2000 yuan for a room in Wudaokou?

[p0mmes_frites]

Hi,

I have seen some apartments around Wudaokou and they are asking me 2000 yuan for a small room (excluding tax and any other fees), but the apartment is good (a nice and big living room, nice kitchen etc). there are 3 bedrooms, so it will be 3 people in total. It is inside of a campus, so the environment is not bad.

But, when I look at some Chinese websites to rent a whole 2 bedroom apartment, I see much more better apartments around 3500 yuan (maybe not in Wudaokou but Zhongguancun, Bagou etc. somewhere near). When I actually go to see the apartments (with agents), they take me to bad places with high prices. I cant decide how much should be real price.

How much should I expect to pay for a 2 bedroom nice apartment with a living room somewhere around easily accessible to Zhongguancun? As long as there is subway I dont mind where it is, it can be somewhere in the North section of line 10 etc.

So, how much for a single room or a 2 bedroom apartment should I pay? I dont want to be cheated because I am a waiguoren.

[imron]

Have a look at this thread (and remember to add to it once you eventually find a place!).

I think RMB 2,000 for a nice room close to Wudaokou is not an unreasonable price if it's a nice room. You can find places cheaper (1,000-1,500 range for a room) but they are usually older apartments and not as nice or modern.

[cui ruide]

My (very general) feeling about housing prices in Beijing (not local to area) would be this:

2 bedroom apt: Any price under 5000/mo would be a great deal.

1 bedroom apt: Any price under 4000/mo would be a great deal.

Studio: Any price under 3000/mo would be a great deal.

That is, if these places are actually nice on the inside.

[amandagmu]

If the apartment is nice, that's a good price. I looked for a long time, with and without agents. Inflation is pretty bad these days and you want to live in an area that caters to laowai (like I do) so you aren't going to get what you want for any cheaper (most likely) unless you personally know someone who can help you out. The way I found my current place was narrowing it down to where I wanted to live and walking in alone, without an agent, into property management of a few places and conducting everything in Chinese. Then I brought a Chinese friend along when I returned for a second look and "discussion." IMO, that's what I would recommend to anyone else looking for a place. AVOID AGENTS if possible!

[Chinese_Boy]

I lived in wudaokou.

It's OK to rent a room by 2000RMB, not that expensive.

A room in wudaokou costs 1600-2000 per month.

But you should pay a funking zhongjie fee.

I am a Chinese working in wudaokou.

[p0mmes_frites]

Yeah, I understood that I should avoid agents, they are so tricky. They take me to horrible places (you cant imagine how bad the conditions are) and say high prices for those places, and then they try to cheat by showing normal places for even higher prices. Everybody should avoid agents if they can..

[heifeng]

I dunno about the entire avoid agents thing, yes the fee sucks, but if you can't find something on your own and desperate times call for desperate measures, it can still work I think. I mean as long as you are not paying a fee upfront to take a look at least you get to see a few places for the sake of comparison. I found 2 good apts through 我爱我家 (Maybe it was luck of the draw but the young man I worked with did a good job after I just told him what I was looking for*) Of course this was pre-olympics, 2006 - 2008 time frame, but thru the agent I was able to find small cleam rooms with locals for 500 (2 bedroom w/ one roommate) & 800 元 (3 bedroom w/ 2 roommates) in 小西天 next to BNU。

In terms of rent, now, definitely the rent has gone up. By-2007 I had changed to the master bedroom in the 3 bedroom apt and was charged 1100 by my my roommate. Later she raised it to 1500 in 2008 b/c the local rents had gone up so much. So, in conclusion by now, I think in wudaokou 1600-2000 is a reasonable range. I am actually surprised it's not more since all these subways opened up and made some locations less disconnected (but as Imron said the condition of the building probably needs to be taken into consideration). Maybe there are less students than a pre-olympics Beijing so renting isn't as out of control as I imagined it to be :blink: . (seems like there is a bit less discussion on here too, but maybe that's not the case, I am just not on the board as much as before so it seems like less to me )

*My ONLY requirements were no smoking by the roommates and safe area close to school..and cheap, nothing fancy. I had 2 suitcases, I wasn't moving an army of stuff in...I didn't cook at the time so the kitchens were a bit of a disaster, but everything else was in decent shape.

[trevelyan]

The price isn't unreasonable if you're looking for a room in a large and shared apartment, like the ones right at the metro corner. Those will rent for 6000 RMB or more. But you should be able to find that sort of place without dealing with an agent (private direct adverts in the coffee shops near the metro). And you shouldn't pay any "taxes" on top of the cost of the room with private rentals.

We haven't had problems with agents (we found our current place through one). Just start looking a month or so before you need to move and bear in mind that they've got to sell the stuff they have. If someone doesn't listen to you or shows you a place off-budget drop them immediately. The good ones will be able to show you photos or tell you about the places you're visiting before you go.

If you know what complex you're interested in, visit the places right below or nearby and tell them you're interested in that complex. Or look for private rental signs posted nearby. Prices aren't that inconsistent within compounds. The way you get a deal is finding a nice place in a cheaper or less visible compound. Good luck.

[imron]

And you shouldn't pay any "taxes" on top of the cost of the room with private rentals.

Technically yes, however the landlord is supposed to pay a rental tax, and sometimes they try to pass this on to the renter. Which technically they shouldn't do, however if you found a nice place that you really like and they're being insistent about it, you're probably better off just paying it otherwise they'll just rent it out to someone else.

[amandagmu]

They take me to horrible places (you cant imagine how bad the conditions are) and say high prices for those places, and then they try to cheat by showing normal places for even higher prices.

Oh yes, yes I can! I saw between 30-40 places in my first month here--everything from falling apart, to cockroaches, hazardous kitchens and bathrooms that no one could possibly have actually used in recent times, deteriorating floors and walls......... to upscale brand-new places at 5 times my budget limit. I saw it ALL.

EDIT: I was just reminded specifically of one of the worst apartments I saw. The agent told me that two people had moved out the day before so I should be prepared to see some cleaning and repair work going on in the apartment, but that it would be ready within a day. When we showed up, there were four non-repairmen-looking men hanging out on the couch chain-smoking with empty beer bottles strewn across the floor of the living room. They nodded and smirked when I walked in and chatted in incomprehensible slang with the agent, including as she tried to assure me that the hazardous bathroom (looked like it had been blown up with a bomb that morning) would be ready "tomorrow!" and that the apartment was indeed a "no smoking" one. All that for 2 bedrooms at 5000 kuai!