Jul 26, 2020

In this episode of the Millennials in China podcast Hope and Chris share advice for apartment hunting in China (mostly Shanghai). Renting an apartment in China can be an extreme sport with many hurdles and scams to navigate, but don’t fret because your hosts are here to expose all the tricks of the trade, including what you should watch out for when dealing with rental agents and Chinese landlords. If you are moving to China, this episode will save you headaches and probably lots of money.

Show Notes:

• Initial steps to take when moving to a new city in China and looking for apartments.
• Low budget apartments in Shanghai - shared accommodation.
• Best platforms to find apartment listings in Shanghai, and common sales tricks by rental agents.
• When renting in China, you will almost never interact with a landlord directly - whether you like it or not, you have to deal with middlemen.
• Advice for taking over leases directly from other foreigners who are moving out of their apartments.
• Rent payment structures in China - more deposit upfront or more months’ rent paid at once?
• Typical amenities in rental apartments and the big difference in quality between apartments targeting foreigners and those targeting locals.
• Always DYOR (do your own research) and check everything thoroughly.
• Hope’s story of confronting an agent at their office to reclaim a rental deposit that the agent refused to give back.
• Crazy rental terms in third tier cities - Chris’ experience of renting an apartment that asked for a full year’s rent upfront!

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/millennials-in-china/id1503870294

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MwEJZnnZ2sNWje7wP0GaW?si=tWqgkgwoQCueTrEfeI3-6g

Listen on Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cDovL21pbGxlbm5pYWxzaW5jaGluYS5jb20vcnNz

Listen on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm6jqVbJ1SR_g9iTLFxyF1g

Podcast Website: http://millennialsinchina.com

Podcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/millennialsinchina

Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/MillennialsCN

Chris' Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisWood1821

Hope's Twitter: https://twitter.com/hope_freiheit

Hope’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/hope_freiheit

Hope’s Website: https://hopefreiheit.com