Hi! My family of 4 will be moving to Taipei this summer from Texas. My employer will provide us with some relocation money, but we’re planning on selling most of our belongings, including furniture. There are a few furniture pieces I’d ideally like to keep but am curious if people with more knowledge agree or if I should part with them too.
- I have my great-grandmother’s dining table set (6 chairs) that is very sentimental to my childhood. However, I’ve heard most apartments do not have enough room for a dining table.
- Our bed is very expensive and I’m high maintenance when it comes to beds due to hip problems. I’m worried about finding a good quality bed that isn’t going to more expensive than just shipping ours.
- My daughter just received a really nice modern vanity. While she can get another one from IKEA, it would not be as nice as the one she has now.
If you’re already planning to hire a moving/shipping company to send some furniture items, it won’t cost much more to send a few more items. Selling and rebuying is only cheaper if it means you won’t be needing a moving company at all as a result (booking business class can be a good way for having a large luggage allowance!).
On the other hand, cost of shipping furniture abroad seems to be somewhere between US$3000-US$10000. That will buy you plenty of IKEA furniture - and possibly pay for storage in Texas for a couple of years, too (maybe your employer would also be fine with paying for a storage unit with the relocation allowance?).
So it depends on how long you’re planning to stay in Taiwan. For a couple of years, I wouldn’t bother sending furniture at all…
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We’re planning on being there for at least 8 years and not planning on returning to the States for even longer, so I’m not looking to put things in storage. It’s either coming with us or we’re getting rid of it. I guess my other concern is I’ve heard that a lot of places are either furnished or partially furnished. I don’t want to bring furniture over and then have to use other furniture that’s already in the apartment. Im curious as to how many apartments already have a bed in the primary bedroom and a dining room table.
Unless you have a crazy rental allowance and you go for serviced apartments / short-term rentals, I’d recommend you to avoid furnished places: The furniture will usually be old, ugly and often not high quality.
Landlords will usually either put the cheapest stuff they can find into their rentals (often second hand stuff) and/or furniture that they used themselves before (or worse: that they inherited) and no longer need. Basically, they treat their rental as a storage place…
If you’re not a student (or on a really tight budget), you most likely will not appreciate what you’ll find as “furniture” in apartments in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, the same is often true for washing machines and fridges. I think the fridge at our place is older than the building itself 
It might sound crazy to those that have never experienced it, but you might actually want negotiate being allowed to throw out some of the landlord’s furniture when signing a lease…
Of course, some places might actually come with decent furniture (especially new constructions), but then there’s the issue with standard Taiwanese beds being smaller (and shorter!) than those common in Europe and the US. Personally, I don’t mind a shorter bed while traveling - but at home I’m not willing to compromise on this…
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Indeed. A lot of adult furniture here feels like it’s designed for children. Flimsy at best, sometimes even dangerous. McDonald’s used to have chairs with thin legs that would collapse if you sit on them. Even hotel furniture can be tricky. I had a couple of accidents and near-misses and now only stay in American chain hotels.