As the deadline for my current lease approaches, my landlord has been aggressively pressuring me to sign another one before the lunar new year. Desperate to find a better living situation, I’ve been scouring the market and 591.com for a suitable studio room. However, every option I’ve come across either lacks windows or has a depressing layout. I’m at my wit’s end and have even considered joining the jieyou and sleeping outside of Taipei Main Station because better options usually cost half of my salary. If I choose to upgrade my living situation, I won’t have any savings left for emergencies or to buy plane tickets to go back home in the near future. so right now I don’t even know what to do…How do you guys survive in Taipei?
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Can’t go wrong with rooftop apartments, the penthouses of Taipei.
Some people also consider living in Taipei County and commuting into the city.
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Maybe you have to go a bit further out ?
Our Bay Area rents are super insane
Two bedrooms are about 3500 to 4500USD in SF and about half that in east bay about 30 or 40 miles away from SF. But not in Silicon Valley where it’s the same due techies working and living there
These prices are up about 100pct from ten years ago in many places
But I don’t think income has doubled for most people
Many Californians are leaving for Idaho and Oregon etc
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I am sure they are just thrilled to have flakey hippies on their doorstep 
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The Oregonians and Idahoans and just about everyone hates Californians moving in and raising their prices
But we are being bought out by techies and millionaires from China
Where we to go ?
Taipei County
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Ok I’d go to Tsui Mama and see if I can share a room in an apartment with other flatmates. Sharing the costs is the advantage, living with other people as an adult is tricky but one has to do what one has to do.
Just don’t live with the landlord. Ever.
Other choices definitely look to New Taipei and beyond. Taoyuan perhaps. Depends on your job. What do you do and where is it located?
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Kiev
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Please no 
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What about living in Keelung and commuting in?
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the love it when they’re selling.
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You can get a decent luxury studio in danshui for like about 10,000 a month.
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I spent a year on 591 looking at places in Kaohsiung, one thing I learned was that good deals are rare and go fast. Keep looking, and I hope there is lots of time before the lease is up
It would also help to improve your income or move to another place. I wouldn’t want to live in Taipei on just my current salary. Why not look for a better job first, and then a better apartment?
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Sometimes finding a place that ticks all the boxes is tough, especially if you come from a country where decent windows and a cooking area are considered standard. It’s especially stressful when your lease is ending. It often takes a little luck, connections, and being at the right place at the right time.
Perhaps for now you can get a cheap place that you can endure for up to a year–even sharing–while you countinue to look for the perfect apartment. If you find a place you really like, jump on it and break your lease. If you’re paying lower rent for a temporary “dump” it’ll be easier to pay any lease breaking penalty, and you won’t feel bad about it because it’s a temporary place anyway.
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That’s where I was 
Make sure the door don’t got gaps
The last one I rented for the princely sum of 5000nt for a small studio on the roof of some 12 story building
Had these cockroaches the size of small birds entering the unit from the gap under the door
Scary flying beasts that air planed straight for your head
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Try to rent further out, but still near an MRT? Expand your search area.
Kentucky or China?
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Tommy, 5000 wouldn’t rent a studio in my time. I paid 4000 for a 6th floor balcony. It is so expensive now.
We used to have 8000 NTD studios here in Xindian. Not anymore. 10 to 15k is already generous.
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20k plus easily in Xindian near MRT.
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