Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Whistleblower]

Hello all,

I am thinking of buying some property in South Korea but have virtually no knowledge of the property market here.

Are there mortgages available for people looking to invest in property like in the UK? Are there difficulties for foreigners purchasing property in Korea?

For your information, I am an F2-1 Visa Holder and have been living in Korea for about 2 years now.

If anyone has some useful info. please let me know.

[victorology]

Getting a mortgage would probably be extremely difficult. You would most likely need a native Korean to co-sign with you.

[Whistleblower]

Has any1 had any prior experience with this?

[PRagic]

First off, the real estate market here is going arse over tea kettles. Apartments are slowing down, and small buildings/single-double family homes are picking up. Tax issues.

Apartments are way overpriced now, and you'd be better served by putting your money in at 7%.

Small buildings/houses are skyrocketing. Again, if you want just an investment, I'd still go this route. However, if you need/want a place to hang your hat, you won't get much.

As for mortgages, they work in reverse order here compared to what we're used to; you have to 'buy' the place first, and THEN apply for your mortgage. If you don't get it, you're SOL.

Good luck. I'm in chunsae now, and will be until the bubble pops.

[endofthewor1d]

i'm also curious about commercial real estate. if anyone has any info on that, i'd like to know. it seems a lot more expensive than residential real estate. that could very well just be its nature. this is the first time i've seriously looked at any kind of real estate, so i don't know much about it. for the bar i'm planning on opening in the future, i'd like to go the 매매 route when establishing a location. but i've been looking on the 'daum' and 'naver' websites under the 부동산 section, and damn it's expensive.
someone please tell me there's a bubble getting ready to burst there as well.

[PRagic]

we can only hope. as for us, we were looking into 'sanggachutaek', buidlings with commercial space on the first/second floor, and then an apartment on the top floor. nothing decent for under 1-1.5 million. saw a decent house that had been converted to a large publishing company in between shinchon and hongdae; that was going for around 750K. with any renovations to get it going as a bar/restaurant, you'd be looking at a cool million. opted away from that as we also needed a place to live!

anywhere in hongdae/shinchon worth taking a look at is at least a million, and we've seen em all. for most, renovation is a must.

even for commercial real estate, after we ran the numbers we found that buying simply isn't worth it now. you're money is working more for you buy renting/leasing and investing the balance.

we got lucky and picked up some property back in 98 when the 'IMF' crisis hit. we couldn't afford to buy what we own now! brutal, but at least THAT one works in our favour.

if you are looking to open up a pub, then you are going to have to go into an area seeded with clientel. that will cost you if you are looking to buy. good luck no matter what you chose. always good to hear of people making a go of it.

[endofthewor1d]

pragic,
are you looking into the sanggachutaek in order to rent out the bottom bit, or do you also have entrepreneurial ambitions?
i don't live in seoul, and i'm not too bothered about being in a super crowded area. that's kind of the reason i want to go the 매매 route. if i don't wind up having many customers, it will still have a nice relaxing atmosphere, and i won't have to stress about making enough to cover rent every month.
anyway... i've got an entire thread about this lurking around somewhere.

[PRagic]

that's what we were thinking of doing. we just moved into a chunsae place, though, and are happier for it.

[winterwawa]

[PRagic]

Korean credit unions are running some time accounts at 7.25.

[oh_daesu]

[PRagic]

Money reasoning here really does work different, eh? That freaked me out, too, but that's the way they do it. If you go to a bank and ask how much you can borrow, they'll say, 'how much is your house?'

when in rome.

[marmotkorea]

I disagree completely with this post.

[marmotkorea]

[Hanson]

Very interesting thread, but now I'm more confused than ever...

How much can a foreigner with, say 50-100k, borrow to buy a residential place? Does said foreigner have to have a Korean co-sign? Does it depend on the visa the foreigner holds?

I'd certainly like to hear more about this, too.