Actually, he’s increasing rent by ten percent each month. My abacus says that in seven years he’ll be rakin’ in millions a year, and in 20 years he’ll be a billionaire. :lick:[/quote]
He meant each year.
Actually, he’s increasing rent by ten percent each month. My abacus says that in seven years he’ll be rakin’ in millions a year, and in 20 years he’ll be a billionaire. :lick:[/quote]
Did I say that. Apologies. I meant every year. 
This is a normal condition in any rental agreement I have seen back home. I always rented places and this clause was always in the lease.
I only purchased a property recently, and this is in the lease as well.
Regarding returns on annuities I have. The different funds publish growth figures annually, so it is relatively easy to see the actual returns. I do tend towards a moderately risky profile anyway.
It is not normal to add 10% rental Increase every year to eternity, IE your earning projections will be out if you believe this to be to the case. The only way that could happen is if income kept growing at a phenomenal pace or if severe inflation and currency devaluation were to occur.
South Africa is not normal, which is why some people pay 33-50% of their salaries on rent (much cheaper to buy there, although that has it’s own challenges), and why you see 1.5-2 million rand houses not too far from zero rand slums.
The country is odd. It is not the US or Australia.
South Africa is not normal, which is why some people pay 33-50% of their salaries on rent (much cheaper to buy there, although that has it’s own challenges), and why you see 1.5-2 million rand houses not too far from zero rand slums.
The country is odd. It is not the US or Australia.[/quote]
Bismark is quite correct. I have an old rental agreement, somewhere around that I will try to find.
It is extremely difficult to finance a house these days. If you want to buy a million Rand house or apartment (for this type of money it will not be great or in a great area.), you will pay around 1% a month on your mortgage. That is 10 000 rand. Now, a very average middle class couple both working will pull in around 40 000 rand combined IMO. This is then taxed, and will probably leave them with say, 32 000 rand odd. Take off another 5 000, if they are both driving and financing very average cars. Knock off another 3 000 for medical aid. This leaves them with 24 000. Drop 4 000 for food, another 2 000 for insurance and they are left 18 000. They are probably paying into a company pension scheme, so knock off another 4 000. Then take off the 10 000 for the mortgage. They are not left with much. My figures are obviously not 100% accurate, but you get the picture. Now throw a kid into the equation.
Believe what you will. Email a SA estate agent and ask for information on rental properties. Ask by what % the rent will increase every year. You will get a figure of 10% or very close.
Yes it has in the past but my point is there is a limit to this determined by income levels. People can’t pay what they can’t pay. South Africa is no different than anywhere else on this.
Let’s look at compound interest on 10% annual increases.
5 years - 160 (+0.6 times current rent)
10 years - 260% (+1.6 times current rent)
Since people are already stretched there and wages haven’t kept up with inflation it is more likely there will be a levelling off of rents within a few years. The rent rises certainly couldn’t go on for more than a few years without some type of currency devaluation or extreme economic success.
This should be anticipated ahead of time.
Estate agents are the worst people to get information off. They will always try to look on the positive side of the argument to make a sale.
Possibly, who knows.
I rented my first apartment in 1993 and my last in 2009. In every lease there was the standard 10% a year increase, bar none. When the rent imo got to expensive, I simply moved to a cheaper place.
[quote=“bigduke6”]Possibly, who knows.
I rented my first apartment in 1993 and my last in 2009. In every lease there was the standard 10% a year increase, bar none. When the rent imo got to expensive, I simply moved to a cheaper place.[/quote]
Here’s a chart of the SA CPI inflation rate from the early 90s to July 2012. From 1993 onwards, only 4 spikes peaked over 10%. So what you’re describing is an increase in your rent from 1993-2009 of 360% over 16 years. Over this time period inflation didn’t even average more than 6.5% per year, but according to BigD6 landlords still extracted 10% more each passing year for almost two decades.
It must be difficult to make an average middle class living in a country where inflation is running rampant and wage growth is low, and landlords subjugate the renter-class by financial repression and exploitation.
Real GDP per capita only grew 32% from 1993-2009, but real rents increased by 255% after adjusting for inflation. (Inflation adjusted by 105% over 16 years) Source: inflation.eu/inflation-rates … frica.aspx
So maybe SA is different. But it’s still a bug in search of a windshield imho.
I have never heard of anywhere in the world a renter would pay a contracted 10% extra per year , that is extortionate. Moving to another place couldn’t work if everywhere is going up aswell. Anyway I would guess there will be payment problems due to this unstable system, you wouldn’t want to bank your mortgage on this.
Well, I am lucky I have no mortgage. 
[quote=“SillyWilly”]It must be difficult to make an average middle class living in a country where inflation is running rampant and wage growth is low, and landlords subjugate the renter-class by financial repression and exploitation.
So maybe SA is different. But it’s still a bug in search of a windshield imho.[/quote]
Yes, which is why I said, South Africa is one of those countries where it really makes more sense to buy than to rent. And if you don’t like that, or can’t afford either, you’re free to go live in a township. It’s as simple as that really.
As most don’t want to live in a township, they either move to or buy in a less desirable suburb, or cut back on other expenses.
But you are right about something, and I’ve also thought about this (how rent and property prices can be so high in a country with so much poverty), and that is that at some point something is going to have to give.
Its not repression or exploitation.
Part of the problem is getting a non paying tenant out of your house or apartment. It requires a 2 part court application, which can take a year.
Lawyers do not come cheap in SA, not sure if they do where you come from?
The municipality needs to be notified. Municipal offices are not the fastest when dealing with an issue.
You cannot enter into a lease with a natural person for more than two years.
On top of this, the tenant can give two months notice, anytime during the lease period.
The landlord is entitled to damages, but to what amount still needs to be determined by the Gov.
I just joined the forum and these are my thoughts.
Teaching at the cram schools for the rest of your life is a curse itself, except you met some very nicer owners, fair, humane, and somewhat cultured. But then, they’d probably be out of business if they were like that. Teaching at schools or universities may bring you a better social position and guanxi, plus the facilities, weight room, library, office etc. Some universities provide dorms at school. I used to know someone teaching at a national university in Nantou, and he has a piano in his apartment. Those who don’t may subsidize your rent. I wouldn’t worry too much about the rent if I were somewhat competitive, like having a certificate or a Master’s in the field.
I think it’s fun to just join a random cram school and “casual teach” when you are in your early 20’s, with no family or mortgage. However, an older foreigner living in Taiwan, teaching English at cram schools to support his family sounds pathetic. It’s good if you don’t care what others see you, but imagine you teach kids with the idiotic text books year after year. You either have to love those poor-mannered brats, or you’ve become numb to whatever you are doing.
NT 60000 and more if you do something else on top of teaching, like editing or tutoring is good income in Taipei, and very good income the rest of Taiwan. You should be able to save 10K or 20K a month if you make an effort to. I’d just get more work if I want to spend money on something like traveling or dinning.
If you are getting older getting work is not the problem. Have you established a retirement fund? Invested some extra money? I know many teachers in the 40-60 year old range. Some have done nothing, supported their wives for many years and have nothing for retirement. One guy I know has the option to go live in an aboriginal village if his elderly life gets too hard. A few guys have businesses with their wives along with real estate, is it in their wives names. Is it foreign owned? I don’t know. I know a couple guys with politician wives, no worries money wise unless they get divorced. Very few teachers have I met that actually take that low tax rate and put it into some type of retirement. It should be happening but when people aren’t forced to do it they just figure life will be okay. Some foreign teachers here have invested in other businesses, opportunities, etc… Some leave and go to Southeast asia buy some real estate, invest in business, or whatever and are good to go. Some are just hanging outside the 7-11 pickling their livers and they won’t be around to worry about it.
The big difference I have noticed since coming back to Taiwan ( I am in a small city) is that the better schools are demanding experience, they don’t want the newbs but they are also demanding more while providing less hours. How is that going to be in 10 years? Probably not good but if people are here for that long they should be making other plans. The late 20 to 30 year olds I know are going back getting teaching certificates and getting jobs in International Schools. If you want to be a long term English teacher I really suggest going back to your homeland get the certificate and get a job anywhere. Western wages in a 2nd or 3rd world country can make for a comfy retirement. Most of the time people who get their certificate don’t come back to the wan. Long term, English Career will be less or the same money with much more work. Your wages may stay the same but you won’t see them go up. Of course, that can be relative, if you are driven and aggresive you may still get some decent wages but that takes a certain type of person which usually isn’t part of the old English teachers who live permanently in Taiwan Group.
I dunno, I live a pretty good quality of life, had a job at the time of this thread paying 65000NT/month, lived in Daan with two cool roommates, a dog. Did one semester of Chinese class MTC and met with tutors to continue my studies. I didn’t own a scooter but visited home once, visited Thailand, Kending, Lanyu, weekend adventures to the north coast, Toucheng, Reifeng, Jiaoxi, Wulai. Not every weekend and I’m referring to a two year period. It was a salaried job with between 22 and 27 teaching hours. My rent was 10000 NT/mo and I was careful to take half my pay each month and put it right in the bank, didn’t touch it. After three years (my first year was at Kojen, didn’t save too much while working there earning between 45000 and 52000/ month) I had saved $23,000 USD. Really stressful sometimes, pretty relaxed at others. I had blazing fast internet. We cancelled cable, YouTube sufficed because I didn’t want distraction from taking my dog places, studying Chinese, or exercise. Went to gyms, yoga classes and went out drinking occasionally. By year two though I was only going out drinking once every two months if that. Many evenings I just wandered about the city with my dog, 7-11 beer and my Taiwanese girlfriend. Gosh what a wonderful life. As far as food goes there were healthy vegan places to go that were pretty cheap, even more healthy was just eating fruit from local fruit stores and shopping at grocery stores and preparing my own meals. The experiences I read about on Forumosa are so depressing, they contrast the reality I and my two roommates had. I desparatley want to go back. I have lots of career opportunities here even succeeded at my life long dream… but in the US but I’m just miserable. I was 25-28 during my tenure in TW 2009-2012.
Why doe schools want candidates with APRC and JFRV? So that they stay longer than 1 year at the school?
In general, it’s so they don’t need to meet the standard criteria for hiring foreigners. In some cases (like kindergartens, or cooking schools until recently), they simply can’t meet those criteria.
It seems rental increases nationally average 5-6% over the last few years. The rand is highly volatile so maybe hard to gauge real rate of increase.
They are more stable and don’t need to apply for work permits for them.
Male, 39, Married, 1 Child, APRC holder, bachelor degree and a home owner. I make 84,000 NT a month at a private bilingual school teaching elementary from 8am to 5pm. My wife works and makes half as much as me. Together we are able to pay all of our bills, live debt free other than our housing loan and put away 30,000/month into savings.
It can be done. I do not work myself to death. I punch in, teach, grade and plan during my non-teaching hours. Then I punch out at 5 and go home. No extra tutoring or buxiban work. Family time is important to me. I live a modest life, nothing too fancy. My house is the fanciest thing I own and I bought it as an investment. Your home should be your castle. But other things I don’t splurge on. No clubs, no nightlife. That is all behind me now. I still have time to have a hobby and hang out with friends and family.
Taiwan has been good to me. Having that APRC, keeping my head down, nose to the grindstone at work and taking my job professionally has enabled me to move upward when changing jobs. I started at a modest family run Buxiban 11 years ago and have always moved upward. I am happy where I am at and do my best not to compare my life here with what it could be somewhere else. The grass is always greener on the other side until it isn’t.
No teaching job on this island is perfect. They all have pros and cons. All schools are businesses here, you must come to terms with this fact in order to survive. Your job is to keep the parents happy and not make trouble. Teach, try to have fun with the kids, keep your head down and you will be treated fairly 90% of the time. If you get cheated, move on to the next job, there are plenty.
University teachers make less than I do and perhaps a few make more. Only the very rare 1% earn more than 85,000 NT a month at one single teaching job. To put anything higher than that in your pocket, you will need to take on additional jobs.
You can live comfortably here. Learn the language, accept the culture, forget about any notion of greener grass, take up a hobby, make a few friends and enjoy your life on the island.
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