Well it’s possible my aunt and uncle misread that part of the lease, or I misunderstood them. I’m a student and was planning to not file income taxes here unless I got a job.
I’m killing this deal, too many things wrong with it.
Hi guys, I just arrived in Taipei last night. Putting up at a hotel for the first 2 nights.
I have an option of renting a room in an apartment 2 mins away from Yong Chun MRT station for NT12k per month.
The other choice I have is an entire apartment to myself near An Ju Jie for NT14k per month.
I will be viewing both places later today, would love to hear any views/advices of what I should keep a lookout for and if possible, input of what you guys think of both of these locations. Thanks!
Deliriousdoll: for what it’s worth, as you probably moved into one of the places by now:
Go for the Anju jie one. 12K in Yongchun for only a room is much too expensive, 14K for an apartment sounds like a much, much better deal. Also, Anju jie is a nice area: convenient (enough to eat, plus day market), close to the MRT (few minutes’ walk), well connected to the rest of the city by bus as well. Bars closeby. Next to Heping E Rd, but not noisy. I’d definately go for that one (and if you don’t, please let me know and I’ll try to get it 
).
Hi, I’d be arriving in Taipei first week of May for work and I’d prefer to live near the Taipei 101 area as it is the place closest to work.
Do you have any leads on shared apartments? My budget is about 8k only as I won’t be staying that much inside the apartment. Also, is Daan area closer to Taipei 101? Would appreciate your inputs.
[quote=“anlui”]Hi, I’d be arriving in Taipei first week of May for work and I’d prefer to live near the Taipei 101 area as it is the place closest to work.
Do you have any leads on shared apartments? My budget is about 8k only as I won’t be staying that much inside the apartment. Also, is Da’an area closer to Taipei 101? Would appreciate your inputs.[/quote]
hello. you can try to find a suite, because your budget is ok for that.
The area is near Yongchun Metro station you can search.
Hi to you all,
I am living in Taipei since 1 month ago and i’m looking for a new flat (alone or for share) near 101 area (sun yat sen mrt would be great). I’m a 28 years old spanish guy.
Thanks in advance,
Julio
[quote=“DJ_Zulu”]Hi to you all,
I am living in Taipei since 1 month ago and I’m looking for a new flat (alone or for share) near 101 area (sun yat sen MRT would be great). I’m a 28 years old Spanish guy.
Thanks in advance,
Julio[/quote]
Check out tealit.com
Are there agents in Taipei that can help with renting a room in an apartment, rather than an entire apartment? I’m curious because I’ll have no contacts whatsoever when I arrive and speak no Chinese or Taiwanese, so something as simple as finding and understanding the address of a prospective room would be challenging. Are tealit.com and other classifieds the only resources when it comes to finding a room?
Hello,
I’m moving to Taichung on Dec 03 with my girlfriend. I’d like to find a small place to live for just the first month or two while I get a feel for the city and look for a better place to live. Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap, short-term accommodation in Taichung?
Thanks for your help.
[quote=“Anonymous”]Hey, I’ve got some advice:
No matter how good your Chinese is:
DON’T HUNT FOR AN APARTMENT BY YOURSELF, BRING A VERY SAVVY Chinese FRIEND.
I’m currently looking for an apartment in Taipei, and thought that since I can speak Chinese, and one of my Taiwanese friends gave me some advice on not being ripped off, that I was ready. I wasn’t ready.
I went to this aparment building which has a lot of empty apartments, and asked to see a few. After seeing one I liked, I decided to use my friend’s advice and bargain on the rent price…well, before I could even start, the guard who showed me the apartment said, “before I call the landlord for you, you need to know that you have to give me $3000nt for showing you the apartment, and you can’t bargain” What!!! I said, uh, isn’t this your job? He said, no, this was something else…then, I basically said no way. He called the landlord, and because he was hovering over me, I felt a little intimidated…I wasn’t ready to discuss a lower rent with her, but I did get her down to 1 month deposit. Then, he took back the phone and of course went on in Taiwanese about something…
Anyway, I used my Taiwanese friend’s tactic of saying mabye and coming back the next day…but the doorman wouldn’t call her for me saying it was “Sunday” and she wouldn’t want to be disturbed…he also wouldn’t give me her phone number! Well, I think you can figure out why…
So, anyway, I’m giving up and taking my most shrewd bargaining Taiwanese friend with me…I just can’t believe even after you can speak Chinese, they still think they can pull the wool over your eyes.
(but I’m sure there are also some very fair landlords and doormen, too)[/quote]
I am the owner of a good apartment, and I have experiences to sell, buy, and rent a apartment. The rentage is depend on the price. It means what is the down cost when the owner keeps the apartment. We will count the loan interest, asset duty, and some maintain costs. You can ask any broker about the average price of a apartment in the area to check the rentage is higher or not.
I totally agree some guards’ attitudes are bad. It means the service fee of the guard company is not high. For a good company, the guard ask money from his duty is not allowed. If he does, he will be fired immediately. Maybe you have to check his uniform to find the company’s name, then you can threaten him with calling his boss to complain him. Actually I gave some money to buy a good attitude with my clients when I asked brokers to sell my apartment.
And you can print some commercial sheets to introduce yourself about what you want, then throw into to the mailbox. Almost every owner may check maiboxes everyday. Let them easily contact you, not through the guard. Maybe you should tell the guard you just want to find a tutor’s job. You have better not to say you want to rent a apartment, because the benifits about any fixed assets are large. People always loose their mind when they are greedy.
I hope my experiences can help you.
[quote=“DJ_Zulu”]Hi to you all,
I am living in Taipei since 1 month ago and I’m looking for a new flat (alone or for share) near 101 area (sun yat sen MRT would be great). I’m a 28 years old Spanish guy.
Thanks in advance,
Julio[/quote]
I don’t know your budget. The price of any apartment near 101 is very high. It mean the rentage of the new one is higher. I kept a small new one with 3 bed rooms, two toilets. When I sold it, the price was NTD$21,000,000 in 2007 summer ( if I want to rent out, the rentage is at least NTD$70,000), but the price is higher now. I guest even to rent a apartment with one room, one toilet needs at least NTD$12,000 in a old apartment there.
I was renting a piece of s**t (pardon my expression, but I cannot find another suitable term for it) apartment next to 101 (because I work there). I was paying 30K a month for a 2 bedroom apartment that had no direct sunlight (basically, it happens almost in all the ground floors in the small alleys of Taipei).
If you happen to live in a house where you feel down all the time, better pack your things and go…
All the apartments I saw in that area at affordable prices are all in a shitty condition, so try to move a bit away from it. Although I was in walking distance to work, I found out that I couldn’t walk there because the pollution is just too much for me. I found myself taking bus/cab to office everyday, which kills all the point in living next to office…
My experience with landlords is that if you are nice to them, they “can” be nice to you (it really depends on your luck, but being nice to people is the best way to make them being nice to you).
I came back to Taiwan after some time spent home. I have plenty of friends here in Taichung where I am now, but I knew I could not stay with them, unless first few days. But they gave me a very good tip which has worked for so many people they said. And it worked for me like a charm.
I went to the real estate agencies in the area I wanted to live and told them I wanted to rent a place. They asked me what my monthly budget was, how many rooms I wanted, preferred floor, you want it furnished or not… Some knowledge of Chinese helps, but in majority of the agencies they had at least one person with some English speaking skills. The very same day I got phone calls from one and the next one I have already moved in. I am telling you, this will work just great.
There is a slight downside to this, you have to pay the agency for this, from all the experience I had and have heard about it is usually half of the monthly rent (about 5000NT), but it is totally worth it, as it spares you of all the hassle.
Many people do not like to pay the real estate agency, but I am with Sox in this one. The quality of the stuff plus having a buffer to help you with any problems that may arise, like who pays for repairs, makes it worth it.
Plus, Sox points out the most important rule: knwo what you want, where you want it and how you want it, and not settle for less. If you get cheated, you can point to the especific point where the contract/trust was breached, because it wa not what you wanted. When you “settle”, then you can’t complain about it.
Does anybody live close to Rongxing Park? How’s that area like?
I’ve been taking Toto to the doctor over there, and then we have a stroll down the park. It looks like living there would be nice, since you have many amenities, buses, and oh, that park is superb!
I like planes, but I wonder about the noise. Is it like Yuenshan? How about pollution? Away from the park, in the house, how bad does it get? Any bad areas, heise huei nearby?
Rongxing park is nice and convenient, provided that you stay on the east side of Jianguo. Just west of Jianguo is that huge funeral home with the chimney. I always have images of Auschwitz whenever I go by there and see the fume coming out of the chimney. 
[quote=“Guest”]Hey, I’ve got some advice:
No matter how good your Chinese is:
DON’T HUNT FOR AN APARTMENT BY YOURSELF, BRING A VERY SAVVY Chinese FRIEND.
[/quote]
You don’t have to pay the door guard anything. There’s no such rules.
But it’s different if you deal with an agency. Agency comission usually cost half month rental fee, but some takes one month.
But there’s lot of messages for house rental on the internet or bulletboard, I won’t take agency myself.
For internet, try yahoo taiwan, http://www.591.com.tw, http://www.kijiji.com.tw, lots ot items but all in chinese.
The deposit usually takes 2 months max defined by law.
I work in related field, contact me if there’s any question further.
My blog with information: http://islandamaz.blogspot.com
[quote=“Icon”]Does anybody live close to Rongxing Park? How’s that area like?
I like planes, but I wonder about the noise. Is it like Yuenshan? How about pollution? Away from the park, in the house, how bad does it get? Any bad areas, heise huei nearby?[/quote]
Rongxing Park area is good.
best area is the South East side near to the MRT station close to FuXing North Rd
North is ok, the noise of aircrafts won’t be a problem to me. unless you live in the front row to MinDsu East Rd… that noise will be horrible.
And forget the west side cross GynKuo North Rd coz the funeral parlor is over there.
[quote=“tsai.hugo”][quote=“Icon”]Does anybody live close to Rongxing Park? How’s that area like?
I like planes, but I wonder about the noise. Is it like Yuenshan? How about pollution? Away from the park, in the house, how bad does it get? Any bad areas, heise huei nearby?[/quote]
Rongxing Park area is good.
best area is the South East side near to the MRT station close to Fuxing North Rd
North is ok, the noise of aircrafts won’t be a problem to me. unless you live in the front row to MinDsu East Rd… that noise will be horrible.
And forget the west side cross GynKuo North Rd because the funeral parlor is over there.[/quote]
We live on the west side on Nung An and Jian Guo. Not bad. Occasional funeral. Only complaint recently is we have car wash and 豆漿店 downstairs from us that seem to make lots of noise. But it is very convenient place to live. Hardly ever hear the planes.