Ya, suure. I just mean you dont need to be paying taipei prices for that…
I saw an 18 ping apartment near (a ten min walk from) Zhongshan Jr. High going for almost 1 million USD. It was really bright an airy with two small balconies, but you could get something like that in Manhattan for half as much or it’d have a designer kitchen with all wolf and subzero appliances at that price. (this one has a micro kitchenette by my standards the total value of everything in the kitchen, from countertops to the fridge and stove, is probably less than one thousand USD).
I didn’t check the permutations, but 591 said monthly payments would be NT89,000/month (I’d assume 20% down and 1.25% interest). Now I’m seeing two units in the same building (there only were 6 units total to start with) are each going for 45,000/month. So, for half the monthly payments and maybe 90k deposit instead of 6 million NTD down payment, the space could be yours! Anyone wanna do the math on how many years you’d have to live in the place before you broke even? It’d be 40 years to break even on the monthly payments, assuming taxes go up at the same rate as rent prices. But you haven’t factored in the 6 million NTD for the down payment, so tack another 10 years to that. 50 years of renting the space at its current rental price to reach the price you pay to buy! At that point, when it’s time to sell, you’re sitting in a crumbling pile of concrete! Assuming you’ve lived that long (and that Taiwan has lived that long…), there’s nothing for your children to sell, nor, at the current population trend, anyone to buy it. Bad, bad, bad and beyond stupid investment. I’d still be renting if I won the mega millions if not for the crap kitchens in this country…
you might find a handful of coops in manhattan at $500k, and you’ll probably pay $1k/month in maintenance.
Touché. This apartment in Taipei I’m taking about also has a 4500/mo fee, so not NYC HOA crazy, but it looks like that’s just for an elevator and not even a doorman.
I should stick with what I know: Gold Coast and Lincoln Park neighborhoods (read: very nice places to live) in Chicago certainly have gorgeous 2 bed, 1-2 bath for half a million USD. Some of the nicest buildings downtown have 3 bedroom condos with river and lake views for USD 500k., though there is the USD1-4K/mo HOA fees to consider. You do get really nice facilities at that price. One million USD puts you into a house with a small yard range in semi-decent neighborhoods in Chicago. If condos are more your thing, you’d be getting decent luxury or a lot of space at a million USD in the most desirable locations.
Let’s just ignore my comparison to US real estate and focus on the rent vs buy of the same space in Taipei…
Yup ridiculous valuations on homes in Taipei. Other smaller cities in Taiwan are way more reasonable though. I would have no interest in buying in Taipei when applying that price back home would get me a decent crib with a lot more space.
No good museums, no good theaters, poorly designed streets, few good outdoor environments, boring architecture, average food, not walkable…
Maybe comparing Taipei to New York city or something, but compared to most cities in the developed world, it does pretty well in most of those categories, imho. Where are you from exactly? That might be influencing your opinion, comparing with the best, rather than the worst in those categories.
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No Good museums?? How about Gugong? The Museum of modern art? Tons of small galleries? If culture (albeit Chinese) is what you are looking for - temples everywhere?
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Theaters: What exactly? Drama productions? Like Broadway? Ok, maybe not. But Taipei has an excellent Classical Music scene that takes.place at the CKS and small venues all over town. As well, compared to many places, Taipei has a vibrant small artist scene … So once again, I don’t know what you are looking for exactly.
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Poorly designed streets: well this one is difficult to argue; most of them weren’t really planned, and developed organically. The squirrelly alleys are one of the things I absolutely love about Taipei!
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Few Good Outdoor environments: Once again, depends on what you are comparing it with. There are some decent parks in Taipei, but there could be more, sure. But surrounding Taipei there are tons of trails, mountains, etc… You can easily spend a very long period of time exploring the mountain trails around Taipei both on foot or by bike. As well, Taipei has developed an extensive river trail system, which is great for biking and some basic green space. It is far superior to many other cities I have lived in.
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Boring architecture: Personal taste here. Ok, there are a fair amount of concrete box apartments, but how is this any different than the crappy suburbs anywhere else? And then Taipei has weird Japanese architecture, occasional colonial buildings, as well as traditional Chinese.
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Boring food: Personal taste here. Many food critics disagree with you however.
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Not walkable???: This one is completely ridiculous. With its extensive MRT system, combined with covered walkways, Taipei is very, very walkable. Have you been to North America, with its car based cities? Now that is not walkable. I really don’t get this point.
I’m thinking more Philadelphia, Tokyo, Amsterdam and New York.
And walking 20 minutes to an MRT station isn’t walkable to me. Not many places in Taipei where you can walk to work, school, hospitals, shopping and entertainment within minutes.
A 20min walk isn’t walkable? I love walking and can’t wait to be somewhere I don’t have to rely on a car. And really, the MRT network in Taipei now, imo, is almost overkill. One down Nanjing, one down Chonghsiao, and one down Xinyi? I think it takes me 10 minutes to walk from Xinyi to Chonghsiao. But hey, I’m not complaining.
But each to their own, I suppose, especially if you happen to have mobility issues. But if that is the case, then likely most of Asia isn’t for you.
Most US cities, except New York has terrible public transportation, if it even exists at all. You will need a car to get anywhere because even “close” places are 30 minute drive away.
Most of usa has sidewalks. Much of taiwan doesnt.this is afair point. Even taipei, the most side walk friendly place in the country, Is shitty. Uneven at best. Anyone who needs to push around someone in a wheelchair damn well knows this.
Most of usa us WAY more than a 20 min walk. Though most of taiwan isnt. Even if it were, 20 min walk being a deal breaker is just laziness if we are being honest. Regardless, Taiwan is dense as all hell, Its easy getting anywhere compared to most of usa, Japan etc.
Few places are easier than taiwan for getting around. Its one of the very few positive points for taipei. I also dislike taipei for countless reasons, but i cant really understand the reasoning in that post. Lots of art. Lots of varied food now (still lacks diversity compared to some.places, but certainly has quality).
Taipei is a bowl, surrounded by mountains that could kick an olympians ass.
Im starting to think that post is due to ignorance and lack of language ability moreso than actual fact.
Apparently I have nothing better to do with my time than dig through 591. The place I was talking about (2nd fl) is still available for purchase, though I think it’s gone down quite a bit since I saw the listing 8 months ago (or I just misremembered the numbers) – its “only” 76,600/month for your mortgage: (2850 萬 = 28,500,000, so 950k USD for 28 ping) (中山國中站)明星雙學區●兩房新廈,台北中古屋,2房2廳,34.48坪,台北591售屋網
But to rent the unit on the 4th floor (this building is one unit/fl) is 45,000/mo: 松山機場周邊~2房2廳，一層一戶超單純,租屋,2房2廳1衛3陽台,28坪(含車位),591租屋網
Just thought I’d back up my claims with proper evidence in order to drive home just how ridiculous the market is 
Exactly , all about timing and if you even had the money to invest when the timing was right. Yes, a great advantage of owning is that you can do more or less what you want to your own house, the disadvantage is that is that you cannot just up and move if you have a problem there such as bad neighbors or new developments that you do not like.
Definitely. Most roads don’t have a sidewalk.
Oops, slightly delayed reply.
Very little maintenance so far, which may have been a mistake on our part - I wouldn’t be shocked if there are maintenance costs piling up. Some tiles lifted off the floor and we had to get those replaced - maybe it was 10,000 for a rather shabby replacement job of the affected area? (It was that or 100,000+ for a full replacement with different tiles of the whole apartment, necessitating moving out for a while; process partially described in this thread, and goddamn too much of my life is on this website.) That’s about it, but more tiles are now creaking as we walk over them, which has me suspect there’s a bigger and more expensive fix in the near future.
And usual costs with furniture, fridge replacements, installing air conditioners, etc. Our previous rented apartment had been only partially furnished, so we already had a fair bit of furniture to move in with, which reduced the initial costs a bit.
I’d love to have one of the bathrooms redone (like another forumosan described in this thread, hopefully with less hassle!), but I keep delaying that expense because I’m worried our floors are going to be a massive expense and hassle at some random point in the future.
I’m sure a lot of people don’t have the time for a 40 minute round trip, and I hate public transportation. If I did as you suggest, I would need to sacrifice sleep, exercise, food prep or the already limited time I get to spend with my kids. No way.
Ugly ass art mostly, and the food I make at home is much better than most restaurant food here.
Perhaps it is more you are kind of self centered rather than taipei is shittier than most other places?
Very few places have i seen lesshan 20min commutes. In canada i had 1.5 hours each way, an that was normal for many.
You personally seem to beed to live above your work, which is cool. But that doeant really have much to with a city ranking so much as a personal preferrence. But everyone has different ideas. Especially on art haha. I dislike taipei, but not for any of those reasons other than not friendly for eldery/disabled to get around (bad sidewalks)
Next year my new place should be finished with inspections and construction. Then I’ll be a minute walk from work. 
That is excellent, am happy for you. but surely you see how a city of 8 million cannot use that standard for its average.