How to find an apartment?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
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#1

Hello all,

I’ve already read and benefitted from a lot of your posts about life in Taiwan. I am hoping you can shed some light on my current conundrum.

We (my boyfriend and I) arrived in Hualien two days ago. We’d like to stay here for 3-6 months, and we’ve now spent a couple of days looking at “apartments” available for short-term rental. All of these have been just one room, without a kitchen, and quite small. We’d like to move into a real apartment, i.e., one-two rooms+kitchen.

Will it be possible to find something like this? Should we expect to sign up for a one-year lease if we want an actual apartment? Will we be able to do this without a work visa/permit?

We’re able to pay up to 15,000 TWD/month.

Any advice appreciated!

Marianne

#2

check out 591. its a website that does rental properties. it’s all in chinese but many browsers can offer automatic translations or maybe you can ask someone to help you translate. it’s gonna be really hard to find someone who’s willing to do a short term lease however not impossible. because you dont have a work permit, landlords are hesitant because they think they wont get paid. perhaps you could pay the first three months upfront to show them payment isnt an issue. 15000 for an apartment with a kitchen is rather easy to find because rent in hualien isnt as high as taipei but i’m guessing a 1-2 bedroom will be quite a stretch!

#3

Thanks for this. The 591 website seems to have more relevant options than other websites I’ve visited. We’d be ok to pay some of the rent up front for the right place. I guess we’ll just need the right combination of patience and luck…

Thanks again.

#4

Are you a member of Couchsurfing.org? Right now there’s this topic—short term rentals in Hualien—being discussed on the Hualien City message board and some locals have given some information.

Here’s the link to the topic, but I’m not sure if you’ll be able to read the messages if you aren’t a member, but you can always join for free: https://www.couchsurfing.org/n/threads/hualien-city-taiwan-hi-guys-im-planning-to-travel-to-hualien-in-april2014-for-a-month-maybe-its-too-early-to-ask-for-renting-a-place-but

#5

And airbnb:

airbnb.com/
airbnb.com/s/Hualien-City-- … F21%2F2014

#6

Thanks both.

We’ve been looking through Airbnb and may end with a temporary solution from there, but we’d like to eventually find an actual apartment.

Marianne

#7

[quote=“Icon”]And airbnb:

airbnb.com/
airbnb.com/s/Hualien-City-- … F21%2F2014[/quote]

Uhmmmm airbnb? does it have good deals?

#8

One more thought: Thursday 2/27 will be Trivia Night at The Salt Lick, an American BBQ restaurant here in Hualien City. There should be many expats there with years of experience living in Hualien; they may be able to point you in the right direction. At the very least you can meet some people and have some good food.

Their address is 147 Zhong Shan Rd. 中山路147號

#9

Ah, that’s great! We’ll definitely check it out. Many thanks, Marianne

[quote=“Steve4nLanguage”]One more thought: Thursday 2/27 will be Trivia Night at The Salt Lick, an American BBQ restaurant here in Hualian City. There should be many expats there with years of experience living in Hualian; they may be able to point you in the right direction. At the very least you can meet some people and have some good food.

Their address is 147 Zhongshan Rd. 中山路147號[/quote]

#10

I did this in Yilan two years ago. The trick is to pretend that you’ll rent for a year. Then after a few months it’s zaijian! Yes, you’re being a total dick but it is the local way of doing it. The key is to check that you have a low early termination fee. The lowest will probably be a month’s rent. Getting a shorter lease is generally impossible I would say.

#11

Hi all,

Just wanted to post an update. We were actually able to find an apartment to rent for six months, which has several rooms, a kitchen, and is within our budget. We’re a little bit on the outskirts of town, but so far we like the neighborhood. We found the place through 591 website–I’d started just sending a flurry of emails to all potentially relevant posters each morning, and eventually a few people speaking English and willing to rent short-term got back to us.

Thanks for your help!

Marianne