Does anyone have the names, contact details of any real estate agents in the Taichung and Tainan areas they’d recommend? English-speaking preferred but not necessary - can stumble through enough Chinese to give it a go if they only speak Mando. Going to make a trip shortly to scout for housing in the two places, looking for something four bedroom. Thanks in advance!
use www.591.com.tw, it’s easier and less nerve wracking than a real estate agent.
I’m in Tainan and used 6mama. I found a great, spacious and clean 3 bedroom apartment for NT8000 per month. They have a few branches and each one usually has someone who speaks English. I dealt with Jason and Joe and they were very helpful, all above board etc. They even got the landlady to redecorate at no extra cost.
Here’s a link.
6mama.com.tw/root/index_en.php
Good luck 
I had a business card for a good one but I threw it away… I used 591 to find my place
District-wise…
An-nan and South are very cheap, Anping’s cheap but slowly getting more expensive, North’s reasonable, Central/West is okay too and then East is killer-expensive.
I’d say safety-wise, you’re pretty good anywhere but Central/West (hey, that’s where I live…). Well, that’s where I’d peg as the least safe. There’s a lot of scooter gangs around Fuqian Rd near the intersection with Jinhua (so near the Immigration Office). All the night clubs (all three of them!) are in or near that area, which probably adds to it. It’s got a great flavour if you’re 20-something, maybe not so cool if you have littlies.
The new residential districts in the East (on the hill, over Zhonghua East Rd, before Dongmen Rd… I hope you understand these directions, cause I can’t think of any other way to put it!) are nice and fairly safe, and there are a lot of parks/play parks around that area too. There’s some new housing out near Huayuan Night Market which looks good in daylight too, but that’s a very, VERY dark area at night.
For Taichung, it’s also important to know which area of the city you want to be in. The old downtown area is not expensive, but a bit dreary. The new downtown area is expensive (near Sogo). West is getting more expensive, but the Western edge (xi-tun) area is still good, as are the northern and southern ends (bei-tun and nan-tun). You can find a reasonable place with 4 bedrooms for 10 to 15,000/month. But Taichung is quite big and the traffic does not flow so well. If you know where you will work or study, it’s better to find a place in the general area.
If you are an outdoors person, there is also the hilly area to the east of Taichung city, called Da-ken. You can get a house there for a quite reasonable rent. Many have yards for pets and children. You can just go there and look around for red rent signs. The best deals are with people who are renting out their own houses and not agents.
That is a great web site… the 591… but I dont know any chinese and I dont have anyone to help me translate… Do you have any suggestions? Thanks…