Korean Job Discussion Forums

[agbonlahor i love you]

hi - could anyone recommend a the best websites to look for housing in Seoul? cheers

[agbonlahor i love you]

bump

[conbon78]

I went to nearsubway.com to find mine.
Have you tried Craig's list?

[ddeubel]

This is the one I know and have used... but get a Korean to take you down to a local real estate office for the area where you want to live.
http://www.edenrealty.co.kr/

Further - members have uploaded and culled all the important bookmarks/links for teachers in Korea. Find them here. A handy reference.
http://www.diigo.com/list/eflclassroom/korea

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[agbonlahor i love you]

cheers for that lads - appreciated. will have a good look through those. yeah i've had a look on craigslist - but there's not too much there. cheers though .

[bassexpander]

www.speedbank.co.kr

The trick to using these things is to get average price ideas and building/layout ideas from an area, and go visit the realtors in the area you want. Many ads on these sites will be fakes, sometimes recycling fake photos, so it's best to use these sites to get an idea of prices as an average.

If you call or visit, one realtor will tell you that ABC building only has one unit (theirs) or no units at all. They will even call around right in front of you repeat the same -- nothing is available. Then you walk across the street, and the guy she just called will have 2 places for rent.

It works that way.

Realtors hold onto their best rentals and won't share, because they know they'll have to share commission if another realtor helps with the sale. They'd rather wait another several days for someone to walk in alone than rent to you at 1/2 the profit.

So you MUST do the legwork. Find an area you like and talk to every realtor in sight. Ignore whenever someone says, "Sorry, there's nothing for rent in the apartment complex." Smile at them, thank them for their time, and leave your number in case something else comes up. Then go across the street and visit the other guy.

[PRagic]

"So you MUST do the legwork. Find an area you like and talk to every realtor in sight. Ignore whenever someone says, "Sorry, there's nothing for rent in the apartment complex." Smile at them, thank them for their time, and leave your number in case something else comes up. Then go across the street and visit the other guy."

The Bass is SPOT on here, and this goes for other types of rentals besides apartments. You really have to hit every real estate place in the neighborhoods you're interested in living.

[agbonlahor i love you]

cheers bassexpander, PRagic - i'll definitely take heed of that advice.

Could anyone advise of other areas where I can get big/good accommodation for cheap other than the Itaewon/Haebongchon area?

[PRagic]

Just a heads up: the words 'big', 'good', and 'cheap' are never used in the same sentence when describing any accomodation in Seoul! You can get 'big' or you can get 'good', but neither will be cheap. 'Big' and 'good' means really expensive.

The places in Itaewon/HBC are a decent size, but you'd be hard pressed to describe most of them as 'good'. They are, however, a good bet for the money, especially if you don't have enough for a lump-o-chunsae. We had a place in ChangChonDong (between HongDae and Shinchon) that was a passable size (22 pyung?), and that was 70 million chunsae...in 1997! Key money for decent places around us (still in the same basic area) run between mid 2s to mid 3s in chunsae for 25-35 pyung. That would put you in the 2-3+ million a month with no money down. You can get smaller places for less, of course, but the less they are, the bigger your hike to anywhere.

Follow Bass. Have a budget and hit the pavement asking around. Cheers.

[naturegirl321]

SO basically you don't use real estate agents, but talk to the doormen /guards at the apartment complexes?

[blackjack]

[blackjack]

[Konglishman]

Another good website that I have seen is http://www.nearsubway.com/.

[PRagic]

That site is useless.

There will be tons of real estate places in every neighborhood; many will be right next to or right across from each other.

You probably don't want to be looking at apartments. They suck to live in (even the nicer ones) for several reasons and they're over priced. In a low price range, though, odds are you won't even be shown any. That's GOOD news for you.

[jiberish]