Korean Job Discussion Forums

[daemyann]

No horror story here, just need advice on where to find good, cheap housing.

I'll be out in the snow/rain sometime in January, without much in the way of key money,( few grand max) so I could really use any info about affordable housing. I dont mind steeper rent if need be, up to around 9 a month.

Where are the best places?
What are good sites to check?
Is it possible to avoid Itaewon?

[conbon78]

Housing is only that expensive if you want it to be. Check out nearsubway.com, it will be very helpful. You can live anywhere that you want, not Itaewon if you that's what you want. The key money is the biggest part, so you need to have a big down payment. Be prepared for that.

[hoopslam]

I actually just got settled temporarily in a "Goshiwon." It's like a small 5'x8'ish room similar to a dormitory. You get your own private room that usually comes with a bed, desk and free internet (tv in some). Bathrooms and kitchen are shared by other people on the floor. If you need your own private bathroom, you may want to steer clear. However, if you're looking for something temporary, these "goshiwons" are a great place to settle down in. My goshiwon is located right across the street from Yonsei University in Seoul and I payed 240,000w for my first month. No key deposit or extra expense is needed. Electric/water/gas all taken care of. This particular one that I'm using actually as a lot of foreign travelers and I already met some nice people here that I went out with. Feels like freshman year in college all over again

[Hyeon Een]

If you've got at least 5m you should be able to find a place pretty much anywhere in Seoul. The quality of the place will vary depending on the area.

If you have less than 5m you need to go to Itaewan/Haebangchon or spend quite a bit of effort to find a landlord who is cool with a (by Korean standards) really low deposit.

Just choose the area you want to live, then go into some real estate agents in the area and tell them your budget. They'll show you what's available pretty much immediately. You very rarely have to make appointments ahead to view a place.

[seonsengnimble]

I don't know why everyone always recommends nearsubway.com. Sure, it's good if you have a ton of money and a family, but apartments for 1000/50 or less are very rare on that site.

Usually, if you stay out of jogno-gu, gangnam-gu, seocho-gu and songpa-gu, you should be able to find cheap housing. Southwest seoul has pretty cheap housing. I would suggest looking in guro-gu or gumcheon-gu.

[taobenli]

Any recommendations for websites to look at to find housing (in Korean or English) NOT in Seoul? I am looking for Jeonju for late February and since I'm living in Seoul now I'm having a hard time. I plan to make a few trips to Jeonju between now and then, but the first trip I made last week went poorly. I expect to put down 5-10 million in key money, but the places I looked at (even that were 10 million) were just dumps. I'll be living with my husband, and will be there for a while ideally, so really don't want to regress back to college-type housing (especially for that price!). Having no kitchen/very small kitchen, etc. is not cool...

[samd]

If you have 9 a month to spend I'd recommend checking out the full-option places in the Gangnam area. For one month's rent plus 900,000 a month you'll get a small but nice fully furnished one-room in an area with lots to do and lots of transport options. Pay below 8 and they start getting dodgy. There's not much below 7 except in Banpo-dong maybe and they're dumps.

Check out the real estate agents around Nonhyeon, Sinnonhyeon and Gangnam Stations.

[seonsengnimble]

[tzechuk]

[taobenli]

Thanks, seongsengnimble and tzechuk! PMing you now, tzechuk...

[daemyann]

Alright, awesome information.

Anybody know how to find the real estate places?...

Recommendations for good ones?