Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ironmaninkorea]

i was told by my employer that I was responsible to pay a broker fee in finding an apartment here in Seoul, the broker fee is from 100-300k won, and that the school does not pay it. WTF? the school only pays key money and 400k housing allowance, i accepted these terms because it is SEOUL and i will be teaching adults, is this fee for real? or am i being screwed?
thanks

[yashi]

The fee is real. Negotiate with your school to pay it for you.

[ironmaninkorea]

they do not pay for broker fee, my school is a big chain so not much to nego... i figured that hey getting a teaching adults position in the heart of seoul is difficult nowadays, maybe cause of the refugees from nova coming over taking positions away, so i caved in and said ok to pay it. am i right?

[Bibbitybop]

Look at your contract. Do they provide you with an apartment? That usually means you get an apartment rent free and the one-time broker fee is paid by the school. But I have no direct experience with this except I never had to pay one when I arrived.

[Unposter]

If you don't use a real estate agent, you don't need to pay a fee. When I first came to Korea, I used a real estate agent and all he did was look at the classified ads.

Get someone who knows Korean and look at the ads.

I don't know Seoul well but I know there are a number of classified oriented newspapers that cater to Anyang. There has got to be a similar thing for Seoul.

Worse come to worse, put an ad out in one of the English speaking rags for an apartment wanted.

[ironmaninkorea]

someone in the school will help with housing, but the real estate broker fee is something you have to pay in seoul, but i'm confused if my school helps me why should i pay a broker? to arrange what? nonsense...

[winterwawa]

The broker arranges the meeting between you and the owner of the apartment. Look at it as an introduction fee. I know it sucks, but by using a broker, you and your school are in a better position legally if the owner refuses to give the key money back when you vacate. If you don't use a broker, you are taking a chance and may wind up losing the key money to some underhanded low life property owner. Remember-- s*hit happens.

[Nemo]

If your school is paying the key money and a housing allowance, usually they should also be paying the broker fee as well.

[ironmaninkorea]

school will only pay 10 mill key, and 400 housing allow, NOT broker fee:( dammmm

[babtangee]

The fee's not much. Usually the owner's supposed to pay half. I'm not sure if that's law, but I do know they will often try to lump the bill with the renter.

[winterwawa]

[victorology]

The broker fee will be 0.4% of the (initial deposit + [monthly rent * 100]).

I pay 700,000 a month with a 10,000,000 deposit so my fee was 320,000 won. I just asked the real estate agent to cut it to 300,000 won.