Korean Job Discussion Forums

dvs · Joined: 10 Feb 2008 Location: seoul

Dear Teachers of English:

Some apartments can go "cha-ching." This is one of them.

It is very close to an elementary school and a high school known for producing the country's leaders. Most of the people in this neighborhood are here because they want their kids to have access to these schools. Right out the back door is I'Park, an apartment complex teeming with rich families.

Finding students could be as easy as riding the elevator or just walking around and smiling.

So, is this apartment more than most teachers pay? Yes.
Might it be worth it to an couple of enterprising souls? Yes.

Can you see pictures of the apartment with a cute dog providing scale? Yes.

http://seoul.craigslist.co.kr/apa/1179803563.html

email: tesslerdavis(at)hotmail(dot)com

crossmr · Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul

I've seen this advertised here somewhere else already once. The forum is slow enough without you doubling up.

phoneboothface · Joined: 26 Apr 2009 Location: Korea

You shoulda put the dog in the bathroom to keep with the theme.

If I was rich I would move there. Sorry.

Robot_Teacher · Joined: 18 Feb 2009 Location: Robotting Around the World

Largest deposit I've ever seen on renting an apartment. That's like $40,000 US! At home we typically just pay a deposit equal to one months rent which is plenty hard enough. If we had huge deposits like Korea, no one could rent and we be living out of pup tents and cars. How in the world does an average Korean pay it? Guess they have to pull out a special key money loan from a bank.

crossmr · Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul

ChinaBoy · Joined: 17 Feb 2007

Ryst Helmut · Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 10:21 am Post subject:

Enjoy.

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

dkoryo · Joined: 28 May 2008 Location: Seoul, Korea

phoneboothface · Joined: 26 Apr 2009 Location: Korea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost

I didn't know this was even up for debate.

Even if you decided your money was safe with the landlord, you miss out on so many other chances to invest that money.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

The investment crowd always assumes two things.

1. You're so rich that you can afford to just throw all of this money into some investment yet still have money to live in some other apartment (and yes, some people don't want to cram their entire family into a 1-room).

2. The typical teacher has enough money to buy. I've got a clue for you: A typical 3 BR apartment in Seoul costs 400,000,000 and up. And you'll need 50 to 60 percent to buy, plus loan costs, interest, etc..

You got that kind of coin? Go for it, then... buy.

Of course, you can buy or rent a cheaper place, but again, how many teachers have the dough to do that?

By the way, a year ago one of you berated me for not investing in the stock market -- bragging about how you made XX% so far that year. Interestingly, that bullish talk stopped around last Fall. Sure, now it has a chance to go up again, but I wonder how much you've got to make up now?

In any case, my point is that you're assuming all investments will be positive. They're not.

kiwispanker · Joined: 10 Mar 2009

i'd rather invest my 50 million myself rather than have some landlord do it for me. living in a modest apartment with funds in the bank seems a lot more secure than living in a premium high-rise. furthermore, if i would desire teaching more students, it's as simple as putting up a small banner in those rich apartment buildings; you don't have to live in one.

p.s. i like riding elevators Cool

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

broken76 · Joined: 27 Jan 2008

The money put down as a deposit will deduct 10% of your rent. Bigger the deposit lower the rent. So as far as opportunity costs go you'll need to find something with higher than 10% annual returns to equal the deposit which is difficult for the average person to do.
The main reason for the high deposit is that lease laws make it very difficult to evict someone so if someone misses rent payments it's taken out of the deposit.

movybuf · Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Location: Mokdong

50 Million key money is NOTHING here. This place still charging 1.55 million a month for rent is insane, though. If I ever had enough money to buy a place here, I would market the rental toward foreigners, who shell out this kind of money on monthly rents.

50 million is the low end of key money if you want to move into an apartment, as opposed to a villa or officetel. 50 million could get you a relatively large villa at less than 500,000원.