise would have been good but had the slightest negative thing going. The logic being that if it wasn't perfect, then forget it. This was in contrast to the past where I would settle for a less-than-perfect place in order to end the uncertainty of the hunt. The way the house hunting game works here in Shanghai, it is EXTREMELY TEMPTING to pick places just to end the hunt, but then you regret it down the road, as I have experienced time and time again.
So lesson #1 is the most obvious but it bears repeating: don't say yes to a house that you can identify negative things about on the first glance. As mentioned above, it better be perfect and meet your requirements or else give it a pass and don't feel ashamed about it. The reality is there is a TON of shit out there, and you're going to be saying no a lot more than yes.
The way it works is that an agent lines up a place for you, calls the landlord, and you all look at the place together. It's a very brief look, and I've experienced it from both sides. That is to say I've gone looking while other tenants' leases are almost up, and I've had future tenants come looking while my lease is almost expired. Given that this quick little 5-10 MINUTE SURVEY determines whether or not you sign a ONE YEAR LEASE, you better make damn sure you can identify as many things as possible in the look and focus on the negatives, negatives, and more negatives.
The unfortunate thing is that it's very difficult to 'try before you rent', i.e. stay there for a week and check it out, thus allowing for a longer survey. It's also very difficult to sign a short-term lease, say 3 months. Why? Lack of trust, obviously, and the way the Chinese culture is based on no trust. Maybe landlords allowed 'trial rents' or short-term leases in the past, but this kind of system could be easily manipulated, twisted, and taken advantage of. Sadly, we know all too well how the Chinese are professional experts at system manipulation, both in their home country and all around the world.
Meanwhile, the failsafe that developed in the housing market was this: sign a one-year lease, pay 2 months deposit and all the rent for 2-3 months at a time up front.
Like it or not, you're given a brief period of time to see the house and make a decision. Here is what I suggest you check for:
1. Neighorhood survey. Hopefully you've already done this. If not you can do so on the way to the compound. Things to ask: is the house close to a subway station, what is in the immediate zone, what bus lines go by, shopping malls, coffee shops, markets, etc. etc. etc.
2. Compound (xiao qu) survey. What is the overall compound like, new, old? Quiet, loud? Tall buildings, modern, old style, local, etc. What is the security like? Where is the house in relation to the compound? The best ones are in the interior. If it faces the road or train tracks, this house could fail before you even go inside to check it out. One thing that has burned me twice before is if the house is *above* a subway line. The absolute worst case is when you are between two subway stations, in which case it is a long walk to either station and the goddamn trains still rumble by your house. A quick check on Google maps will tell you if you'll end up getting burned by this, which I should have done but failed. Even the 5th floor is not high enough to escape that underground subway racket. Other pontential noise makers: being near a school ... DISASTER!! The morning exercise racket will wake you up for sure. Being close to a sports stadium is also a fail, along with being near an army barracks. Try also to avoid compounds that collect noise with wide open spaces and tall buildings, as the fireworks racket will also get you on this.
3. House survey. This is where you go nuts. Check all appliances to see if they work. Many will be broken. Check the plumbing and shower heads. Check the gas stove in the kitchen. Look at the condition of the floor and walls, be on the eye out for peeing paint, mould, and warped floors. Watch out for strange smells. A 5 year old building can easily show signs of wear and damage. Check the condition of the rooms. If a room has recently been renovated but the building is only 5 years old, then this is a HUGE disaster because it means other neighbors will be doing the same, and there will be nonstop construction noise. You don't want to move into a new building that has just become an old building, and everything needs a total overall and change, only to break down and repeat again and again and again. If you get a sense from the landlord that he has a laissez-faire view towards things breaking down or he laughs about it, then the place is an automatic fail
Lesson #2 then is to define your requirements carefully. The better you can define them, the better it will go for you. For example if you have a conscious or unconsious list of requirements, then you can pinpoint more specifically how a potential house meets them, or you can specifically list where it fails. The above should be plenty of examples of that, and I have barely even scratched the surface!!!! In a city of 25 million people, even very strictly defined requirements will still give out plenty of choices to sift from
Lesson #3 then is to be prepared to house hunt for a long time. I would say that 2 weeks should be a minimum, and to view at least 20 houses. Even that is not really enough, but it gives you a sense of the market and you learn a ton of stuff for future reference.
Lesson #4 is not to do business with agents who pressure you into signing a lease right away, or who say any of the following lines:
-- "This is such a good deal, other people are going to snatch it up, you better put a deposit down or someone else will rent." If an agent sees 10 people and they all look at at the same house, then he's going to tell the same thing to all 10 people, and it is impossible for all 10 people at once to put down a deposit to secure a pace, and so this argument not logical.
-- "The price is already very low." Rubbish, he's only saying it because he wants a higher commission (35% of the first months rent is standard). Negotiate.
-- "You're only renting for a year / for one person, don't be so picky." A local wouldn't stand for this ridiculous argument, neither should you
-- "This compound has few places to rent, we don't have others to show." If that were true, the agents wouldn't be in business, and they shouldn't get your business if they argue this way.
-- "The traffic is really convenient" You decide if a 15-20 minute walk to the subway is close or not. I don't think it is.
Lesson #5 is if you do find a place you like, make it look like you don't. Try not to mention money or prices until the very end, and add that in as an afterthought, only to the agent, and without mentioning it to the landlord. This works like a charm every time. I've often done that and found the initial offer this way is very close to the market price, as confirmed by using the internet and the research from all the former house hunting.
Lesson #6 is to use references and get others to help. A friend from Jamaica has lived in Shanghai for 15 years. Incidentally, she is living in the same compound that she recommended to me which I'm now just about to sign, but not quite yet. If she recommends this compound, then it must be pretty damn good.
Lesson #7 is to negotiate longer-term contracts. I got this idea from my Jamiacan friend but it only makes sense. By law, they can't change the rent during the contract so you can 'lock in at a lower rate' this way, by signing 2-year contracts. Highly recommended, and a win/win for you and the landlord. The agents tend to like this approach as well so I see this as a triple-win.
Besides, you wouldn't go through all this trouble anyway if you were only staying for a short time.
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