Day 3 of house hunting

Four places we had seen.

The first one was in a xiao qu that was across of the soon to built Shangri-La on Nanjing Road West. Main floor. 80 sq meters of living space with a 45-50 sq meters garden. The place was a dive right now because the owner had wanted to renovate and sell. Very high ceiling. This place used to be 3-story high. But during the beginning of the commie era (or error), it had been divided into three units. From one to 3.

This place has potential. Need to renovate from scratch, of course, gut everything. The asking price now is RMB5.8 dropped from last month's price of RMB6.1. Based on my calculation, this per square meter cost is still higher than than most brand new apartments out there, RMB36,000 to RMB40,000 per square meter. Now to add about RMB150,000 of renovation cost and other compensations to a neighbour, yes, to a neighbour, because its kitchen is right inside the premise next to the current bathroom! To swap space with neighbour, would have to renovate this other person's space. And as a Chinese and knowing a Westerner buying, he will "milk" everything. Ummm....

Second place we went to is a new development by a Singaporean developer. There were 5 buildings in the block; the highest floor building was about 25 story high; not bad. The construction was very good; everything was immaculate. Good security, very luxurious, most diplomats and Western company heads are staying there. Problem, too luxurious and too hotel like. The interior of the unit that is. Owner cannot renovate freely. There was a gym but the fee was quoted at RMB3,500 per person per year. And the swimming pool would not open until 9am daily. Gym, 7am daily. Too late for us; plus there was no place for us to haul our bikes thru a hotel like lobby. Think about the dirt. No place to store our bikes in the unit. At RMB50,000 per square meter, a unit of about 125 sq meters run pretty expensive. Nice touches included a non-smoking area for visitors, a coffee corner for owner and guests to entertain, a free daily breakfast for owners. This type of things might be good for mom and dad to own; they can just come and go without have to worry about the place being broken in. Turn key style.

Third place, was the sister development from yesterday's One Park Place. The one I mentioned only 3 years old but kinda crap with paint pealing off. Very spacious; 3 bedrooms. But no balcony. And some signs of rust and rotting already. And there was an older couple living there. A mess. Kitchen, bathroom. Basically no basic upkeeping. Strike it off; the swimming pool was lovely though. Security was good.

Fourth place and last one for the day in the French Concession area. Huge square place and a huge garden. Main floor. But as soon as I entered, smell of mold. How many spores did I inhale? Only one bedroom with a little dent connected together. The kitchen was long but the width was the size of a 777 kitchen galley. Now that was tight! The tile floor in the bathroom was original in the 20's. Very good condition. The garden, cannot really use. There were people's web clothes and air cond draining from top floors right down to the garden. And to top off, right on the brick pathways. I almost slipped and fell. Algae... Little friendly green things growing. So a huge place but could not be used. No privacy and upstairs neighbour didn't care about what was downstairs. Nah.... Not even worth considering. I didn't bother asking for a price.