Beijing Accommodation - Help!

[gallers]

Hello everyone. I'm starting at Tsinghua university in September, and I currently have nowhere to stay. I was trying to do a homestay, but I was going through Chinahomestay.org - an infamous website around here, it seems, as they're either a group of cowboys or scammers. Can't decide which. Anyway, it's now less than 3 weeks until I fly (Sept. 3rd), the halls are fully-booked, and so I'm looking into either continuing with my plan of doing a homestay, or for shared apartments. There's a lot of info on these forums, but I was hoping that some kind soul could give me some specific links or other ideas.

Also, my Chinese level is 'beginner', so English-speaking landlords and English-language info is a must at this stage. As I'm self-supporting, low prices would be well-appreciated.

Thanks to all! See you in a few weeks!

Gallers.

I realise that this is retreading old ground, but I'd love some specific info that I don't have to trawl through the forums for.

[roddy]

Unless you can come up with some actual specific questions so we know what actual specific info you want, I can only suggest this.

What went wrong with Chinahomestay? Might be helpful if you stuck a post in the existing topic.

[gallers]

hey Roddy, thanks for the reply.

I'd be grateful if people could:

- supply links to reputable homestay companies/organisations that don't cost too much;

- supply links for or email addresses of landlords or agencies that I can find accommodation through (at student prices);

- offer any general advice about the apartment/homestay search (or relevant links to threads on here), such as what to look out for, what questions to ask?

I would do this myself, but I have to work everyday till Sunday, so I'm all for taking short-cuts.

As far as Chinahomestay.org are concerned, if you could provide a link to a relevant thread, then I'll happily contribute. I found their service incredibly amateur - perhaps I've been spoiled by living in Japan, but I think standards should be applicable across the board.

Thank you all for your time.

[roddy]

Have this one for free, for the rest I refer you again to the search function. Someone else might be more generous though.

[gallers]

nice one.

[roddy]

Ah, why don't I try to be generous.

Only homestay org I can think of that's had good reports is Lotus - have a search. Not sure they're cheap though (to be honest you can't expect an organized homestay to be cheap, you're by definition adding in a middle man).

Agencies, the big chains are 我爱我家,链家地产, probably others I've forgotten. The ones around Wudaokou may have English speaking staff, a lot of their business will be foreign students. Don't expect to get much attention from them till you're actually in town though. There will be any number of other smaller firms as well.

[gallers]

Roddy, top man.

another question I had (but forgot) was about prices, and how much you'd expect to pay for a one bedroom flat? ballpark figures are fine. as for locations, I have no idea. close to the university? around 30 minutes from it? an hour from it? my current geographical knowledge of beijing is limited, unfortunately.

Thanks in advance ... I know you're feeling generous!

[kongli]

From my limited, but very recent, experience finding housing in Beijing, renting it out, and finding another house (don't ask why) you can expect to pay 3,000 and up for a nice one bedroom apartment in a 小区 （apt. complex). That includes a kitchen and bathroom. These apartments are also pretty new, 2005. and are considered expensive places to live. If you are willing to have a communal kitchen and bathroom and just want to rent a room then you could get a room for around 1,000 a month.

Or, you could find a couple people with whom you could rent an older apartment. In that case you can also expect around 3,000 and up for 50-60 square meters with kitchen and bathroom. These apartments (again, only from personal experience) are all going to be older. Like 96,97. Think classic block dorm housing.

Basically it depends on how nice of a place you want to live. and location. The location you are looking at is more expensive than other areas in Beijing. So you could look farther away but you would be sacrificing time for money.

The companies that Roddy listed are both known as 中介公司 (zhongjie gongsi), they are real estate agencies that will help you find housing. Some of them will require a fee, while others will not. Basically, if they require a fee (usually around 80% of the first months rent, they will try to make you pay full but you can negotiate) then they are renting the house to you at the price the landlord wants it rented at it. If they don't require a fee, then either the landlord is paying the fee to them OR they have increased the rent price ( e.g. you give them 3,100, they take the 100 and give the landlord the 3,000).

This type of companies are everywhere and it usually doesn't make much of a difference which one you choose because lots of them 'cooperate' with each other anyway, so prices are very similar across the board. However, it is usually better to go with a bigger, more well known company.

However, the best thing to do it to contact the landlord directly. But yea good luck with that. Most of the postings you find on the internet will say 'rented out by individual owner' but upon calling you will quickly discover they are in fact a real estate agency.

Some agencies will have you sign the contract with them, others with the landlord. Always try to sign with the landlord.

Hope this helps. Please know that real estate prices are extremely expensive in Beijing as compared with other cities in China. Others might say this is a bit of an exaggeration. it isn't.

[ksl0588]

Same here, having problems with finding an apartment I cant seem to find any apartment that allows 3month rent only

[gallers]

Kongli: thanks for the post, lots of useful information. I'm still thinking about doing a homestay initially, and then roping my family in to helping me find an apartment. I have a (now 2 years old) residents guide to beijing, and it states that certain areas have apartments from 1000 (wadoukou and a couple of others that have slipped my mind), so I'm hoping that it's correct...though I'm more inclined to take your word regarding the prices. Do you think that 3,000 is pretty standard for most areas? 我爱我家 listed a number of places from 1,000 (photos of the interior seemed noticeable by their absence).

I would be up for sharing, however, so I'll be keeping my eyes open for adverts.

[kongli]

It really depends on what you're looking for.

For a 1000 kuai you could rent a 民房. That would be a really, really small room and you would have a shared bathroom.

Otherwise if you are looking for an actually apartment (I.E. One bedroom, and kitchen, bathroom) I would say their is no way you are going to find anything lower than 2，500 in Wudaokou area.

Here is a link to listings of one bedroom apartments in Wudaokou area. http://bj.ganji.com/fang1/wudaokou/h1/

As you can see, not really anything around 1,000, except for a couple basement apartments, but they most definitely don't have their own kitchen and bathroom. Most likely you would share this with 3-4 others.

Just make sure to look around a lot. Their will be a lot of pressure by the companies for you to sign a contract but make sure you have checked out all of the options before deciding.

Another option is just to find an area that you like and then ask the zhongjie gongsi around the area if there are any places to rent.

How do you intend to find a host family?

[ksl0588]

Anyone know any apartment in Wudaokou area I could rent for 3 months? Dorm is not an option anymore because its mostly full or is really expensive..

[roddy]

The only way you're going to get a three month apartment rental is by paying extra for the landlords extra hassle in having to rent it out again, and by paying a great big agency fee - they're not going to let you pay 25% just because you're staying for 25% of a year.

Your other options I guess are the serviced apartment providers, or a negotiated long term stay at a hotel.

None of those options are likely to work out cheaper than dorms.

Or you might get lucky with a sublet - find someone whose roommate has done a runner and will accept a short-term rental to get the rent paid.

[gallers]

thanks for the info again. I'm looking for a homestay on the internet at the moment, through Lotus education and also http://www.homeinchina.org/homestay.html

I've been emailing both companies, though they're fairly slow at responding. I don't want to be a live-in teacher, however, and on the latter's chinese website they say that I'd be teaching 5 hours a week (i think, as i used the online translator) http://www.newyorkenglish.cn/homestay.html

not really down with that, though it's around 2000yuan a month, which you can't argue with. Lotus education is more than half that a week.

[gallers]

yeah, the dorms are all full at Tsinghua. In retrospect, I don't think they're that expensive, if you get in early enough. If I can get my homestay sorted, then I'll do that for a month or more, and then look for an apartment for the remainder of the year. There must be tons of places out there, it's just a case of looking. Unfortunately I don't speak any chinese as of yet, so hopefully any homestay family that I do find will be able to help me there.

I would be up for sharing, however. I clean, cook, and don't make much noise, if anyone's reading ...