Apartment Hunting – Déjà vu

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Temperature: 29 c

In a funny way to show my love for my country, I signed my present tenancy agreement on Aug 31 last year, which will expire on Sep 1 this year.

I love my current apartment: it is neither too big nor too small, just nice for a couple; its gardening is well maintained; its lobby looks like a hotel; and more importantly, it is near my office.

2 weeks ago, I called my landlord to discuss about renewing the tenancy. I wanted to extend for another 1 year. To reflect the appreciation of property value, I was prepared to increase the rental by 5 to 10%. Well, since I was a good tenant, who always paid his rentals on time and did not cause any big trouble for his landlord, I was confident that my landlord would no doubt want me to stay for another year. Apparently, I underestimated my landlord.

According to my landlord, after he rented his apartment to me, someone has offered a much higher price for the apartment, but he had to refuse such offer as he had rented the apartment. Therefore, my landlord said that it would only be fair if he increases the rental by 50%. Yes, 50%. Even though my current monthly rental, maintenance fees and utility bills are much more than my salary in Klang, my landlord still has the cheek to increase my rental by 50%. This is ridiculously unreasonable. Is every landlord in Shanghai crazy?

I certainly could not afford an increase of 50%, so I politely told my landlord to F himself. “Good bye and good luck” I said. If circumstances permit, I would tell him to cut off his 2.5-inch dick and shove it up his ass. 50%??!! He really thinks his apartment is painted with 999 gold.

Anyway, it means that I had no choice but to look for a new apartment – an extremely tiring process – a process which I initially wanted to avoid.

Engtee and I called up and requested the real estate agents we knew to look for suitable apartments for us. Our requirements are simple: somewhere near Xintiandi; 1 or 2 bedrooms/1 living room/1 bathroom; and modest rental.

The Shanghai real estate agents are very efficient and hardworking. They have to be because they know they are facing stiff competition. A few agents wanted to show us some apartments near our area, and we went.

Unlike 1 year ago, this time we have some experience in choosing our apartment. We know what to look for, and that makes things easy in deciding which apartment to rent. Some apartments are lovely renovated but are badly located; some are strategically located, fully furnished, and nicely renovated but your instinct tells you that you just can’t “click” with the landlords.

Like I said, apartment hunting is a tiring process. We have to go to many places in 1 day and see many different types of landlord.

After a few days of hunting, fortunately, we hunted down 1 today. It is a 2 bedroom/1 living room/1 bathroom apartment with 78m2 area (my current apartment is 1 bedroom and 55 m2). The rental is cheaper than my current one. We will move from 1 bedroom smaller apartment to 2-bedroom bigger apartment. But, the new apartment is located farther to my office. So, I am not sure whether we are upgrading or downgrading.

Here are some photos of our new apartment taken this morning:

Living room

Dining room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Guest Room

Bathroom

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