Having visited home after my research grant, and arriving back in Shanghai on a Friday night, scheduled to start work on Monday, I had only 36 hours to find an apartment. I decided to take the first place that met a very broad set of requirements, rather than live in a hotel for a week. This time around I had more time to conduct a proper search. Having become familiar with the process of apartment hunting in China (in Wuhan and Shanghai at this point), I thought I’d document the steps for future reference.

90% of the time, if you’re looking on your own for an apartment (or property) in China, you will do so through a real estate agent (中介, zhongjie) company. They have lists of properties they manage, acting as middlemen. For residential rental, their normal fee is 30% of one month’s rent. It’s a good idea to check out online property listings first, Google Lifestyle (谷歌生活搜素) or Soufun (搜房). Most of the listings on these sites are also from agents, so it’s an easy way to get contact information (call, tell them where you’re looking/what price range, and they can arrange to show you a several properties).

Personally, I’ve had good luck just wandering around neighborhoods until I found a real estate company (usually something-something-房地产). Indicate that you’re looking in the neighborhood, price range, and when you want to move in. No one has really tried to take advantage of me, and white-person-premium seems to be 100-200Y per month at most. Going through a real estate agent also has the benefit that they provide contracts for you, and keep copies of them. Again, never had any problems in this regard but it seems wise to have another layer of involvement should something go wrong with the landlord.

Always get the landlord/agent to write out receipts anytime you pay for anything (handwritten notes, if signed, are legally enforceable in China) and any agreements you have about ‘if something breaks, party X is responsible.’

Timeframes: one of the major differences between apartment hunting in the US and in China are the timeframes involved. It’s normal to look for a place, and be moving in within 48 hours (this often seems to happen). There is little advantage of trying to plan a month in advance, unless you have the luxury of waiting over the entire period to find something that is ideal. Using simultaneous real estate agents is a good strategy, at least to be sure that you get a good range of prices.

In general, most apartments will come ‘furnished.’ Don’t expect heating, aside from a reverse air conditioner (it’s possible to find central heating, though it will be more expensive). Insulation is universally bad. In general, there’s a strong correlation with appearance and price, not necessarily quality and price. If the place is in a tall building, expect it to be even more expensive (not quite sure why, as the newer properties tend to have terrible sound insulation). It’s always possible to find international standards, though you’re likely to pay even a slight international premium. In Shanghai, 1 bedroom 1 bathroom 1 living room apartments seem to run 1500-3000, with the lower end being extremely far away from transport. In cities like Wuhan, 2000 will nab you a many-room palace.

My personal preference is for 2nd/3rd story places in older (1980s/90s), decaying, Blade Runner-ish buildings that are located near pedestrian markets. Since most properties here don’t have fire escapes/alarms/sprinklers, being located near the ground seems ideal from a jumping standpoint. Ground floors often have rodent problems. If you’re high up you also less safe from petty thievery (the professional lockpicks I’ve spoken with here say they always go for places on upper floors since there’s less foot traffic. I don’t really think this is a big problem, so it’s probably not very relevant).