International House Hunters: China Edition

After living in a temporary residence for almost a month to get our bearings of Beijing, we were finally ready to start the apartment search.

Despite my knowledge of U.S. real estate, I knew next to nothing about Chinese real estate and it's a bit different. One of the first things we were told by our relocation specialist was that real estate agents flat out lie -- particularly on their websites about unit pricing, just to get you to give them a call -- and that landlords are more fickle than a two year old. One minute the landlord may decide to rent his space and the next he could decide he doesn't want to, but fail to tell anyone about it, leaving the current tenant to deal with surprise guests (more on that later).

The other major thing in Beijing is that the market is ridiculously expensive. Let me repeat; it's expensive and this is coming from a New Yorker, who knows a one-bedroom can easily cost $2,500.

We're looking for a two-bedroom, two-bath, semi-furnished apartment and the places we saw ranged from under 900 square feet to a colossal 2,000-plus-square-foot duplex. Most of the kitchens don't have dishwashers or disposals (same as NYC) and water jug systems (think of the Culligan man back in the 1980s coming to your home) are quite common. Many of the places have wood or wood composite floors, wallpapered walls, railroad kitchens and built-in closets. Most of them are in decent condition, though a bit outdated, and could definitely use a personal touch.

Can the couch be recovered, please?

Each time we entered an apartment, we had to put on those shoe covers doctors wear into surgery rooms. Now, I totally respect cleanliness in a person's home, but these places, save for one or two, were empty and dirty because no one had lived in them and dust had collected. Why the need to not trek dust onto already-dusty floors? Even more amusing, each time we viewed a place the real estate agent gave us a new pair of shoe covers. I easily could've just kept the same pair in my pocket, but they insisted on throwing them out.

I particularly like the units that were facing south because the sunlight flooded the living rooms, which will be great in the winter and possibly cut down on our heating costs. Many of the windows were floor to ceiling, which was nice after living with smaller openings in NYC.

Checking out the sliding closet doors in one place, with my notebook in hand.

One unit we walked into had rust all around the bathtub, a missing shower head, a torn white couch, children's stickers on the windows and in the kitchen, one burner and pale green walls covered in oil stains. I had a mild freakout after seeing this place, because I was worried the rest of the places we would see would be just as sub-par.
 

Dark & outdated: a bedroom in one of the units we quickly nixed.

 But the most awkward part came when we walked into a two-bedroom apartment and saw a half-naked man peer out from the bedroom. Fresh out of the shower and donning a towel, he explained that no, he wasn't giving up his lease. Guess his landlord failed to tell the real estate world about his change of plans, because the building's management was still giving agents the key to swing by.

We didn't settle on anything after our first day of looking, so we're going to see a few new places and revisit some of our preferred spots later this week. Stay tuned!