After reading lots of the past posts, I got some great leads on how to find a place to rent. I did as some had suggested. To try Master Realty www.mtr.com.tw and I have. They are very professional and have layouts with pics of the apartments from which can choose the ones you’d like to see in person. Then they’ll take you there. They provided the transport.
At this point, I need a little help in negotiating the rent. I know that everything is negotiable, and I want to hear from your experience what is the average price per ping in Taipei city? and what is the expected bargaining range (10-20% of quote?) I’ve read NT$1000 per ping back when oriented still had a website, but don’t know if that still applies.
So, what would a 34 ping apartment rent be, fully furnished in a good district in Taipei? I am seeing quotes of up to 47,000 and don’t know if this is a fair price! What is your take?
That depends on the location, condition/age of the apartment and if it’s furnished. Brandnew places are hard to get hold of and usually are more expensive.
I usually managed to get 10% of the quoted price. Actually my boss’ wife managed that.
For my current apartment I managed to get 10k off and furniture thrown in (initially the owner wanted to rent unfurnished). Guess the landlord agreed in the end because I promised not to use the kitchen.
If it’s old - no (I wouldn’t pay more than 25k). If it’s new (1-3 years) this price is normal but fair would be - IMHO - 30-35k only.
I pay now 40k for a 40 ping fully furnished apartment (according to local definition) which is only partially furnished (based on my own understanding), it’s an old building but the place is completely renovated inlc. new floor, doors, windows, appliances, furniture etc. Have been told that price is very reasonable for downtown Taipei.
Some real estate agents showed me apartments in a brand new building for the same price but much smaller (~25 pings). Or if you want a similar size it’s going to cost you. There seems to be a lack of new 2 bedroom apartments in Taipei, most I have been shown are small (1 bedroom or studios) or huge (4 bedrooms) - inbetweens are quickly taken.
I have also used MTR before - ask for the Japanese style apartments on Linsen North Road, usually they have some nice places there for fair prices.
The building is IMHO only 3 years old and is conveniently located (bus, MRT, 24h supermarket, McDonalds etc.). Since it’s in a side lane it’s also quiet and if you manage to get an apartment high up you can have a nice view, too (city or mountain view). In case you haven’t guessed it yet I used to stay there but because it was only one room (16 ping) I moved earlier this year to something bigger.
Can you be more specific? Got any pictures? If the place is in HsinYiChu and the furntiture is great and the place has marble or wooden floors, etc., then that price might be considered a bargain. If it is in a 10+ year old building without an elevator (no matter how nice the neighborhood) then it isn’t worth it. There isn’t a real strict rule about pricing of rentals. It is more strict when it comes to homes for sale.
Yeah, if outside of Taipei it’s considerably cheaper. Had an offer for a nearly new penthouse (2 floors) in HsinTien at 32k, size was around 30-35 ping, but it was too far to work for me.
Yes, here in ShiJr it is cheap. There are places in FuJi Shan Zhuang/OuZhou Lian Bang here where I live on Da Jian Shan (the big mountain nearby HsinTaiWu Rd, opposite side of the valley from Lotus Hill) that are total expat paradises with central air, 3 to 4 floors and some roof decks, fully furnished, French fabric on the walls, free parking or your own private garage, BIG western sized oven for baking, two door refrigerator with ice cube and water dispenser, huge gorgeous pool and tennis and basketball courts in the community and all of this up in the mountains with a view of the entire city of Taipei (cooler up here in the Summer too with cleaner air) and on most days I can see all the way to LinKou in one direction and Keelung in the other direction. All of this with heated floors for your winter comfort as well as multiple balconies. What else did I forget, the furniture is quite nice and the walls have padding and fabric on them (I think some kind of European thing?). This place also has excellent insulation. I turn off central air, leave the house and come back 6 hours late and the place is still cool. Anyway, I have heard that the rental price of these town houses are now down to between NT$35,000 ~ NT$45,000 for 50-70 pings.
Four or five years ago, we rented here for NT$60,000 for a lower unit with garage, the upper units went for $70,000 but now they are all the same price.
You can also rent a whole house although with all of the luxuries as mentioned about but with access to the same pool and also with a yard and garage. I rented a 90 ping house that was only less than 10 years old and had never been lived in for NT$35,000.
If you want to live outside of Taipei I would suggest you buy a car. With a car it takes me only 20-25 minutes to get to Warner Village, 15-20 minutes to Neihu and only about 30 minutes for any other place in Taipei via the three highways that meet in ShiJr.
Just curious, Hobart. Do you rent or own your place?
The places you mentioned sound great. But it seems as if many people over at Lotus Hill are having the rug pulled out from underneath them (in other words being told to move because an agent wants to sell the place, in some cases).
I know that this could happen in any part of the city, too.
Anyway, it sounds great out where you are. Any drawbacks? And how reliant are you on your car or motorcycle?
We own, I guess it is pretty obvious the way I am selling the place, however, I am in not biased, it really is a great place. If you rented you would either rent from one of the owners here, or the construction company TaiPingYang.
Regarding the Lotus Hill thing, I know nothing about that. But it could happen ANYWHERE and it happened to me here, that is why I decided to buy. I was sick of moving around anyway.
Thanks for the information everyone. It turned out that the apartment that I liked has already been taken. I saw it Saturday and it was gone the same day. It was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 34 ping place right next to the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel on Dunhua close to HePing. the building is close to 10 years old, but the inside was nice. It went for 45K.
I found out today that if you liked a place, you can have mtr hold it for a day for consideration. Once again, chalk one up to poor communication. Now its back to pounding the pavement until another nice apartment presents itself.
I know rent is much cheaper outside of Taipei, and the community facilities mentioned earlier is very enticing. But the significant other requires Taipei central.
The broker fee, if I do use MTR will be half of one month’s rent. Is that the norm?
I was told yesterday by a neighbour that ChinaTrust has sold almost all of its rental units to Taiwan High Speed Rail. Apparently Taiwan High Speed Rail wants to use the units for its foreign engineers and their families. If your landlord is not ChinaTrust, you should be ok. ChinaLife Insurance is my landlord, and they say I still have “years” before they intend to sell. We’ll see about that. :?