Housing in Beijing

Eien,

I am moving to Beijing in a few weeks, and i was just out there looking at places. Your price range should get you a nice place, about 85sqm. I wouldn't worry about something that price being "too good to be true" .

Couple things i'd advise:

1) See the place before you rent. The ad pictures can be deceiving and you'll never know what the area is like. You should be in a hotel for a couple days when you first get out there.
2) Clarify that it needs a "western bathroom" or that the whole apartment is "western style". Otherwise the bathroom, and maybe the kitchen, will be weird.
3) Depending on your preference, you may want what they describe as "24 hour hot water." Basically that means that the boiler is centrally located for the whole building, and you won't conceivably run out of hot water. Those apartments without this have a very small, usually wall mounted, boiler in the bathroom and it does not service the kitchen.


I am sure other members will have experiences of their own to contribute.

Best of luck!

Brennan

Hi Brennan,

Thanks for your input.

1) This is what I was thinking of doing. I always want to see the apartment before any payments or agreements. Just need to book times before arriving, so it would go as smooth as possible.

2) This feels like a "of course I'd do that", as there are some standards we're not going to let go of

3) Oh yeah, almost forgot these. Been dealing with only bathroom boilers in Thailand's low-end hotels and gueshouses, wouldn't like to live longer time with one.

The company said they'd also assist me in finding the accomodation. The workplace is located in Haidian, but I'm under the idea that Beijing has fairly good public transportation, so living outside that exact area wouldn't be an issue.