Korean Job Discussion Forums

[War Eagle]

I have used Englishspectrum and Craigslist, but the pickins are slim. If the site is in Korean, it is ok.

Ideas?

[blackjack]

Do it the old fashioned way. Find an area you like and hit up realtors. That tends to be the way it is done here

[War Eagle]

Yea, i'm doing that also. I am just considering a lot of different areas. Multiply that by 3-4 realators in each area, because each one has different properties, and I am spending a lot of time out and about But, if I have to......

[sjk1128]

There are so many. Just type in 부동산 in any search engine, or click on it under Daum or Yahoo Korea. Also, you might want to check Speedbank.

You can use these 부동산 internet sites to find the price range and kind of places available in different areas, very generally. However, the apartments listed online are very rarely actually available anymore (if they ever were) and in no way reflect the real inventory of any given agency. This means that once you've narrowed it down to a neighborhood in your price range, you have to do the walk-in at different agencies (or call). That's just how it's handled in Korea in my experience.

Also, the agents tend to show you their crappiest places first to see if you'll bite, or to make the next places they show you seem much sweeter. It also is likely a strategy to waste your time so you won't be able to get to as many other agencies in the same day. Sometimes you can get around this by saying you refuse to look at anything older than 200? - you can fill in your number. Nevertheless, they'll still get you sometimes: "This place is in really good shape though. Why don't you just take a few minutes to look at it? It would be a shame not to save all that money if you can do it and still be just as happy living there.... blah blah blah blah." Then, the final touch: "There are no other apartments available in this complex/ building." It's almost always a lie. It just means nobody else in their circle of contacts has one right then. If you drive a few blocks down the street, that agent will have a different place in the very same complex, often at a much cheaper price. It drives me nuts because it's all such a huge waste of time...

But, the encouraging news is that I did just find a new apartment I like in my price range in a neigborhood I don't mind living in, so it can be done. I just haven't found a way to do it without wasting several days of my time.

[bassexpander]

See here:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=174504&highlight=apartment

[conbon78]

For the 800th time...try nearsubway.com
The guy was great and speaks English and has all apartments right by the subway.

[War Eagle]

Thanks for the info all, especially you sjk. I can imagine this process is going to be much more of a pain in the arse than it was back in the states. Anything to get out of my 'box' tho

[CaliforniaRunning]

Try HiExpat.com's classifieds (www.hiexpat.com/marketplace) and craigslist (www.craigslist.com).