Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ilsanman]

Our apartment contract is about up, and we're contemplating moving or not. Dealing with real estate agents seems a lot like trying to get a haggie job. Total unprofessionalism.

1. My wife found a place on a net site, and it was good with a low rent. We call the number, and low and behold, the price is different. A lot different. TRhe guy on the other end told us it's the wrong price on purpose (posted by someone else of course) to bring in interested parties. Now this guy on the othe rline can look like the honest one.

2. Some guy didn't have the key to show us a certain place. Why not come back tomorrow? The person with the key is stuck in traffic, over an hour away. We come back the next day and it's gone. Someone signed a contract last night. Without a key?

3. Some other place was great except for a lack of screens and bars on the windows (it's 1st floor, huge window). We ask the landlord if he'll put them up, even offering to pay a little more rent. The guy's nearly deaf and doesn't seem to speak any language properly, let alone Korean. Then he treats us like we're poor beggars asking for a handout. The real estate agent sides him the landlord, giving us dirty looks.

Not to mention some other lady trying to make a private deal with us, cutting the real estate agent out of the deal.

We saw a nice place but it's a bit expensive. One more place tomorrow, and if not, we're not moving. Enough of this garbage.

[roknroll]

They got a good racket going on. I wasn't aware at the time (though it wouldn't have prevented me from moving at the time) that if you break your contract, you have to pay the real estate agency's fee again! If one is putting the owner out, I understand paying until they get another tenant in or until the contract expires. But paying the RE agency again? They get another opportunity to rent it out and make their fee on the new tenant sooner than they would otherwise. The finishing paper work is the same if the contract is up, and it's included in the annual fee that one has already paid. But if you move out a few months earlier lets say, they charge you the same fee again....unbelievable.

In my situation, I had an agent who I really liked. So, it's not a particular agent in question here, but the industry. Luckily, my agent got me a good deal on the joint but I decided to get out of dodge cus it wasn't my cup of tea. The owner was able to find another tenant immediately who probablly paid double my rent (previous tenant was military and when I moved another military tenant moved in). The owner was happier than a pig in you know what as he gained quite a bit from my decision to vacate early--otherwise, he'd have been held to the year contract. So when I was hit with the fee, I thought it was for him. Then the agent explained that he was satisfied and wasn't expecting/demanding any cash (nice old guy, actually) but she required the fee again. Like I said, she's a nice lady and works hard but what the h///? So she did the paper work like she would've done at the end of the year, but now she gets double the cash.

As an aside, had the owner not found a new tenant as quickly as he did (actually another agent), then I would have likely stayed until such time as one came along, seeing I'd be paying rent anyways (keep it as a crash pad) but still be outta dodge for the work week.

Guess I can only recommend that you seek an agent who is backed up with some recommedations from previous tenants. What area are you looking in? Maybe someone knows an agent in those parts.

[benji]

Bait and switch is rampant in many areas of the Korean economy and doesnt seem to be illegal even.

[Ilsanman]

I don't have a problem with the fee thing. You can help the owner find someone (online site or the such) and avoid the fee.

You pay a real estate agent here and they act like they're doing you a favour.

[Chambertin]

Arent they doing you a favor? They all decide to charge you a service fee for charging you the monthly rate, and then add a processing fee for charging the service fee like so many lovely agents or industries do in the west.

Pathetic the lot of them on both sides of the ocean.

[bassexpander]

Oh, I've posted about this issue before:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=143299&highlight=apartment

Websites are nearly all fakes -- they bait-n-switch you to come look at their apartments. That's why most internet ads are all but worthless. We found the trick is to use the internet to find areas of the city that look good, then just park near one and blanket the entire area for realtors. In fact, they often steal photos from other sites for their fictitious places! We saw this multiple times!

I got so angry about it because we were experiencing this from several realtors. Finally we got ahold of a realtor who said that his apartments were real, so we traveled to his place. Guess what? In about 3 hours, EVERYTHING had been rented! Bologna! He was merely lying to get us to come in and see his "other" places, which were all more expensive and looked like crap. We were so mad about it, we demanded to see one of the places he still had advertised on his site -- rented or not. We thoroughly made the jerk lose face, and he eventually drove us to some apartment that wasn't really one from the ad.

Rule 1: Don't believe it when they say nothing is available in a building, because the competition down the street probably has something. Your realtor might even call around to check for something. Treat that with a grain of salt. If a realtor has a unit that he/she thinks they can rent on their own, they WILL NOT SHARE the information with other realtors. If they do, they must split commission with the other realtor. That's why you need to do the footwork yourself and visit every realtor in the area.

Rule 2: Make a list of what you expect in a place. Make sure your realtor knows what you want.

Rule 3: If possible, try to demand a place that's no older than built in 2002. After 2002, there were dramatic leaps forward in quality... don't ask me why... in apartment buildings. Something built in 1980 will cost about the same as something built in 2002 anyway. Seriously.

Rule 4: Look at a minimum of a dozen places. We looked at over 20 to find our place. No kidding. My wife about killed me, but we ended up with a sweet deal.

Rule 5: If a place close to the subway costs 100,000 more, it might be worth it (if you have to take a taxi from far away). That depends on you, but think about it.

Rule 6: If you find something you like, JUMP ON IT! It won't be there tomorrow.

Follow the rules. They work.

[roknroll]

[Ilsanman]

I have broken 2 contracts. One, we didn't pay a fee because we had valid complaints about noise and domestic violence in the building.

The other one, ourt 1 year contract was up and we renewed. 1 month later, we wanted out. We found someone who wanted it and introdiced them to the landlord. No fee.

[crossmr]

number 1 is pretty well known. You'd have to be living under a rock with your fingers in your ear not to be aware of that. Every time someone brings up renting here (which is daily) someone always mentions that the websites are fakes.

[T-dot]

It can also work in your favour though.

I signed a 1 yr contract a few years ago, but 2 days later the landlord found another tenant willing to pay the full asking price (I got a bit of a deal). The landlord and interested party paid me 1 mill (cover my real estate feeetc..) to break the contract.

I had no problems saying yes.

[PRagic]

Real Estate agents here work very much like the ESL recruiters; they want you placed so they can collect their fee. If it's not what you originally wanted, and if you have problems down the line, they don't care.