Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Manner of Speaking]

I came across an interesting article in [i]Joong-Ang Ilbo[/i] a few weeks ago about rural communities in Korea attempting to boost their population or local development. In one particular case, a small town in Chungchong Namdo went from 140,000 people in the 1970s to less than 20,000(!) today.

I was wondering if any of the long-term expats on the board had ever looked into buying/renting a cheap cottage/weekend home in the country, and if so what their experiences with it were? Although living in a small town in Canada of 3000 or less is not my idea of interesting, I think getting a small old country home or farm house in Korea, near a national park or mountains, would be great.

[BTM]

I'd be very interested in hearing any info anyone has got about this too.

*bump*

[weatherman]

It is a great idea and one I have often thought about too. But first let me say that any house in the countryside isn't usually standing by itself in some pretty valley. Most farmhouses are located in small villages. This would be fine, but I really wonder how the old farmers would take having a foreigner living there. These villages are pretty communal with lots of obligations and connections. It would be kind of weird to come in on a Saturday and feel apart of this organism called the Korean village. Not saying it isn't impossible, and you would be a better man than me for doing so. Plus these houses aren't the old traditional beautiful wood houses you would want. They are run down, walls all crumbling things, constructed for poor farmers who needed a house cheap and without a long building period. Most traditional societies built this way, and I am not trying to rap the typical farmhouse of 50 years ago.

So what happens? Koreans buy into condo sharing at big resorts or if they are rich, build a very modern style house on some land they have in the countryside. There never is any gentrification of old houses, or very rarely I should say. I feel for the idea, but the reality on the ground doesn't really support the concept of a cottage or country house. And I almost forgot, most urbanites still have parents living the countryside and go visiting enough, not to warrant any country retreats. My two cents, I hope others can add to or correct me.

[dutchman]

I found a great piece of land about an hour north of Seoul. About 500 meters from the Han River. Could have bought it for 50 million. I wanted to put one of these pre-fab houses on it and spend weekends there. My wife talked me out of it .

[The King of Kwangju]

I used to browse the "Sa-Rang Bang" newspaper (the "for sale by owner" cheapie newspaper) for country houses all the time. I also visited a few near KJ. They were quite cheap, but like the Waetherman said, pretty rough.

It might be expensive near Seoul, but you can certainly buy some nice properties near the "smaller" megacities and then fix them up.

At the time, however, a foreigner couldn't own land in Korea. Maybe that's changed.

[Dr. Buck]

Finally, a practical post that catches my interest.
There's some good points on this thread, and my concern would be "bang for the buck," or better put, "land for the won."
I'd like to own country property in both my home country (US) and in Korea.
Compare the amount of rural land you can get in Korea and then look at the amount in US/Canada/etc. Is it a good investment?

I showed my wife the prices for Seoul apartments, then showed her a real estate book listing for country homes in the US. No comparison and it made Korea look like a rip-off in terms of quality of life. For the same price, you get a plot of land to call your own, a garage, four bedroom house, upstairs, downstairs, basement, and the green grass of home. In Korea, you get an ugly cement hole called an apartment . . . and so we look towards the hills . . .

Anyone else starting to go mad as the spring weather kicks in? And you want to head outside to a place you can call your own and mess around, rather than some semi-public place where every Kim, Lee, Pak stops by to stare you down, or practice Englishy or says you cannot fire up the barbeque grill because "uh, uh, danger."
Yes, we could all use a country hide-out now and then.

You could consider the investment as land speculation, dick around out there on the weekends and have fun, then when you go sell, hopefully the land prices went up.

As for the Bob Villa fix-up deal, you have to consider the cost of tools. How many of you have power drills, chainsaws, circular saws and all those fun toys? You'll have to get your hands on that, and the Korean-made tools are junk, and the imported ones are pricey--you'll have to sneak a suitcase full of power tools through customs on your next trip out.
Lumber is expensive in Korea and that's another factor to consider.
The country houses I've seen run the gamut from stone-age "hwang-to" mud walls and thatched roofs, to converted steel containers from cargo ships, to the good old cement block that Korean architects are so fond of.

Occasionally, you run into the "temple builders" --these are the crews that build with wood beams and interlocking joints using some interesting traditional building methods. Now they are building rustic coffeshops in the countryside with this construction style. Some of them have 'mushroom' roofs, as you might have seen. It's great work but I've never seen a private house like this: they are always turned into coffeshops in the country. Sort of a shame when it would make a great home.
Anyone serious about this post can feel free to shoot a PM my way and we can bounce some ideas or start a land-snatching club.

[Manner of Speaking]

Hmmm....some interesting posts. I actually hadn't thought about the "fixer-up" aspect of things, I was thinking more of something to escape from the city to on the weekends and in the summer. Now, the old woman's house in the movie Chiburo (The Way Home) is a little too funky for my tastes, but I'm not really interested in turning into a Korean Bob Vila. Not that there is anything wrong with that, more power to those who would like to.

According to some government websites I've looked at (I'll post them) it is now possible for foreigners to own real property in Korea, under the same regulations as for Koreans. Dutchman, I live quite a distance from the capital, down in Daegu, and my gf has told me that in many small towns in Kyongsando have houses that have been virtually abandoned. Next time we go to her hometown I'm gonna get her to stop in at a real estate agent's office. In this part of Korea, some of my students have told me a small lot plus house can be gotten for as little as 2 to 20 million won(!) Even a real dump that is close to a mountain, a river, parks or some temples would be nice.

I'll have to start hunting...gives me an excuse to buy a motorcycle.

[Manner of Speaking]

[dutchman]

I was thinking of it as an investment. Figuring if this five day work week ever becomes reality, a nice little cottage not too far from Seoul would be a hot item.
But alas, my wife would rather use the money to move to a bigger apartment here in Seoul.

[Manner of Speaking]

[The King of Kwangju]

[Squaffy]

Could I really buy a cottage? - now that would be heaven or is it a different type of cottage? am confused now.

Mind in the gutter as usual.

[Circus Monkey]

If it's just a place to escape over the weekend, all you would need are the basics plus a phone. But even the basics could get pricey depending on the condition of the building. That is, would you have to have your own well and septic field? What about stringing a line to the nearest power pole? Dr. Buck basically threw some much-needed cold water on the situation.

CM

[Dr. Buck]

CM, you wouldn't need a phone if you have your cell phone, eh.
Juice is necessary and connecting to the power grid doesn't matter. Just get a Honda generator and some solar cell panels and you'll be an independent country gentleman every weekend.
It all depends on how much you want to rough it. Start out with the basics and build it up from there, from country shack to country estate/waygook militia headquarters/Underground Railroad for escaped ESL slaves/New Age decadence and perversion retreat . . .

Basics: walls and roof; water supply or haul in your own or divert water from a mountain rivulet via plastic piping; toilet/septic system or outhouse with the ddong-pig (cool!--later you just eat the filthy beast); power tools; a used utility truck for hauling supplies, scavenged junk, etc.; and then your list of things to get/do will build and build as you construct your weekend hideout.

[Circus Monkey]

Looks like I'll have to start working on my secret monkey villian lair.