Korean Job Discussion Forums

[santafly]

My girlfriend and I are looking for a place to live in Jongno-gu with a 1 year lease starting January 1st. We are hoping to find something north of Jongno, west of Hyewha Station and east of Gyeongbokgung. We can offer 10,000,000 in key money and would like to have a monthly rent of no more than 700,000. Any kind of building, Hanok, apartment, or studio is fine. It would be really nice if there were some sort of outdoor space such as a garden, rooftop, or balcony.

We are a responsible professional 30 yr old couple, no pets, no smoking. My girlfriend (Korean) is currently in Seoul and would like to start looking at apartments so please email me back: santafly @ hotmail.com

Thanks

[blackjack]

Why don't you go to a real estate agent? They are every where and you will have a much better chance of finding a good apartment. If you are trying to do it by yourself and you don't speak korean well, don't worry, I got my place and my Korean is terrible.

[bassexpander]

Find an area you would like to live in, and start visiting real estate agents on foot. Don't rely on the web -- agents use that to bait-n-switch people. Most of the apartments online are not actually there.

The power of the web is in using a site like www.speedbank.co.kr to identify apartments in an area you like, and average rates there. Then you go to the realtors on foot and talk to them.

Always remember, though, that even if they call around for you (most will), they will NOT be getting the full story on what's available in the area. The realtor you visit might tell you there are no apartments in an area you want, and even call the guy across the street, but the guy across the street often won't give the full truth. Can't tell you how many times we experienced this. The reason is that if guy B tells guy A he has something, then he must share the commission with guy A. Most realtors know what apartments will move fast, and are reluctant to share information on the units they know they can easily offload themselves -- they want all of the commission.

So you have to visit every realtor in an area to get the true picture on what's actually available.

By the way, they will show you crap first. I have found I have to look at over 8 units before they show me something that meets my criteria. Last time, we looked at 25 places from multiple realtors, and my wife about killed me! We got a sweet place, though. It helps to be specific about what you want.

[billyg]