Korean Job Discussion Forums

skyhawk · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Location: Korea

Do officetels require key money? What are the advantages/disadvantages of officetels? I'm completely unfamiliar with housing in Korea.....

canuckistan · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 4:35 pm Post subject:

I liked officetel apt's. They're small and don't seem to have the kind of noise level of regular-sized apts/buildings with families of 8 living in 3 rooms.

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

Advantages: the ones I've seen have been really nice and modern and not too small.

Adv: Mine isn't noisy during the day, which is cool because I like afternoon naps.

Disadvantage: management fees. These are included in the utilities rather than rent, thus generally the teacher pays it rather than school. Thinking positively about it as cheap rent is probably the best thing to do but it still annoys me. Mine's 62,700w which isn't too bad compared to apts in the Suraksan area - over 120k and rising.

skyhawk · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Location: Korea

Do officetels require key money? If so, what's a typical key money deposit?

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

BigBlackEquus · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:42 pm Post subject:

Yes, and yes. You can get offictells with both key money and without. Likely, you will have to go the key money route. 5 million down plus rent is common. Or some better places in better areas might require 10 million down plus rent.

Almost anyplace you live, you will have additional monthly fees to consider. They almost always tack on a "management fee" which can be anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 won per month. Often around 40,000. This covers cleaning the outside and stairwell, etc. It is a stupid fee, in my opinion, but no way around it.

Also, when they consider size, your apartment or offictell will count your parking space (if you have one) and the outside front door area as part of your pyong size. Pyong is the measurement they use to rate apartment size.

Another disadvantage of an offictell is that your living room will smell like a bathroom if you don't keep the bathroom up well. There isn't as much space, so you're closer to everything.

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

My officetel apartment is pretty big, for a studio. It's easy to keep clean because of the faux-hardwood floors, and because I don't have much furniture. It's pretty quiet at night because half of my neighbors, or more, are companies that close overnight. The biggest advantage, and the reason my predecessor chose the apartment, is location location location, it's right next to a subway station and department store.

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

A nice place (big, 15 or 20 stories with lots of shops and businesses on the lower floors) will set you back 10 million in deposit and about 600,0000 a month with about 100,000 or so for all the fees. Too much for an English teacher really. But I am sure there are deals out there!

I_Am_Wrong · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: whatever

I think the utilities are lame. Utilities are split between everyone in the building or something. So my summer utilities were super high even though I kept my air conditioner use to the bare minimum. I complained and was told that I'm gonna be charged anyways so I might as well leave it on full blast every day all the time!!!

Same goes with heat.

If you get stuck with a piece of crap bastard neighbour that is likely involved in some sort of prostitution or other illegal activity then it can be absolute hell. Trust me. My new neighbour stays awake all night, she's constantly coming and going, and people are constantly coming and going. Not a problem except they always slam the door so hard that my entire room shakes. It's great when it's at 3 am and I wake up at 6:30!!

Considering some of the places I've seen Korean friends of mine have for similar or a little per month, I don't think I'll live in an office tel again. However, that's just my experience and experiences tend to vary.

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

Definitely the worst thing about an officetel is the maintenance fee. Mine is about 120,000 a month. It's a lot! I know that my school put down a 10 million key deposit, and they also pay 500,000 a month. Seeing as they pay a lot for it, I don't complain about the maintenance fee. There are other English teachers in similar apartments, and they all pay 200,000 a month of the rent, plus the maintenance fee, so I have it best.

I am also on the 26th floor and see the sunset over the mountains every night. I also live in Bundang. It is a good size and I really like living there.

I would say that from what I have seen, teachers in officetels usually have a nicer place than teachers not, but that is just in my experiences, and I know others are different. I am also right by a subways station and department store, so location is also key for me.

Also, my utilities are super low, and because of this, I haven't had to turn on my heat yet (actually, I still need to keep a windown open) so my heating bill is basically nil.

Anyways, back to the kids in my classroom.

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

Return Jones · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:09 pm Post subject:

My friend lived in a new officetel in Ilsan. He was happy there until he got his first winter maintenance+heating bill which came to over 200,000! His place was one of the aforementioned type of places where you share utility costs with everyone in the building. Avoid such places because you'll get screwed by everyone else's wasteful habits!

He also complained about paying cleaning and maintenance costs when it seemed nobody cleaned anything or bothered to change even a lightbulb in the halls! Inside the apartment itself was quite nice, however.

EDIT: I forgot, there was also a "rental" fee which his school paid. I don't remember how much it was, but it's safe to say the overall total, including deposit, would have been pretty steep!