Korean Job Discussion Forums

[michaelambling]

Does anyone have experience renting around Hongdae with little or no key money? Can anyone recommend an agency that rents places with little/no deposit besides Short-rent.com and Nicerent.com?

My Korean is non-existent, so I don't know where/how to look, and I'd love to find an agent who speaks at least some English (but this isn't necessary).

[optik404]

really doubt you're going to find a decent place without leaving key money. there are plenty of hasuk jips in sinchon though

[seoulsucker]

Gooooooooooood luck on that one.

I lived in Sinchon in 2006 and paid 500/38 for a 12 pyung shoebox. When I came back for another look in 2008, they were asking 1000/600.

I found an officetel in Hongdae last year that was willing to do 500/65. I've been told that high demand from students looking for single housing really drives up the cost in that area.

[Xuanzang]

[JongnoGuru]

No idea what the chances are, but I can't see landlords in those two areas agreeing to anything other than what they thought they wanted before the negotiation began.

Personally, I wish the deposit (esp. chonsei) system would die off. It goes against my grain to hand over large sums of money to someone even if I'm legally, contractually required to do it. Whether I'm tenant or landlord, I hate that system.


The capital is divided into two parts: Better Seoul Neighbourhoods (BSNs) and the rest of the city.

Places like Shinchon & Hongdae are definitely in the latter by most yardsticks, but particularly the low/no-wage-earning transient renter population. Okay, maybe Shinchon's not too far from Yonhee-dong, but still. Not real BSN.

However, because these two areas enjoy high demand from children who come from the BSNs and everywhere else in the country, they do tend to exhibit some of the same characteristics of a BSN.

-- Such as, the number of people who want to live there exceeds the number who can (whether because they can't afford to, or because all the most desirable places are already occupied).

-- Such as, parts of those two areas can sustain downturns in demand without having to reduce rents. They can simply wait it out if they don't immediately get tenants at the price they want. Even in these dismal economic times, the pressure is still on renters there to scrounge up that extra cash, not on landlords to do the liimbo.

These are BSN traits, however, those two areas fail other key BSN criteria.

[stuey11]