Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sulperman]

I'm looking for a new place starting at the beginning of September, and I am itching to look at some places.

I am just wondering if anybody knows how far in advance most apartments (or whatever they are called in my low price range- I suppose I am looking for a 단독/다가구 place) are shown. If I remember correctly, in the US it is usually like a month or two in advance, and my guess here is that it is done a month or less in before the move in date here.

But that is just a guess. Anybody have a more concrete idea on how long people generally look at apartments before the move in date?

[gangwonbound]

You can pretty much move in straight away from my experience.

[bassexpander]

About a month.

No kidding. Nobody will take you seriously this far out. Looking and checking prices for now is OK, though.

I will warn you that most online places are merely advertising bait-n-switch scams put up by realtors. We ran into this. Some 1-rooms and private rentals (not involving realtors directly) are usually OK, though.

Your best bet is to determine the area you want to live in, then 1 month in advance, start pounding the pavement and visiting EVERY realtor in the area. One guy might say there is nothing, but the next guy across the street will have something. It's a crapshoot, and they lie to protect their good units -- meaning that if the realtor you're visiting calls them, they may not reveal that they have units available. This is because they don't want to split commission on the place if they think they can sell/rent it themselves.

So best to visit every realtor in an area and get the real story directly from them.

OH, and as a general rule, they show you the crappy places first. It helps to be very specific on what you want. Newer places often cost the same as 15 year-old crapholes (no kidding). I always tell them the following:

1. Nothing older than 5 years.
2. No basement apartments (you might be stuck with this if you need to pay less. Watch for black mold issues. Damaged paint or wallpaper can be tell-tale signs of humidity and/or water problems. Check closets and corners -- mold is not healthy). Also, basements are not secure here... make sure there are bars on the windows at ground-level! Lots of theft.
3. Parking available (may not be your concern)
4. Aircon (or ability to put in my own unit, which isn't an issue, generally -- this is more of a concern if your school is renting for you).

[Zulethe]

I'm in the same situation. I don't know about Seoul, but in my town, if you choose a place a little further out, you can get a lot more for the money.

The teacher before me had a huge three bedroom apartment, which was a 15 minute ride to town.

He couldn't handle being that far from town because he didn't have transportation so he chose to move to this tiny studio in the center of town.


I have a motorcycle so I'm going to go out to the "sticks" and find a place.

Just an idea that you may want to broaden you search.