Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TML1976]

Ok, so I'll be moving to seoul in august and my uni does not offer housing but do offer key money (I don't know how much yet).

I was wondering how I could go about (except for the ads that come up on dave's) finding suitable housing?

what I'm hoping for is that there is a web site(s) that one can search for apt. on. Kinda like in Canada.

Any info on this topic would be appreciated.

[John Henry]

There are people called leasing agents over here. They help you lease apartments if you don't have one.

[Zyzyfer]

Depends a lot on key money, rent you're willing to pay, location, all sorts of factors. What you have going for you decides how you find a place...

edit: Oh, nevermind. I saw you posed elsewhere about Seongnam. When you get here, you'll need to get someone (from the school *cough*) to help you find a "bu dong san" in the area you want to live in. Or alternatively, they can write it down and you can look yourself. Southeast Seoul is quite expensive, so you might be slumming it up in Seongnam if you don't get a lot of key money from work.

[Smee]

Where's mith? I saw he posted a website that featured apartments and officetel in Bundang. (Seongnam will be cheaper, but it's a frame of reference.)

An officetel in Bundang (Jeongja, Sunae, Ori, Migeum) will cost between 500,000 and 1,000,000 per month plus between 5 million and 10 million for key money.

As someone said, go into a 부동산 and see what they have to offer. They can show you officetels, stalin blocks, and villas.

[Smee]

Here's that link about officetel and apartments in Bundang: http://www.oneroomhouse.org/

You'd have to read Korean, though.

[TML1976]

Thanks for the info everyone. My uni said they will give me 10 mill key money.

I was thinking of maybe finding a place just outside of seongnam as I have a car and it woudl be easy for me to get to the uni. I'm sure it will be cheaper too.

[TML1976]

thanks Smee, that's exactly the type of site I was looking for. i just wanted to get an idea of how much apt actually went for. Now, just to make sure I understand this. On the ads there is a section that says:

(전/월세)전세금:6500/보증금:500/월세금:50

does this mean that the key money is 6,500,000 and the monthly rent is 500,000?

[Smee]

yeah, that's right.

[huck]

http://www.nearsubway.com

[TML1976]

@ huck

that is an awesome site, thanks!

[jellobean]

Also, if your uni is giving you key money and the place you want is asking for less, you can often negotiate the key money up and the rent down...

My Korean friend who helped me find a place said that the rule of thumb is usually that 1 mil key money equals 10,000 won rent... For example, her old place was asking for 43mil for key money and no rent, but she only had 40mil so she paid an additional 30,000 in rent.....

Good luck...

[blitzkad]

I am staying at a nice place near off the Yeungdeungpo-gu subway stop. (They have another location really close to Gangnam as well) Within 3 minutes of your subway stop. No key money is needed. For the Apt with a balcony it runs just under 1 million a month rent. 10 pyung approx. (350ish square feet) and pretty clean. Small bathroom small kitchen but suits me fine. www.excellentvill.com/english/ They also have a Queen room without the balcony for slightly cheaper prices.

What I like about it is the very helpful staff, great location, and its clean.
Comes with an internet connection for free or you can pay for your own for 30,000 won or so a month.(very good and reliable) They have a free phone in the lobby that is not the greatest but it does allow free international calling which can be nice for keeping in touch back home.

Only negative I could really come up with is that the sucker is small heh. However im not so sure you will find much bigger with a decent location/price anyway.

O ya and it comes furnished with a desk, closet, tv, microwave, and bed. Only thing missing is a dishwasher.

Good luck

[ttompatz]

[PRagic]

Don't know if it's too late to post here, but here goes...

I'd strongly suggest NOT EVER going through an on-line agency. Get into the neighborhood you like and start going to all the 'budongsan'. Each office will have different properties, although there may be some repeats. In general, you'll pay a LOT less than anything listed on the web. I had friends living in a 40 pyung, 3 bedroom place a quick walk from the main road, and they were paying 1.2 million a month (split two ways) with 10 million down.

15 years here, and I am constantly shocked. Those sites are primarily for foreign business personnel coming over on a corporate dime. You'll be pleasantly surprised what you can get if you spend the time hunting around. Of course, it helps to have a Korean friend along to help. Good luck.

[discostar23]

I used near subway.com for my apartment. Couldn't be happier with both the service and apartment

don't forget you have to probably pay the real estate agent some percent of the room size n rent ( not sure how this works out).

cheers