<- Click to filter by commenter
| 2 |
Advice Needed on Rental for Foreigners JS: As a foreigner with Chinese blood, I have rented multiple apartments and also own an apartment in Shanghai. My apartment is located in the Jingan area on Beijing/Shimen Road and rents for over 10k a month. It's only a small place (usage is appx 85 metres) but it is renovated to exact specifications that a foreigner would want... For example: 1. Full sized Washer and Dryer (that is hidden from view) 2. Full sized dishwasher 3. Full sized oven so you can bake everything that you miss from home 4. In sink garbage disposal 5. neutral color walls 6. high quality modern furniture 7. lots of storage space (this is important for foreigners cause we had to move from a big home to a small apartment!) 8. Kitchen cabinets have a natural wood finish instead of pink/red/green florescent! 9. We bribed the electric company to increase the amperes in our unit so the electric breaker wouldn't pop when a hair dryer and the A/C machine was used at the same time. 10. Built in A/C system so the ugly units aren't hung on the wall or corner of the room. 11. Soft but firm spring mattress with good back support (they cost at least 6000rmb). Most Chinese landlords buy a 2000rmb mattress and tell the tenant that hard is good. The same units in my building rent for 25% less because the landlords don't understand their target market like I do. My renovation cost wasn't that costly as I knew what I HAD to spend money on, and what was not important at all... so my place looks like a million bucks even though it didn't cost me much. As a tenant, I would research the following intangible things before I moved into an apartment in Shanghai: 1. apartment is high enough and away from traffic 2. renovations in the building have been completed (no more firecrackers or noise!) 3. neighbours are "classy" and "not nosey" 4. Use your instincts to figure out if your landlord is good or not... this is VERY important in Shanghai as Shanghai landlords tend to show up at your doorstep unannounced all the time. I preferred landlords that weren't Shanghainese. |
| 1 |
Pudong Airport Maglev in Depth Thanks for the photos and information. Goodbye Concorde. Hello Maglev. Shanghai has moved whole countries aside to become #1 on my list of places to see. |