Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joepeters]

I started looking on Craigslist about renting an apartment in Seoul, and various regions of the city. I noticed that the rent I was looking at was between 700$ to 1100$ Canadian. However the deposit was around 2.5 to 5 million won, which is considerably more than the monthly rent....obviously. Is this standard practice? Is renting on your own, without help from a job placement, a lot harder in Korea?

[wishfullthinkng]

yes, this is common practice in korea. it's called "wolsei" or for foreigners, "OMG that is so much money at one time for an apartment!"

the reason they do it is because if you give the landlord a large chunk of money in one fell swoop they can then reinvest it for the year or two that you sign the contract for, hopefully making a profit off of it. i personally think it's a great system because the more you can afford to give in key money to bring the monthly rent down the more you save in the long term. if you can bring the monthly rent down to zero you are in essence not spending any money and sheltering it from your own temptations. it however, is not an ideal system for those without any savings.

most foreigners being the transient beings they are, will never have to deal with "jonsei" or where you put down a percentage of the value of the entire apartment or house at one time but pay no monthly rent. it is typically 1/2 to 2/3 the value of the dwelling, so if you are looking at a million dollar apartment in seoul you need to put down anywhere from 500,000usd to 666,666usd, cash money.

lastly, it is not hard to find a place without assistance from a school. just pick a neighborhood you like and hit all the realtors around that area. they are usually in abundance and more than happy to take your money, err, help you find a place.

happy huntings!

[RMNC]

Yes, deposits for "key money" are ridiculous, and it's only done because "yeah, that's how it's done". Most of the time the landlords either gamble it or save it and try to earn interest off of it. It's B.S. but that's the way it works and they hold the keys.

One school offered me 10 million won for housing. Almost $9000 for a deposit? Highway robbery, I can't imagine what kind of apartment complex landlord actually thinks that he needs to have that much money on hand in case a tenant skips town.