I love the positive attitude:
十個人住都沒問題喔 It’s no problem for ten people to live there
空氣好 Air is fresh
三面採光通風光線好不潮溼 Lighting and ventilation on three sides, good light and no moisture
Some interior shots…
Take a look at the floor plan and photos at what is claimed to be a 陽台 balcony…
I suppose the price is good for the size, but I wonder how much money is needed to make the place habitable.
Probably a minimum of another 5 million to make it look decent. We’re talking redoing the flooring, fixing the roof in the “kitchen” and all that. I guess you could do it for under 1 million if you did all the work yourself, or even less if you don’t care about the grungy floor and just repainted it.
I am concerned about the extension though, they are likely illegal. It means the actual size is probably half of what you see assuming the government starts cracking down.
One way to make it “better” is just get rid of the additions so some sunlight will actually come in.
This is one reason why I’m not so excited about buying real estate in Taiwan. They really all look like shit and needs a ton of work. The only ones that are good to live in are those places with security guards and elevators. Those are expensive.
Christ.
That reminds me that I’ll soon need to do my annual March ritual of looking through depressing apartment listings on 591, getting dismayed at all the horrible photos people put up (what on earth goes through these people’s minds?!) and how much money they’re asking for, and realizing I’m quite lucky with my current place despite its faults and should sign for another year.
I’m hoping that my landlady doesn’t want to increase my rent, but after five years here and judging from the prices I see online it’s probably overdue. 
60 萬/坪 seems a little high for New Taipei City. Maybe offer 20 萬/坪 and see what happens. New constructions are going for 30 萬/坪.
What you gonna do that’s gonna cost that much? It’s all tile, concrete. and maybe linoleum? Rip it out, power wash that sucker, retile, and paint. I mean, the sky is always the limit in a refurb, but as a baseline, you could probably make that sucker presentable for pretty cheap. I’ve done a to the studs refurb with all new fixtures, appliances, and trim (which this thing doesn’t have to speak of) for less than that.
The main problem with this place is that it is on the 1st floor. But, that could also be its main advantage. AC is probably expensive too. It is very small and looks like not close to MRT. And yeah that balcony area they walled up may be illegal.
This always blows my mind with rentals on 591. What’s up with all the upside-down, burry photos? Sometimes the majority of an apartment’s photos shows close-ups of stuff like a smoke detector, water machine, and some random light fixture in the lobby, but very few of the actual apartment. Those that do show the apartment focus on stuff like a bunch of the owner’s old furniture being stored on the balcony. All I can surmise is that the owner couldn’t care less about renting out the place 
Yeah, some of the ones I’ve seen were truly horrendous, like torture-dungeon-in-a-horror-movie-type stuff.
If I could speak Chinese, I’d feel tempted to call up some of these landlords/agents to ask whether the rusty old fan base or whatever other pile of shit is included in the rent or if it costs extra.
The ones with agents are the worst. It’s like… I’m supposed to pay you half a month’s rent and you can’t even take some decent photos? What’s your job again?
Which district in New Taipei has new constructions going for 30 萬/坪? The areas I know of are already much more than that.
Tamsui has new constructions for under 30 萬/坪:
But I guess we are talking about 中和. Here is one for 48萬/坪:
Edit: seems like this is 2017 so maybe it’s more expensive now
Is the whole thing a corrugated metal roof?
Just keep paying the same amount and don’t even bring it up. Let it slip your mind. 
Oh I wouldn’t bring it up of course. It’s just last year I was vacillating over whether to extend like usual and she specifically said she wouldn’t increase the rent, which implies she’d thought about it.
And from what I hear from friends and have seen online the last couple of years, my current rent (NT$21k, Zhongzheng District, 2 bedrooms, big living room, small kitchen, and not an absolute dump, 20 ping or so) is pretty reasonable.
It appears to be a first floor of a building, and the corrugated metal roof are where the illegal additions are.
I’d just get rid of the entire area built up that way to bring way more light into the rest of the house, but then you’ve reduced the effective area of your house. I got no idea what it would cost to knock down all the illegal additions.
Looks alright for a crack den.
Its alright for a local person from that area though if they do it up. Basically what my gfs family just did. Total shite hole old place, got a full make over and now its really nice. Living on the first floor is pretty convenient too
Turn it into a bbq space. Change the roof though, those corrugated iron roofs sound like shit when its raining, and they look like it too. They should be illegal.
The only reason I’d like to be on the first floor is so I can get equipment to it, but honestly it’s probably just as good to live on the top floor and I can have the equipment craned up to the roof, and as long as I don’t lock it up it should be fine.
Those corrugated roof is illegal. Actually all those additions are illegal and unless there’s an amnesty on them, it’s only a matter of time before the government makes you take them down. If you change the roof in any way they will know it (they use aerial photos to enforce this). So there’s cost to this.
We don’t know if the plumbing is in good shape. Finding competent plumber to deal with it may be a little expensive (key word is competent).
You must have a cat if you live on the ground floor though, unless you like having rats around.
New buildings always have fantasy ping and the real ping is like 1/3. Not sure about this ads
12 million for several cat boxes slapped together?
I’d rather live in a van down by the river.
Either these entitled landlords (and in @Steve4nLanguage 's vividly photographed example, sellers) are trolling us, or—and this may be more frightening—they are actually unaware of how their photos make their properties look like horrible hellholes.
Forumosans, cast your vote!
When property owners post hellish photos of their properties, they are:
Guy
You are optimistic about that. I think they are probably just waiting for all the old buildings to eventually be knocked down as the preferred way to deal with illegal additions. I’ve even seen several new ones go up without problem.
