Living in China
Helpful tips from former Flagship students
- Flagship students will be living off-campus in apartments as part of the cultural immersion experience. It is usually easier to use a realtor (also called a zhongjie 中介). Realtors usually charge a fee to assist you with finding apartments. If you decide to rent one of their listed apartments, they will charge an additional half of one month’s rent as their finder’s fee also called zhongjiefei 中介费. Zhang Qin laoshi has worked with several legitimate realtors and will probably recommend some of their services to you. Always use common sense in your bargaining strategies.
- A decent 2 bedroom apartment in Nanjing runs about 2000 kuai a month (no matter what the landlord or agent may tell you). The bargaining is the same as if you were buying a Chinese painting. Bid low and walk if necessary to see how low they will go. Both the agent and the landlord want you to pay as much as possible, so be careful. A run down place is about 1400-1500 and if you pay more than 2400 for anything that's 2 bedrooms, you're getting ripped off big time. Visit and look at a few apartments before making a decision (most people won’t go for the first apartment they see.)
- Apartments are measured in square meters ( 平方米pingfangmi ) (instead of square feet). This is usually how they are listed and defined by realtors. You should probably see a few different apartments of varying sizes to get a feel for what 60 square meters means. Fully furnished apartments are plentiful. Usually this consists of beds, TV, air-conditioning ( 空调 kongtiao), table, chairs, washing machine, and fridge. Make sure the toilet flushes fine, that the AC doesn’t drain on your neighbor’s house (people get really upset about this), that there is hot water in the shower, and that the remote control works, etc.
- You should negotiate for anything within reason that is not in your apartment that you would like (TV, washing machine, DVD player, beds, cleaning, repairs, etc). BUT, you HAVE to do this before you agree to rent the apartment. Once you say, "I'll take it," the deal is done, so make sure you request ANYTHING that you might like. The worst that they can say is no.
- An interesting idiosyncrasy of renting Chinese apartments is the method of payment. They do not do rent on a monthly basis, but rather have you pay 6 month’s rent (半年付 bannianfu) or 1 year’s rent (一年付 yinianfu ). If you are not staying a whole year, different payment plans can be worked out, but rest assured that if you are only staying for four months, your landlord will want all of the rent upfront plus the deposit.
- The utilities are another issue altogether. They are generally defined as electric and water (水电费shuidianfei) as well as gas (煤气 meiqi), cable TV (有线电视 youxian dianshi ), and phone. If you live in a complex, you may be asked to pay (物业wuye), which refers to services like garbage collection, etc. In your apartment, you can usually find the meter for the water, electricity, and gas (电表dianbiao, 水表 shuibiao, 煤气表 meiqibiao). It is best if you do your utilities directly by paying them yourself (rather than paying through your landlord). That can save a lot of hassle. Also make sure you are told exactly when and where to pay your utilities. The phone is paid at the telecommunication bureau （电信局dianxinju), which is also where you can set up ADSL internet. It will probably have to be done in your landlord’s name, the closest one to campus is at Gulou (鼓楼). Depending on how your phone is set up, you pay a monthly fee and then, if you go over so many minutes of phone calls, you pay an additional fee on top of the monthly charge. Don’t set up long distance.
- When you move into a place off-campus, you are required (supposedly) to register with the local police ( 派出所 paichusuo) within 24 hours. In my experience renting two different apartments in different parts of the city, both times the landlord and the realtor were hesitant to divulge the location of the police station (perhaps they just didn’t know). Each neighborhood has its own police station. There are a bunch of them within walking distance of one another in the area. Zhang laoshi has a lot of experience and can provide some directives. Once you find one, though, the officers there can usually direct you to the correct one for your address. The officers at the local precinct will want your new address, your landlord’s contact information, and to look at your passport and visa. They will do some paperwork (10-15 minutes) and then you should never hear from them again.
Realtor Links
http://www.5i5j.com/
http://rent.nanjing.soufun.com/