Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pkang0202]

So, I go to a few budongsans in the neiborhood of my new school and was severely disappointed at the number/quality of the one rooms available in the area.

This is in Gwangjin-gu Seoul, around Children's Grand Park. All the one rooms had a 10,000,000won deposit with monthly rent at 500,000-600,000won.

They were maybe 6 pyong max. And, there were only 3 places available within a 5-dong area.

So, I bit the bullet and picked a place. I figured I could just move into a better place if one opened up in the coming months.

I didn't quite understand how this worked out:

1 room apartment 10,000,000,000 deposit 600,000 monthly rent
2 room apartment 50,000,000,000 deposit 900,000 monthly rent


If someone saved 10,000,000won per year, they would have to live in a crappy 1 room for 5 years before being able to afford a 2 room. That is crazy.

For 50,000,000 won, I could put down a big down payment on a 5 bedroom house in the suburbs of Virginia.

[blaseblasphemener]

[crazy_arcade]

You can't just move to a new place if one opens up. It doesn't work like that in Korea. Contracts on a place typically last one or two years.
If you want to get out of the contract it can be expensive and it might not even be possible.
Furthermore, you can't move out until they've found someone to move in.

I'd check other budongsans if I were you. Something seems not quite right.
I have a friend who rents an really nice and large studio right in the heart of Shinchon (mapo-gu). He chose one that he thought would impress the ladies and it's pretty damn nice. He has 10 down and he pays 700 (half from employer).

[crazy_arcade]

Did you sign the papers already?
Did you have a Korean (co-worker or friend there to help you?)
Did you ask about other types of places? (ie. villas)
Did you look at the places first or just pictures the budongsan had?

[bassexpander]

You have to be really careful with realtors here. Let me pass on what little I know:

1. Online sites showing photos are almost always fake. They put grand photos up to draw you into the place, and will tell you that place is gone. One place claimed to have all three apartments available, and then 30 minutes later when we got there, they had all magically been rented (but they were happy to show us others which looked like crap). We were so angry about it, we demanded to see one of the places that was sold, "just for comparison purposes." The guy was totally embarrassed, and at that point, we didn't care if he lost face or not.

2. They will always take you to 5 to 10 crappy places before showing you a good place. Prepare to spend an entire afternoon looking at garbage, and listening to them hem/haw and call around as if they're doing some huge favor finding you someplace livable that's not overpriced. That's all part of the game. I usually see between 5 and 10 places before they start showing me apartments I consider a decent deal.

3. Some properties are "shared" by computer networks with other realtors. I don't know what determines which are and aren't. It is a good idea to try several realtors in different areas close to where you want to live. Many of the gems are not shared, as the realtor knows they will be an easy sale.


Keep in mind that realtors in Korea have such a bad reputation that many families will deny allowing their child to marry a realtor or someone from a family where this is their business. Yes, they're that shifty.

Before you put key money down on a place, there is some office you can check (my wife knows this) who can tell you if the owner of the apartment owes a lot of money, and might be a risk and run off with your cash. There are also legal ways to make sure you're much more safe. She did all of that. Keep in mind, many people who own and rent apartments are leveraged to the hilt. Your deposit money is likely not sitting in some account somewhere -- it's spent, or used to pay off the borrowed money they took out to pay off the guy who just left your place.

Provided you took the proper precautions, you will get your money back eventually if there are problems (the city will force the owner to sell to pay you) but it may take 6 months to get it.

Not a nice situation for someone here a year to be in.

[Mr. Pink]

I had only good experiences with realtors in Korea. I went to see this guy, told him where I wanted to live, how big of an apartment I wanted and my price range.

I wasn't looking at one rooms or villas, but actual apartments.

The one I picked was listed with another guy. We went over and the owner of the apartment came and we did the paper work. When those guys share the work, they split the commission...

But if you think about it, since they make their money on commissions, why wouldn't they try to get those crap places rented?

[Kimchi Cha Cha]

There's always the option of skipping the realtors all together and just getting one of those newspapers which lists accommodation and going about it yourself (or preferably with a Korean friend).

My gf and her Mum warned me against using a budongsan, their reputation is that bad, and instead got a newspaper and looked around personally until I found one I liked (which would allow a foreigner to live there ).

One good thing about living in the boonies (Suncheon) is I only have to put 3 million down as key money and the rent's 300,000 for a 15 pyeong one-room downtown.

[tractor]

@bassexpander

well put. most of them are downright atrocious. you definitely have to go with a korean person who knows what they are doing.

[OiGirl]

I've always just asked friends to ask their landlords if they had any openings. What personal relationship do you have with the real estate agent? Why should they do anything to actually help you?

[ajgeddes]

I just went through all of this and just found a place last week. It's bad. The market is also bad right now. The same day I signed my contract, there was also an article in the paper about how expensive it is and how places are only on the market for a few days before they are gone. So, if you see a place you like, take it. We looked at 3 places that we liked, but wanted to think about. We called all the places back and they were all gone. One was even gone when we got back to the real estate office.

I was pretty much depressed at what was on offer for how much I had and was about to sign a contract for a place I didn't really want, but thought was okay, but I decided to look at one more budongsan before I signed my contract in the evening. Well, they showed me a great place and I took it right away. It's a little pricey, but I don't care.

[sistersarah]

looking for a place here can be so frustrating...

almost as important as shopping for good place is shopping for a good realtor. you can tell really quickly which ones are really going to help you out. while looking for our last place, we found a really nice lady realtor who did a lot for us....she knew exactly what we were looking for and would call us when something decent opened up. she was not pushy and i could tell she was honest.

we didn't end up going with her because we decided on a different neighborhood, but we got her a gift for helping us out so much.

i think you should go with a korean friend "budongsan shopping" first.

[PeteJB]

Damn that's some high prices. I live in an 18 Pyung one-room, 3 million key money and 450,000 rent including free security, water and internet service. Came with everything but a bed which was easily sorted. And even that's quite high according to Koreans I know, I just didn't wanna be going around forever trying to find a place.

I used a Budongsan, with a friend in toe. Pretty good experience to be honest, has a shifty smile but overall a nice man and only early 30's - So not quite "corrupted" as some of them older ones seem to be... It's really luck of the draw and I got lucky on all fronts. My only gripe is I'd have liked to of had a bigger place, but being a student I can't really afford that luxury of continuous searching.

[ajgeddes]

[Ilsanman]

OP, welcome to Seoul. I am glad I moved out.

I heard in some places, they count the elevator as well to make up the 'pyung' of the apartment. The real pyung-age (is that a word?) is a bit lower than they quote.

Our place is about 14, a well designed 2 room with big windows that bring in a lot of sunshine. 10 mill down, 300 a month.

[Gwangjuboy]