Korean Job Discussion Forums

[practiceboy]

I'm moving out of Korea in the next couple weeks and need someone to move into my apartment. It is a clean, modern studio in Hongdae, about a 2-3 minute walk from exits #4 and 5 of Hongik University Subway Station (the Green Line/Line #2). The place comes with a washer, refrigerator, wardrobes/dressers/closets, a shoe rack/bookshelf, and a gas stove. I'd be willing to sell you all the furniture in the apartment that I personally own (a twin size bed, a dining table, two dining chairs, a desk, a desk chair, a nightstand, a full-length mirror) for 200,000KRW or so - and this amount is highly negotiable.

There's a 10,000,000KRW deposit, and the monthly rent is 750,000KRW. I can move out ASAP, and I need someone to move in by Feb. 1st at the latest.

Please feel free to email me at [email protected] or call me at 010-5650-7120 at any time.

Pictures are available at: http://englishspectrum.com/new/board_.php?include=&mode=view&id=3770&lc=&sc=&mc=&gid=ACC&

[PRagic]

Wow, I haven't seen a place that small for that much in years! How many Pyoung is that? 7?

Another important thing about a place in HongDae is location. Where EXACTLY is the building, and on what floor of a how many floor building? Is there a club, diner, eatery or any business establishment in your building on any floor or in the basement? HongDae gets LOUD, and you have to be careful about your location.

Good luck. Not much for the money, but you never know.

[practiceboy]

PRagic: I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell from your post whether you were personally interested in the apartment or whether you were just offering general advice. If you're personally interested in the apartment, please contact me via email or telephone, as I'd be happy to answer all of your questions.

[PRagic]

Sorry for any confusion; not interested in the least. There was some advice in there, though, both for you as a lister and for any potential buyer.

Cheers,
P.R.

[snowgoose]

W10 mill and W750,000 is not really expensive for a place of that size with the new interior/cupboards etc, in the Hongdae area, especially if it's right IN Hongdae, and not a fair walk away. Actually, you should expect to put more down, from W20mill up, in the Hongdae area. Monthly rents would only be a little down on that, like W400,000 for a W20~30mill deposit. I have a fair knowledge of that area and rental prices, and W10mill/W750,000/mth is average for places close to the main area. You should expect that kind of price range. There are these one-room and living-tel places in Hongdae, that have lesser deposits. A lot are quite new, and modern inside, but they're like dorms - rooms fit just a bed, desk, and bathrooms/laundry/kitchen etc are communal.

PRagic - perhaps you don't know rental and real estate prices in Seoul if you are surprised by the rent on the posted plac. Don't expect a currently trendy and in-demand area like Hongdae to have the dirt cheap rents of an area like Haebangchon. Hongdae prices have been pushed up by constant and heavy demand from businesses -bars, stores, restaurants, cafes, you name it - for retail space. The area keeps getting bigger and more crowded with businesses, so landlords are converting residential housing into cafes etc, and renting it out to eager business owners who want to jump into the thriving entertainment area of Hongdae. And on the other hand, there are now these other singles and young people who want to live near or in Hongdae, not just Hong-Ik Univ. students like before, because Hongdae is so convenient, happening and is considered cool and artsy, like a Greenwich Village in NYC, that kind of thing.

Haebangchon is so cheap because it's an old and rundown area. There are other rundown areas, with similar old buildings etc, but Haebangchon and Itaewon are considered "slummy" and "bad" areas, for the poor, prostitutes and bar girls who go out with GIs, bar bouncers and pimps etc. Note: this is what many Koreans think. I get this from Koreans. And also, it's home to those who make their living the old way, that's now kind of shameful - making money serving the US army, selling crap to GIs etc. To me, it seems that Koreans think they're past that shameful lowly part of their past and that's one reason they don't like the Yongsan area. It's just a strong impression I get from a lot of Koreans, who now live very nicely, work at nice (in their minds) internationally famous Korean companies etc.

Since foreigners don't have a clue that Haebangchon/Itaewon has that stigma, they think that it just happens to have great rental prices for the space, and imagine that these other areas are ridiculously overpriced. Well, Manhattan is ridiculously overpriced. But there's no shortage of rich people to live there. Which is why it stays so astronomically expensive. But the rich prefer to live next to say, a famous actor, or businessman, than next to the girl who works in a juicy bar, or the guy who runs the "security" business for the bars, basically bouncers who are low level gang members (that's who the bouncers/security at Itaewon bars like Helios are). But foreigners aren't worried since they're usually pretty unaware, or don't care - and why would they be, it's just a temporary place to live, not raising families and living in Korean society - that they're in the bad society part of town.

But when the Yongsan area is redevoloped, it will no longer offer the cheap rents like in HBC and parts of Itaewon (which is now following the Hongdae trend -cafes etc vying to rent more and more space and landlords can then put up rents). Still, that won't be for ages yet it seems.

[PRagic]

What? I live IN HONGDAE and I've been in Seoul for over 15 years! We've lived IN and AROUND HongDae since the mid 1990s. We're in an apartment now, but before this, we were in a place right in the throat of HongDae. We had the entire top floor of a building, and that had a loft with a roof portion attached. It was a great place, but we got to the boot when the landlords' son got married.

Now, that place was well over 30 Pyoung all together (actually, about 30 downstairs and about 10 in the loft). We paid chunsae, but the rent was negotiable had we wanted that option. For those who don't know, chunsae, if done properly, can cut your 'rent' nearly in half.

And don't kid yourself. Yes, HongDae rocks, but, as I've mentioned, do you really want to live above that? Next to it? Below it? Guess I might if I were just out of school.

[Scamps]

I live in Suyu. I pay 10 million won for key money and 660,000 won each month for my studio/oneroom apartment. Everybody says I'm over-paying and I think so too...but I love my apartment! It's clean, modern, great location and gorgeous view of the mountains and city. And very cozy and warm in winter!
Oh and I also pay around 170,000 in building maintenace utilities- this part I hate because it's for things I think should be included in rent..and things I don't even use, such as parking (I don't have a car!)

[snowgoose]

[PRagic]

Anyone who has lived IN Hongdae can tell you that if you're IN HongDae, you're around clubs, huge crowds of drunks, and noise galore.

I think the criticism was fair, although it is hard for me to appreciate the viewpoint of someone who would rather spend 850 a month on a box than either go cheaper or get a room mate. Again, saving up the chunsae and then going that route is a much, much better way to go if you can swing it.

We've only been out of our 'old place' about a year. That would have rented for about 1-1.3 million depending on the deposit. MUCH bigger, much better location than the OP's offer, and with a room mate, a lot cheaper. More unique than just a polished box, too. We hit over 40 real estate places finding that, and another 25-30 or so finding out current place. And frankly, two weeks (probably weekends, in fact) will not give anyone more general knowledge of a local market than that possessed by people who have lived in and around a neighborhood for over 10 years.

For example, in Hongdae, the smaller places (one and two rooms) roll over because they're basically for students and paid for by parents, not because anyone is 'moving down'.

But get on the street and do the footwork? I agree. Life in HongDae is better across the street from the KFC? I would tend to agree, especially for those on a budget. And, hey, if you're going to look there, why not in Mangwon Dong, Hapjeoug Dong, or further up/down on line 6.

Good luck people. Rent what you will when you will, but invest the time in finding a place you like before you pay.