Apartment Hunting: A Guide to Renting

Yong Jing Wan

Home hunting is my thing, even if I'm not in the market for one.  House, apartment, villa - I'll see them all!  In China it is especially fun because of the vast contrast between apartments.  Some are very minimalistic and spartan, while others are "tuhao" - meaning someone who has a lot of money and no taste. 

Our current apartment is "tuhao."  It looks like Liberache has puked gold all over the walls and curtains.  There is an interesting gold mirror framed like a large painting adjacent our dining table.  We also have this strange red, white, and blue flashing lights in our foyer, and our bedroom contains upwards of 19 individual lights, not including the LED strip accent light. 

In my experience, I find that decoration is one of the lower priorities you should have when you choose an apartment. Below are my guidelines, and I hope that it can help you in your move out to Kunshan or to China in general.

1. Location 
   Determining the location of your home, I believe, is the most important criterion.  Our first apartment was spacious and had subtle decoration with western-style flair.  It was perfect in all ways except it was not well connected to restaurants or public transportation.  We luckily used this as a short-term living space until we found one that better suited us - one that was walking distance from the Oasis Bar & Grill. :-)
   
2. Commute
   It is important to take into account the time it takes to commute to places you visit the most - like traveling to work, your favorite restaurants, the high speed train, bus routes, and any social outings you may partake in regularly.  I now live on the west side of town and if I relied on the bus to take me to the high speed train station, it would take me a 5 minute walk to the bus stop, a 5-20 minute wait for the bus, and a 45 minute bus ride to the train station.  Thankfully, there are no transfers or it would further increase my travel time.
   
3. Population of Apartment Building
   I recently found out you should be looking for apartments that aren't overcrowded.  I have never had a bad experience with this, however, a friend of my recently moved out of Butterfly Bay for this exact reason.  Sharing two elevators with the other tenants in her 36-story building was not easy, especially with 6 families living on each floor.  The commute down the elevator can take over 10 minutes!
   
4. E-Bike Charging Stations
   My husband and I both have e-bikes, and it is necessary to keep them fully charged if you wish to take long excursions.  Neither bike can fit in the elevator up to our apartment where we could charge them.  So, I have found three other somewhat viable options you can think about - all have been Banerjee-tested:
   
   1
   You can remove the batteries from the bike and carry them upstairs.  This is doable, but you get dirt all over your hands and clothes.  Batteries can be extremely heavy, and it makes it difficult to bring up groceries all in one go - overall, very inconvenient.
   
   2
   You could make your own power outlet, dangle it out your window as if you were the Rapunzel of extension cords, and charge the e-bike at ground level.  We have done this successfully when we used to live on the 4th floor, but now that we are on the 32nd, it's a lot of wire!  Also, it's quite dangerous.  I would never recommend charging on rainy days.
   
   3
   You might rent a charging station in the parking garage.  Not all apartment complexes have this, inquire before renting.  There is a minimal fee incurred, ours is 30 RMB a month.
   
   Note
   You can buy e-bikes that are small and fit into the elevator, however, depending on how populated your building is, it may make it difficult to fit in the elevator as you may be greeted by an already cramped space.
   
   Some apartment complexes have charging stations on ground level.  These can be busy and often charge money by the hour (4 RMB - 10 RMB to refuel your whole tank).
   
5. High Speed Internet
   Most apartments have internet and include it in your monthly rent.  It's slow and cannot handle too much usage at the same time, a terrible pity for those like me who like to multitask a variety of media.  For example, I cannot video chat with my parents on Skype while Chitrak is watching TV.  Running Netflix through your VPN will work in short spurts, and will often stop to buffer.
   
   High speed internet is available in certain apartment buildings and can be determined through a quick call to China Mobile, China Telecom, or China Unicom.  
   
   Note
   Your VPN will slow down your internet, no matter high speed internet or not, making it longer for certain webpages to load. 
   
6. Kitchen Size
   A lot of kitchens are small.  In newly developed areas, people are increasing the size.  If you enjoy cooking at home or entertaining people, this may be something you should look into.
   
7. Water Heater
   High-end apartments will typically have a water heater with endless hot water. Do be careful:  some have tank water heaters and in my opinion are very small.  It would time out after a 15 minute hot shower.
   
8. Furniture
   Most apartments are furnished and include important appliances like washer, fridge and A/C.  I make a quick sofa softness check and scale the fridge for size.  The more decorated they are, the higher the rent.  Beds are hard typically everywhere, but an investment in a mattress pad can ease your backache.
   
9. Development of the Area
   If you are moving into a developing part of town, understand it won't be as active or have the amenities like an established expat city like Shanghai.  For example, in the past 6 months we have had an increase of taxis (now it takes 20-30 minutes to find a cab versus the 30-45 minutes), and an important bus stop near our school has just been updated with English translations.  In the past year, we have had 3 expat restaurants open up in the area.  Places that are developing and take time to do so.
   
   
10. Noise
    You will encounter a lot of noise in China - from the resounding e-bike alarm systems, deafening firework explosions, and annoying blasts from car horns... oh wait - and construction.  You can't escape noise, but you can define what is acceptable to you.  I recommend visiting the apartment you want to live at different times to see if it fits your criteria.  

Good luck in your search for your new home.  If you have any suggestions or comments, I'd love to hear from you. 

Bo Jue Da Di

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