Real Estate Agents and House Hunting in Seoul

August 9th, 2010

My bag and notebook is littered with the business cards of realtors. This is what I learned from the process of renting (again) in Korea.
1) prepare at least a 10,000 USD deposit. Yes, it’s a lot. Whatever, deal with it, it’s Korea. Most of the Koreans are putting down 100,000 or so on the places they rent, the kind of places that look like you’d want to live in them, this is just the way the system works
2) you’ll have to pay a commission to the realtor- go with a realtor you like. I met a lot of realtors, and I liked most of them. The guy with the second best apartment I looked at, 200 per month cheaper than this one with even more appliances (it even had an oven!) was a total drip. (Eden Realty in 해방촌 for those of you in Korea). I didn’t want to give him a commission and I’m glad I found this (better) place. A lot of the realtors I met though would sound impolite or asinine in English, but they were charming in Korean. Is it better to reward a realtor who works harder to communicate with non-Korean speakers? I don’t know.
3) the places that are authorized to deal with the US military guys rent the same type of place for MUCH more money to the military guys (this usually means a larger commission), and they have little incentive to deal well with us non-military types.
4) I went with Hyatt Hill Realty (half way up the Hyatt Road from Jungang Gyeongridan 02.797.4984). But the place was actually through Jo-eun Realty (on the main drag near Jungang Gyeongridan 02.749.4009). I liked the people at both places, or at least the owner at Jo-eun. I also had a favorable impression of the realtor at Rex Realty (02.790.8833) and the person I liked the absolute most was 배광재 (Bryan Bae) at Haeng’un Realty (02.797.7797) whom I would recommend anyone starting with. The office location is hard to explain, it’s near the 동사무서/파출서, so best to just try to get him to meet you at the Paris Baguette just off the road to the Hyatt.
5) if, like me, you refuse to live in a basement, and you have a serious budget issue, you just need to be firm about what you’re willing to see, from the start, otherwise you’re dragged everywhere up these steep hills, and aren’t even seeing passable places. I ended up saying I needed to see 3rd floor and above. Although some second floor places would have been okay, I just got tired of what I was seeing.
6) be prepared for surprises. I saw one place with at least five different wallpapers—one was leopard print, one was red with a large gold geometric design (even on the ceiling!), one was white with sparkly pastel pink and blue designs and two were the same print but one was black on white, the other white on black (of silhouetted booze bottles and cups for drinking booze). Yes, this means that except for the red room, each room had two different wallpapers. At least. No, there had to have been a third, a neutral one on the ceiling of the main room and the bedroom that wasn’t in red… This is why you might want to carry a camera, just for kicks.
7) you can bargain for “options” this means you get things like in my case a gas range, a refrigerator and a washing machine. Not all landlords will go for it, but some see it as an investment in the right kind of tenant.
8) in other areas of Seoul I’m sure it’s different, but in the foreigner heavy Yongsan’gu region many landlords prefer foreigners to Korean tenants because, dig this, we don’t split town without paying rent!
9) it pays to emphasize the ways in which you are higher status/more responsible seeming. I made a point to tell them I was in my 40s (I’m 40 Korean age if you count my lunar birthday not my Western birthday). Going to a famous university also helped me seem like a good tenant. Saying I was living on my fellowship helped people understand why I couldn’t pay a little more in rent (because I can’t just work a little overtime).
10) if you’ve already seen certain places, describe them as Koreans would. Say which realtors you already went to. Because they often just call each other, and you don’t want to be shown the same place twice (when I was looking in Samgakji (삼각지) three times realtors tried to show me the same exact apartment, the second time I walked part way there, the third time I just described it and said I’d seen it). Sometimes owners list their places with multiple realtors, sometimes they only list with one place. If listed with multiple realtors you can be taken to the same place by two different realtors.
11) if you want a cheap place, and you don't want a hovel, do what Koreans do-- move to an inconvenient out of the way location. At least you'll avoid the sketchy people in this neighborhood!

The highlight of the day—I got a phone with Gyeongjin (경진)’s help. We ate dinner, had coffee, and shopped at E-mart for home essentials until my eyes glazed over. Meeting really good friends and hanging out is just another of the reasons I LOVE Korea.

Photo: My foot after scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees. This also shows the nice flooring I have.

"The Eyrie"

August 7th, 2010
Although the previous day I’d searched realtors in the general 이태원2동/ 중앙경리단 (Itaewon 2 dong/ Jungang Gyeongri dan) neighborhood until offices were closing after seven p.m. I’d only found two acceptable places, one was dirty and probably would come with a ton of stuff the owner wouldn’t want me to throw out (like grimy plastic shelves and a disgusting couch) but was 600,000 per month and did have a refrigerator, washing machine and stove. The problem with that place, besides the initial cleaning when moving in was that the realtor was a total drip, with no sense of humor and a personality that seemed like a drowned rat all moan and groan and woe is me (not a usual personality type in Korea). Since the realtor takes a hefty commission, paid by the home-searcher, I just didn’t want to take that place if I could avoid it. The other acceptable place was a tiny bit small, and up a very steep hill, but freshly remodeled with new wallpaper, flooring, kitchen shelves and so on. It had a breathtaking view of the city (not necessarily the most interesting view, because it mostly overlooked the US military base, but I could see for miles and a nice breeze blew through the apartment. It was also over the budget I’d set, 800,000 per month.

In the morning I first went to 버티고개 (Beotigogae) area and looked, seeing one place that was almost not a hovel. Then I headed on to 삼각지 (Samgakji) determined to find a place somewhere other than 중앙경리단 (Jungang Gyeongridan). Unfortunately eleven realtors in that area were only able to net me two home views, both unacceptably dark, but a total of five realtors tried to show me those same two places at which time I just gave up and decided there must not be anything to see. The realtors have told me this is the wrong time to look- since it’s too hot for sweaty labor now people try to move in the fall, not the summer. In addition, the rates seem to have really risen a lot. I started to worry that the nice place I’d seen on the hill would be taken and headed back in half defeat to Jungang Gyeongridan. I tried to see several more places, but only ended up seeing two more, both unacceptable, and finally met the owner of the hillside place and signed the paperwork, I can move in on Monday after I get the rest of the money from Daegu Bank. I am dubbing the apartment “The Eyrie.”




Photos: All three taken on the same day with the crazy weather we've been having. All from the same window. The one with the frame (which is only warped because of the wide angle) should be your point of reference for the other two.

First Day Searching

August 6th, 2010


In the sweltering afternoon well past three I finally stopped for an Iced Americano. In typical Korean fashion the baristas followed directions explicitly- my drink has two shots, ice and no water until the shots start to melt the cubes- the first sip was of an almost unadulterated shot, still somewhat warm. So much better than when I ordered the previous one at Sea-Tac Airport and despite my directions got a tall cup of coffee flavored water.

Since I left Sarah and 세진의 (Sejin’s) apartment this morning I’ve been to seven realtors all near 약수 (Yaksu) station. After walking around the neighborhood I am even more convinced I want to live there, but only one realtor could show me a place, four rooms only one of which had a window. Of course I passed on that hovel. My deposit is too small, that’s the problem. 5,000 down barely gets your foot in the door for half basements with mold. I sat in one realtor’s office while two realtors made over thirty phone calls, but they only had one place they could show me and since it shared a bathroom with a first floor business I passed on even seeing it.

Then I remembered I was walking around with cash and a cashier’s check equal to my entire budget until January, and tried to deposit in my account at one of Korea’s largest banks. But since I didn’t have my old foreigner ID card (of course, since you have to give it to the immigration officials at the airport if you leave without time on your visa to get back and renew the card with a new visa sponsor (workplace/graduate school etc)) they refused to deal with me. Idiots. It’s the Korean government system of temporary ID cards that’s the issue, and they should know it by now. They offered to open a new account with my passport (I didn’t bother to mention that would expire in another 7 years or so) then rescinded the offer when I disclosed I’d only arrived the previous night, claiming it takes a few days for the number to hit the system. So I had to go to 대구은행 (Daegu Bank) where I’ve had an account since 1996. It took them quite some time, but they exchanged and deposited my cash and put the cashier’s check into the system (it’ll take a few days to clear).